Senior Specialist, Music Operations

Position Overview

The Senior Specialist, Music Operations is responsible for the support of Celebrity Cruises Live Music and DJ department through the analysis of onboard programming and the operational effectiveness of all programming and associated assets. This position will support the scheduling and processing of crew members across the Music department and assist in coordinating and communicating with various shipboard and shoreside personnel as well as outside vendors.

This role will report to the Manager, Music Development & Operations.

• Supports Live Music with crew scheduling needs to ensure the fleet is fully staffed while developing and maintaining a pipeline of staff to accommodate for internal promotions and fleet growth.
• Manages onboarding for all musicians and DJs for fleet.
• Oversees DJ vetting, hiring, scheduling and processing.
• Assists with the schedule, budget, travel and accommodations for the Rehearsal Music Director.
• Conducts analysis and administration of existing Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for Celebrity Cruises entertainment experiences, ensuring they align with the company's brand values, vision, standards and guest expectations as well as development of new SOPs in collaboration with Live Music Shoreside and Shipboard teams.
• Aid programming execution, consistency in delivery and quality while assessing and implementing adjustments based on brand initiatives, guest feedback and consumer insights.
• Collaborates with Marketing and Entertainment teams to ensure Celebrity Cruises and Entertainment websites and social media accurately reflect onboard Entertainment Experiences and to attract top talent for onboard positions within the department, ensuring highest level of talent is sourced.
• Conduct regular audits and evaluations of Live Music cruise grids, Celebrity Today schedules and Celebrity App offerings to ensure adherence to established SOPs.
• Utilize data analysis to review guest feedback, trends and comments in Medallia survey to leverage successful programming strategies.
• Collaborates with internal stakeholders to utilize data to identify patterns, preferences, and areas of opportunity in Live Music and develop actionable strategies to support.
• Create comprehensive reports and presentations to show findings for Live Music through analysis of End of Voyage reports.
• Keep up to date with industry trends, emerging technologies and entertainment innovations.
• Research creative ideas for new entertainment concepts, technologies, and collaborations that align with guest interests and feedback found within data, to enhance the overall guest experience.
• Analysis of onboard programming and how it relates to utilization of onboard par of entertainment team.
• Assists with the management of music licenses.
• Collaborates on Fleetwide Background Music (BGM) strategy and operations.
• Oversees handover strategy for onboard rehearsals including the Extra Cabin Request system in tandem with Theatrical, Wardrobe and Revenue Teams.
• Updates Live Music archive to ensure information is accurate, accessible and distributed to team members as needed.

Performs related duties as required; this position description in no way states or implies that these are the only duties to be performed by the employee occupying this position.

• Bachelor’s Degree in Music, Entertainment, Arts Administration or a minimum of two to three (2-3) years comparable work experience in the entertainment or cruise industry with an emphasis on programming or music.
• Strong ability to gather, interpret and report accurately on data.
• Proactive mindset, forward‑think who acts with a sense of urgency and is on the pulse of trends within entertainment experiences, music programming and the cruise industry.
• Excellent business communication skills both verbally and in writing; ability to read, analyze and interpret general business periodicals, analytics reports and legal documents.
• Ability to assess and evaluate musical talent through audition material, show reels and promotional submissions.
• Ability to effectively present information and respond to questions from executive management, groups of managers, employees,…