Domain Architecture Director - Shipboard Systems

NCL Bahamas•Miami, FL

About The Position

The Director, Domain Architecture -- Shipboard Systems is a horizontal enterprise architecture leader responsible for defining and governing the target-state architecture of the company's shipboard technology ecosystem. This role owns the architectural strategy and standards for the Shipboard domain, including shipboard applications (operations, guest-facing, and crew-facing), onboard transactional systems, local infrastructure dependencies, and the integration patterns that connect ships with shoreside, partner, customer, and corporate systems. Operating within a federated architecture model under Product Engineering, this Director provides crosscutting architectural leadership across vertical delivery teams and embedded Solution Architects. The role ensures architectural integrity, resiliency, upgradeability, and long-term sustainability of one of the company's most safety- and guest-critical technology domains. This is a strategic architecture leadership role and does not function as an embedded delivery Solution Architect.

Requirements

10–12+ years of progressive architecture experience in complex, distributed enterprise environments.
Significant experience architecting around large-scale operational, transactional, or edge/branch platforms.
Deep knowledge of shipboard, maritime, hospitality, or similarly constrained/offline operational environments, or equivalent edge/branch computing domains.
Experience with API-first and event-driven architecture patterns, including offline and sync use cases.
Strong understanding of distributed systems, resiliency design, degraded-mode operation, and high-availability architectures.
Demonstrated ability to influence senior technology, operations, and business leaders in a matrixed environment.
Experience operating within federated architecture governance models.
Cruise, maritime, hospitality, travel, or transportation industry experience.
Experience with shipboard or branch-location systems (Otalio), including POS, guest experience, or operational safety platforms.
Familiarity with cloud, edge, and hybrid architectures (in partnership with infrastructure teams).
Familiarity with CRM, loyalty, customer data, and operational data integration patterns.
Experience managing vendor lifecycle strategy and major platform or fleet-wide upgrades and rollouts.
Strategic systems thinker with strong data and business acumen.
Executive presence and ability to communicate complex data and AI architecture trade-offs in clear business terms.
Governance-oriented but innovation-enabling mindset, balancing experimentation with control.
Ability to influence without direct authority across technology, analytics, and business domains.
Strong risk management discipline for data privacy, security, compliance, and AI ethics.

Nice To Haves

Masters Preferred
Computer Science, Information Technology, Software Engineering, Systems Engineering, Electrical Engineering

Responsibilities

Define and maintain the multi-year target-state architecture for the Shipboard Systems domain.
Establish architectural guardrails for shipboard platforms and core applications to minimize invasive customization and preserve upgradeability and operational stability.
Own domain capability models and architectural blueprints across: Shipboard operational systems (embarkation, debarkation, gangway control, safety/muster support), Point-of-sale, inventory, and revenue systems onboard, Guest-facing shipboard applications (mobile, signage, kiosks, in-cabin experiences), Crew-facing systems (workforce management, service delivery, maintenance), Ship–shore synchronization and offline-first operation patterns, Middleware and APIs exposing shipboard capabilities to shoreside and partner systems.
Define domain-level non-functional requirements (availability, performance, resiliency, recovery objectives) appropriate for constrained and intermittent connectivity environments.
Serve as the architectural authority for shipboard core platforms, frameworks, and key vendor supplied shipboard applications.
Evaluate vendor roadmaps and influence shipboard platform strategy in partnership with product, operations, and technology leadership.
Provide architectural oversight for major platform upgrades, fleet rollout programs, and new-build / dry-dock technology scopes.
Balance innovation in guest and crew experience with platform stability and operational/safety risk management.
Define shipboard domain service contracts and API exposure standards between ship, shore, and partner ecosystems.
Establish clear data ownership boundaries for shipboard entities and lifecycle events (guest, itinerary, revenue, safety, crew).
Collaborate with: Reservation Systems Architecture (booking, inventory, and entitlements flowing to shipboard), Customer & Loyalty Architecture (guest identity, profiles, and loyalty benefits onboard), Data & AI Architecture (shipboard data capture, synchronization, event streaming, and analytics), Corporate Applications Architecture (financial integration, ERP impacts, revenue recognition), Enterprise Platform Architecture (network, security, edge, and connectivity constraints).
Participate in cross-domain architecture decisions through the Enterprise Architecture Council.
Define domain-level non-functional requirements (RTO/RPO, performance, throughput, availability, offline behavior) for shipboard solutions.