Head of Cruise Customer Experience, Thomson Cruises

The Head of Cruise Customer Experience will be responsible for leading and managing the entry in to service of 3 new ships joining the Thomson fleet by delivering 100% growth in cruise margin over the next 5 years with overall accountability for the Customer Experience vision, leading and inspiring internal and external teams to deliver a cruise experience that will drive brand preference and growth, including exceptional level of customer service, maximising operational efficiencies and embedding a proactive asset management strategy.

The role-holder will drive all customer experience activity across Thomson Cruises as we drive the operational implementation of our fleet transformation and modernisation strategy, delivering EBITA growth, capitalising on distribution opportunities across the wider TUI Group, and implementing a contemporary long term customer proposition that maximises Thomson cruises unique position in the UK market.

What you will be doing

The Head of Cruise Customer Experience will define and deliver the cruise customer strategy through effective product design, development and delivery and optimising marketing strategies. This will be aligned with the UK customer strategy but retaining Thomson Cruises’ key values and differentiators to drive brand preference and business growth.

The Head of Cruise Customer Experience will lead the holistic design and development of the on board experience, via customer centric concepts and propositions, optimising the refurbishment budget and ensuring consistency of product and service delivery and protection of financial benefits as our three new ships enter the fleet.

Concepts will modernise Thomson Cruises improving choice from a hotel, entertainment or service perspective and integrating customer focussed technology as appropriate. On-going product development and collaboration with other source markets will identify and implement additional requirements to maximise distribution across multiple TUI Group source markets.

The role holder will lead and develop clear product and marketing strategies for both the new and existing fleet to differentiate them and implement these strategies to broaden the appeal of Thomson Cruises and drive and deliver 60% passenger growth.

You will lead the definition of the UK cruise brand strategy as the business transition to the TUI brand, identifying the UK Cruise position in the broader Group. You will also deliver the brand strategy, ensuring Cruise is integrated into all brand marketing and tactical activity to support cruise specific requirements.

The role holder will be responsible for Thomson Cruises communication across all customer touch points and channels, producing content and collateral across the full customer journey driving efficiencies and sustainability.

The role holder will be an ambassador for change and provide challenge, thought leadership and professional guidance to other teams on customer experience. Sharing and learning from best practice from across TUI and externally from other companies and sectors. Using this knowledge to ensure our customer experience plans and approach are best in class.

You will manage a high profile/ high calibre team to deliver our cruise customer strategy and act as customer advocate to influence strategy, commercial and operational decisions, putting customers at the heart of our business.

What we are looking for

• Experience of developing strategy and managing multiple projects from concept through to delivery.
• An expert in customer experience management, with a proven track record of embedding customer experience into an organisation and delivering customer experience initiatives through the collaboration and motivation of cross-functional teams.
• A strong understanding of what ‘great’ looks like, and what the best companies in the world are doing to improve their customer experience, but able to take a practical and pragmatic approach, and come up with solutions based on what matters most to customers balanced with the commercial needs of the business
• Experienced in overcoming the management challenges of improving customer experience, such as securing investment and gaining the organisational engagement necessary to implement change in matrix organisations 
• Extensive experience of people management (direct and supplier) and leadership of teams
• Complex commercial / marketing led business transformation program management experience
• Strategic planning and delivery leadership
• Stakeholder management, collaboration and influencing skills along with inspirational leadership ability
• Proven financial and commercial acumen to prepare and deliver operational budgets
• Resilient personality with good inter-personal skills and be able to adapt to changes in priority
• Highly accountable with a passion for results and a determination to succeed

Working within TUI group

Help make our customers smile and in return you will be rewarded with a competitive salary and pension scheme. Additional benefits include holiday, flight and foreign exchange discounts, a childcare voucher scheme and lots more.*

TUI UK and Ireland is the UK’s largest tour operator with key brands including Thomson and First Choice. We employ a team of 13,300 employees and serve over 5.2 million customers each year.

TUI Group is the world’s number one integrated tourism business operating in around 180 countries worldwide with over 1,800 travel agencies across Europe, six airlines operating more than 130 aircraft, more than 300 Group-owned hotels and resorts and twelve cruise ships. Our 77,000 colleagues, all with a passion for holidays, work hard to deliver our customer promise ”Discover your smile”

How to apply

To apply for this role use the link below where you will be required to provide personal details, complete an online application form and upload a CV.