Director, Youth, Sports & Family Experience

The Director, Youth, Sports and Family Experience develops and executes multigenerational entertainment, Sports, Attractions and supervised youth programs across the US and Australia fleet of 29 ships carrying over 1 million youth annually leading 4 managers, 2 shoreside, 10 Fleet Supervisors and 925+ shipboard team members. This role oversees key areas such as Youth Programming, Attractions, Operations, Compliance, Partnerships, Revenue, and New Builds & Refurbishments and manages financial plans in excess of $20M+ operating and capital expenses.

This role is responsible for the strategic vision and development of Carnival's onboard Youth Programs: Turtles, Camp Ocean, Circle “C”, & Club O2 and the Sports and Attractions programs. While working closely with the Director, Entertainment Experience to provide family focused experiences.

Key responsibilities include programming, partnerships, operations, compliance, product development, interior design, revenue, brand management, and marketing. This position provides leadership and development for both shoreside and shipboard teams, including, Youth Program Directors, Teen Leaders, Camp Counselors, Animators, Sports Managers, Sports Staff and Fleet Supervisors.

Essential Functions:

• Strategic Development:  Youth and Family Experience: Develop and implement comprehensive strategies to enhance the Youth and Family experience, ensuring consistency across the fleet. Build strategy to effectively and safely operate four unique onboard youth programs, sports programming and attractions. Uphold the brand promise through strategic leadership and innovation. Develop strategy for future youth and family marketable programs and partnerships to reinforce Carnival as a family brand. 

•  

• Partnerships: Lead strategic partnership plan to provide all age groups and families unique and exciting onboard experiences, factoring in competitive landscape, licensing fees, capital investments, revenue opportunities, and consumer perception.   

•  

• Venue Design: Lead product development for new youth and family onboard venues. Build multi-year strategy for hardware maintenance, including Youth Programs facilities and attractions, by minimizing investment costs and maximizing returns through a detailed understanding of optimal areas of opportunity, hardware lifecycle, and industry recommendations.

• Program, Operations & Innovation:  Onboard Activations: Innovate and elevate programs for all ages through strategic external partnerships and onboard activations, including collaborations with renowned brands such as Dr. Seuss Enterprises, Build-A-Bear and Sky Zone. Stay updated on industry trends to refresh or retire activations as needed.

• Supervised Programs: Design and deliver safe and compelling experiences for kids and teens in dedicated youth areas, sports areas and across the ship, considering engagement for children with disabilities and neurodivergent youth. Oversee all policies, procedures and standards for Youth Programs, including necessary staff training. Maintain competitive awareness. 

• New Builds and Dry Dock: Lead and oversee product development for refits and new builds, including vision setting, executive approvals, financial planning, negotiations, operation integration, and strategic rollout.

• Fee-based Experiences: Build and enhance revenue streams. Increase current revenue and minimize costs to deliver greater profitability year over year for the department, including offerings such as BOLT, EDGE, Build-A-Bear Workshop, Night Owls babysitting, paid crafting, and specialty entertainment to provide paid entertainment opportunities. Drive growth and performance through effective leadership, resource allocation, and revenue management. 

• Branding: Conceptualize and build branding for partnership activations and new youth and family experiences. Ensure brand guardrails tied to onboard youth programs are maintained and evolve. Develop operational procedures and standards for programs that support Carnival's family focus and other operational procedures impacting the broader shipboard operation.

• Marketing: Propose and review marketing efforts around partnerships and youth programs, onboard and consumer-facing, to reinforce Carnival's commitment to families. Build strategy for related areas of HubApp.