Senior Manager, Social Communities

Job Summary

The Sr. Manager, Social Communities will lead Viking’s Social Communities team—an essential function that serves as one of the brand’s frontline voices, reputation guardians, and guest experience amplifiers. This role is responsible for ensuring Viking’s brand reputation on social media is actively earned and protected through real-time engagement, strategic listening, and cross-functional influence.

The Sr. Manager will guide the team in building brand affinity and loyalty by fostering meaningful guest interactions, surfacing actionable insights, and driving resolution of guest issues. This leader will champion the unique value of the Communities team across the organization, ensuring its contributions are understood, adopted, and leveraged to support adjustments and/or improvements in product, service, and overall guest experience. The role works closely with department leadership to shape team priorities and contribute to broader strategic initiatives, ensuring alignment with organizational goals and leadership expectations.

While this role contributes to strategic planning and cross-functional alignment, it is also deeply hands-on and operational. The Sr. Manager will oversee day-to-day community engagement across social platforms, manage inbound and outbound interactions, and ensure timely, empathetic responses to guest inquiries, comments, and complaints. They will work closely with Customer Service and Corporate Communications to maintain consistency and quality across channels, especially during moments of crisis or heightened visibility.

This role requires a strategic thinker who is also a detail-oriented executor—someone who can develop and implement process improvements, manage social media tools and workflows, and mentor a high-performing team of Community Leads and Specialists. The Sr. Manager will be deeply embedded in the daily rhythms of social listening, engagement, and reporting, while also supporting growth and innovation in Viking’s community strategy.

Job Responsibilities

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• Lead and advocate for the Communities team’s contributions, ensuring visibility across departments and clear communication with cross-functional partners and executive leaders about emerging and ongoing issues.
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• Translate real-time guest feedback and sentiment into actionable insights for Customer Relations, Product, Guest Services, Marketing, and Executive teams.
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• Coordinate with the Customer Service team to ensure consistent and accurate information across all channels.
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• Partner with Public Relations and Corporate Communications during crises to craft response strategies and provide leadership with sentiment and engagement updates.
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• Guide the team in identifying and escalating emerging issues, trends, and opportunities that impact brand reputation and guest satisfaction.
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• Work closely with leadership and key stakeholders to align strategic goals and initiatives.
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• Own the development and optimization of social media management tools (e.g., Khoros, Talkwalker), including onboarding, tagging, and categorization systems.
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• Oversee inbound and outbound engagement across social platforms, ensuring timely, empathetic, and brand-aligned interactions.
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• Deliver regular reporting that highlights community sentiment, engagement metrics, and strategic recommendations and/or actionable insights.
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• Develop and implement process improvements to enhance community care, engagement, and operational efficiency in both in owned and partner-led channels.
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• Manage and mentor Social Communities Leads and Specialists, fostering a culture of excellence, empathy, and continuous learning and ensuring the team delivers on objectives, priorities and deadlines.
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• Oversee day-to-day social listening and community engagement operations to maintain quality outputs and team efficiency.
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• Monitor global news and social trends daily to inform proactive listening and brand protection strategies.
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• Manage and evolve the library of template responses, topic tags/labels, engagement protocols and inbound categorization within tools.
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Job Requirements

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• 7+ years managing and moderating owned and public social communities, with a strong track record in brand reputation and crisis response.
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• 2+ years leading and developing high-performing community teams.
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• Expertise in using social media management tools (preferably Khoros, Talkwalker, Sprout Social or similar) for social listening, engagement, community care, and insights.
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• Extensive and proven experience working with customer service teams to resolve consumer issues and improve satisfaction.
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• Exceptional writing, editing, and communication skills with a deep understanding of brand voice and tone.
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• Ability to navigate ambiguity, pivot priorities and lead calmly under pressure.
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• Demonstrated ability to exercise sound judgment in high-pressure, public-facing situations.
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• Strong leadership and team management abilities.
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• Strong strategic thinking, problem-solving capabilities, with a focus on customer satisfaction.
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• Proactive and resourceful self-starter with strong organizational and interpersonal skills.
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• Passion for travel, learning and world cultures.
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• Ability to foster optimism and resilience in dynamic, fast-paced environments.
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• Experience in internal advocacy and stakeholder education.
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• Bachelor’s degree in marketing, journalism, PR, communications, or equivalent experience.
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What We Offer You

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• Highly competitive compensation plan.
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• Salary range $125,000-$140,000 annually determined by a myriad of factors including, but not limited to, years of experience, depth of experience, individual qualifications and other relevant business considerations.
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• Employees are eligible for annual discretionary bonus.
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• 401(k) plan with company match.
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• Employee Share Purchase Plan (ESPP) Viking full-time regular employees working in the United States can purchase Viking shares through payroll deductions.
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• Full benefits including medical, dental, vision, life and disability insurance at a highly subsidized rate (some plans are fully paid by Viking).
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• Accrue 15 paid vacation days, sick time accrual by state, and 6 paid holidays per year.
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• Opportunity to take a free and/or discounted cruise.
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• Highly subsidized gym membership.
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• Discounts on theatres, theme parks, movie tickets, travel discounts through IATA membership and too many more discounts to name.
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Viking is a certified Great Place to Work company. This certification is a result of our commitment to excellence, integrity and our teams’ outstanding contributions.

About Viking

Viking was founded in 1997 and provides destination-focused voyages on oceans, rivers and lakes around the world. Designed for experienced travelers with interests in science, history, culture and cuisine, Chairman Torstein Hagen often says Viking offers experiences for The Thinking Person®.

Viking has more than 250 awards to its name, including being rated #1 for Rivers, #1 for Oceans and #1 for Expeditions by Condé Nast Traveler and voted at the top of its categories by Travel + Leisure. No other cruise line has ever received these same honors by both publications at the same time.