Engineer, Operational Planning & Optimization

Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd•Miami, FL

1d•Onsite

About The Position

Celebrity Cruises is seeking a highly analytical Industrial Engineer to optimize the end-to-end employee cabin allocation and planning process and strengthen operational planning across the fleet. This role will lead workflow redesign, system improvements, and data governance related to cabin allocation and usage to reduce revenue cabin displacement and improve forecasting accuracy. The position will also serve as the owner of fleetwide staffing (PAR) planning, developing data-driven models and long-range staffing forecasts aligned with available cabin capacity and operational needs. At the core of this role is ownership of the cabin request management process, including its supporting systems, workflows, and governance, working in close partnership with shipboard and shoreside stakeholders.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering, Systems Engineering, Operations Research, or related field.
3–7 years of experience in process engineering, operations optimization, or systems transformation.
Strong process mapping and workflow design experience.
Ability to translate operational needs into scalable SOPs and system requirements.
Intermediate to advanced analytical capability.
Experience with operational or logistical systems.
Experience in capacity planning, workforce forecasting, or operational demand modeling.
Strong communication and stakeholder‑management skills.
Ability to work across shipboard and shoreside environments.

Nice To Haves

Experience in hospitality, cruise, transportation, or aviation resource planning.
Familiarity with revenue management or resource capacity modeling.
Experience with enterprise system integration.
Lean Six Sigma training or certification.

Responsibilities

Conduct a full diagnostic of the request-to-approval workflow across shipboard and shoreside teams.
Evaluate system configurations, data fields, request categories, and approval logic.
Map user roles and identify inconsistencies, workarounds, and operational gaps.
Analyze historical usage, revenue displacement, and trends in request mis-categorization.
Create a standardized, enterprise-level workflow for request intake, approval hierarchy, documentation, and exception management.
Develop RACI models, SOPs, and clearly defined approval rights.
Recommend process simplification to reduce complexity and error points.
Define the data model and key metrics for forecasting, budgeting, and performance tracking.
Collaborate with IT, Revenue, and Hotel Operations on data flow automation and system integration.
Recommend system enhancements to enforce governance and eliminate unauthorized approvals.
Quantify the financial impact of employee cabin usage.
Develop a financial planning framework and budget guidelines.
Identify opportunities to mitigate revenue displacement through optimized cabin utilization.
Ensure recommendations can scale across the Royal Caribbean Group fleet.
Partner with cross-brand stakeholders on process and system alignment.
Support change management and fleetwide rollout.
Prepare training materials, dashboards, and SOP documentation.
Monitor adoption and effectiveness post-launch.
Develop capacity models to forecast demand based on ship class, itinerary, seasonality, and operational programs.
Identify forecast gaps between available inventory and expected employee cabin needs.
Provide scenario-based planning recommendations for peak periods, dry docks, special projects, and regulatory staffing.
Build a long-term cabin utilization plan aligned with annual operating plans and multi-year deployment strategies.
Partner with Finance, Revenue Management, and Hotel Operations to incorporate usage assumptions into annual budgets and long-range planning.
Establish a governance rhythm to track forecast versus actual usage.
Lead the end-to-end crew staffing (PAR) planning process across seasons, itineraries, and operational programs.
Develop data-driven PAR models incorporating historical trends, operational drivers, entertainment programs, regulatory staffing, and seasonal fluctuations.
Align staffing plans with available cabin capacity to prevent unplanned occupancy or revenue displacement.
Partner with HR, Marine, Hotel, Safety, Entertainment, and Finance to ensure staffing decisions reflect operational realities and capacity constraints.
Develop a long-range PAR planning framework to support multi-year deployment strategies, newbuild introductions, and fleetwide staffing changes.