DIRECTOR, GLOBAL CRUISE BUSINESS

Background & Purpose of the Job:

The Director, Global Cruise Business leads and expands all cruise-related activities within SEB Professional Beverage, driving profitable growth, operational excellence, and outstanding customer satisfaction across global cruise operators and key stakeholders. Combining strategic vision with an entrepreneurial mindset, this role brings strong commercial leadership and hands-on operational expertise to grow the business, strengthen partnerships, and deliver innovative beverage solutions tailored to the cruise industry. As a key leader, the Director ensures SEB Professional Beverage is the partner of choice for equipment, solutions, and services worldwide, setting the benchmark for quality, reliability, and customer experience.

Who You Are & What You’ll Do:

Strategic Planning & Market Development:

• Develop mid‑ and long‑term plans for the cruise business, aligned with SEB Professional Beverage strategy.

• Monitor market trends, competition and regulations to identify growth opportunities and risks.

• Provide cruise-specific input to Product Management and R&D for portfolio development.

• Contribute to overall commercial strategy and route to market of SEB Professional Beverage

   

Leadership & Team Management:

• Lead, coordinate and develop the global cruise team, including both direct reports and functional/dotted-line roles in 
  US, Germany and UK.
• Define clear objectives, roles, KPIs and ways of working for all contributors to the cruise business, 
  regardless of their local reporting line.
• Establish effective governance (regular calls, review meetings, escalation paths) to ensure alignment across locations and functions.
• Support hiring, onboarding and training of team members, and foster a collaborative, accountable and high‑performance culture.

• Engage internal stakeholders to ensure high quality execution of critical business activities for Global Cruise business

   

Business Development & Sales Management:

• Define and execute the global commercial strategy for the cruise segment.
• Acquire and develop strategic accounts (cruise lines, shipyards, key partners).
• Lead major negotiations and contracts, ensuring profitable and long‑term partnerships.
• Drive upselling and cross‑selling of equipment, solutions, services and digital offerings to maximize share of wallet.
• Manage the sales pipeline, forecasting and reporting to ensure transparency and predictability of the cruise business.

 Operational & Service Management:

• Oversee end-to-end operations for cruise projects (order intake, planning, logistics, installation), 
  coordinating work done from different locations.
• Manage, in coordination with local operations and warehouse teams, the inventory and logistics for cruise 
  equipment and spare parts.
• Ensure efficient AP/AR and S&OP processes in collaboration with Finance and Supply Chain.
• Coordinate with central and local service organizations and partners to deliver reliable after sales support worldwide.
• Ensure efficient coordination of activities for “moving targets” (ships in different regions, short port stays, tight project windows).
• Ensure efficient AP/AR and S&OP processes in collaboration with Finance and Supply Chain.

Customer Experience & Relationship Management:

• Ensure high customer satisfaction, acting as escalation point for key accounts.
• Conduct regular reviews and on‑board visits to assess performance of equipment and services.
• Identify recurring issues and drive continuous improvement of products, processes and service.
• Promote the use of digital tools (e.g. CRM) and best practices across the cruise activities.