Director, Human Resources Business Partner

Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd•Miami, FL

11d•Onsite

About The Position

The Director, HR Business Partner is the senior-most people, competence, and culture leader for Newbuild, embedded in the business and serving as a core member of its leadership team. The role reports to the AVP, HR Shared Services, has a strong dotted line to the EVP, Maritime, and participates in the EVP’s leadership table. It shapes the people, competence, and culture strategy with the EVP, Maritime, and translates business priorities into organization design, talent, workforce, competence, and succession plans. The position is accountable for the full people agenda for Newbuild employees globally, including Miami, and leads local HR teams to provide a consistent, high-quality employee experience across locations. The role builds the people, competence, and culture needed to define One Newbuilding and advance Newbuild’s future. It puts Designed to Endure into practice by defining capabilities needed for future ships, closing capability gaps, retaining knowledge when employees move on, and embedding leadership behaviors that unite Miami, Turku, and Saint-Nazaire. The Director supports day-to-day leadership alongside Mission Control, site leaders, and functional leaders while maintaining alignment with Group HR. The position requires understanding Newbuild’s technical and naval architecture capabilities, shipbuilding partnerships, knowledge continuity, and yard and supplier ecosystem, together with a unified global perspective and a visible on-the-ground presence in Europe. The position is full-time, onsite, and based in Miami, Florida, with regular travel to Newbuild locations in Finland, France, Germany, and Italy. Applicants must be legally authorized to work where the position is based; immigration or work-visa sponsorship is not available.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in engineering, human resources, business, or a related field.
At least 12 years of progressive experience, including senior people-leadership roles with end-to-end accountability for a business unit, region, or function’s people agenda in a global, matrixed, multi-site organization.
Expertise in succession planning, workforce planning, organization design, and leadership development.
Experience defining future capability needs, closing competence gaps, and securing knowledge continuity.
Experience leading or influencing HR teams across multiple countries; working knowledge of European employment law and works-council environments.
Industrial background in an engineering-intensive, multi-site business such as maritime, shipbuilding, manufacturing, or another project-based industry.
Understanding of technical and naval architecture capability, knowledge continuity, and the yard and supplier ecosystem behind complex newbuild projects.
Ability to influence, advise, and challenge executive leaders with credibility and sound judgment.
Ability to build culture and embed leadership behaviors across sites and nationalities.
Strong analytical skills and comfort using people data to inform decisions.
Excellent communication, facilitation, and cross-cultural collaboration skills.
Fluency in English.
Willingness and ability to travel regularly to sites in Finland, France, Germany, Italy, and Miami.
Legal authorization to work in the location where the position is based; the role is not eligible for immigration or work-visa sponsorship.

Nice To Haves

Master’s degree.
Understanding of Finnish and French yard culture.
Proficiency in Finnish, French, German, or Italian.
Career HR background is not required; strong people leaders from engineering-intensive industrial businesses are encouraged to apply.

Responsibilities

Advise the EVP, Maritime and Newbuild leadership team on organization structure, leadership effectiveness, talent, competence, and culture.
Set Newbuild’s multi-year people, competence, and culture strategy and integrate people priorities into business strategy, operating plans, and decision-making.
Provide data-driven insight into people-related risks and opportunities and lead people integration for programs and partnerships, supporting organizational readiness and knowledge continuity.
Lead workforce planning aligned with the Newbuild project pipeline, including capacity, critical skills, and project staffing across locations.
Design and evolve the organization structure to support growth, operational excellence, and complex newbuild program delivery.
Own succession planning and talent reviews, developing leadership pipelines and plans for critical roles and high-potential talent.
Partner with Talent Acquisition and Learning & Development to attract, develop, and retain specialized technical, engineering, and project-management talent.
Define future-ship capabilities and translate them into a multi-year competence plan by discipline, role, and site.
Assess current capabilities, address gaps through hiring, development, rotation, and partnerships, and act early on fit gaps.
Establish handovers, overlap, documentation, mentoring, and communities of practice to preserve critical technical, naval architecture, and yard knowledge.
Report competence coverage, critical-skill risks, and knowledge-continuity risks to the EVP, Maritime.
Build a unified Newbuilding culture across Miami, Turku, and Saint-Nazaire while respecting local strengths and fostering safety, accountability, collaboration, and inclusion.
Lead change management and communications for organizational initiatives and transformations.
Embed Designed to Endure leadership behaviors in hiring, development, assessment, promotion, and decision-making; hold leaders accountable and measure progress.
Use people data and analytics to identify trends and develop action plans with leaders.
Lead and develop HR teams in Miami, Finland, France, Germany, and Italy, setting the operating model, priorities, and standards in alignment with global HR strategy, policies, and processes.
Lead, support, and develop a direct report identified as Juliana, with title and scope to be confirmed, through coaching, clear accountabilities, and development opportunities.
Navigate country-specific labor laws, works councils, and employee-representative relationships with local HR and Legal.
Apply and adapt Group HR performance management, compensation, benefits, and rewards frameworks and cycles to Newbuild in partnership with Group HR, which retains ownership of those frameworks and cycles.
Advise on complex employee-relations matters, investigations, and workforce restructuring, managing risk and compliance.
Build and sustain HR and talent-acquisition capability, including a strong bench within the HR teams.
Report to the EVP, Maritime and senior stakeholders on workforce, competence, knowledge continuity, culture, engagement, and people risks.
Travel regularly to Newbuild locations to build relationships and maintain a visible onsite presence.