Lead Product Manager

At The Walt Disney Company, the Disney Experiences Technology team creates world-class immersive digital experiences for the company’s premier vacation brands, including Disney Parks & Resorts worldwide and Disney Signature Experiences.

Within Disney Signature Experiences, the Disney Cruise Line team is responsible for delivering end-to-end digital and physical experiences for both Guests and Cast Members. This includes leading technology and digital initiatives across the fleet, supporting core platforms, the Disney Cruise Line website, and the Disney Cruise Line Navigator mobile app, while serving multiple lines of business both shoreside and onboard.

The Lead Product Manager role sits within the Pre-Booking and Post-Booking technology and digital segment of the Disney Cruise Line business. Reporting to the Senior Manager of Product Management, this role drives product strategy, concept development, and delivery of initiatives that enhance the Cruise shopping and planning experience. The position works closely with Product Management, Technology, and Business Operations teams to bring innovative solutions to market.

The Lead Product Manager is responsible for defining the strategic direction of technology and digital programs supporting Disney Cruise Line’s shoreside products. This role collaborates with leadership to identify opportunities leveraging emerging technologies, while partnering with cross-functional teams to deliver products that support business objectives and elevate the Guest experience.

Success in this role requires strong collaboration within a matrixed organization, the ability to manage multiple priorities, and comfort operating both independently and across teams. The Lead Product Manager synthesizes complex technologies and capabilities into intuitive, high-quality digital products and applications. Additionally, this role serves as a liaison between development, implementation, and support teams, while overseeing multiple initiatives, driving continuous improvements, and managing product backlogs and feature prioritization.

Responsibilities:

• Define product strategy and roadmap for Cruise shopping and planning experiences, creating outcome-based roadmaps that align Guest needs, business objectives, and technology capabilities.
• Partner with Product Managers, engineering, and business teams to translate product vision into prioritized initiatives, ensuring development teams understand product goals and priorities.
• Lead cross-functional collaboration across Disney Experiences Technology & Digital, business leaders, creative teams, and operations to deliver aligned, enterprise-wide solutions.
• Serve as the primary product representative for Disney Cruise Line partners, acting as a key liaison between business stakeholders, development teams, and leadership.
• Gather and define product requirements, translating concepts into epics, user stories, and other product documentation to support successful delivery.
• Use data and market insights to guide decisions, monitoring Guest behavior, analytics, and consumer testing to track KPIs and refine product strategies.
• Provide leadership visibility and product reporting, including scorecards, progress updates, and strategic recommendations to business and technology leaders.
• Lead and coordinate delivery across multiple teams, including internal squads and external vendors, ensuring successful execution of product initiatives.
• Resolve blockers and manage product risks, negotiating across teams and supporting defect triage and issue resolution throughout development and release cycles.
• Champion a product-centric approach to digital and technology initiatives, helping evolve strategies and operating models that enhance Guest experiences and support Cast and Crew operations.
• Communicate effectively with stakeholders at all levels, from end users to executives, through presentations, documentation, and ongoing collaboration

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree required in a related field, or equivalent experience delivering product solutions across Guest Experience, Digital Marketing, eCommerce, and/or quality performance, insights, and measurement.
• 7+ years of product management experience, including 5+ years in a highly technical product management role, delivering complex digital products, enterprise platforms, or distributed systems in close partnership with engineering teams.
• Proven ability to lead product strategy and execution for multiple products or large-scale initiatives – from product definition through technical delivery and continuous iteration – aligning business objectives with scalable technology solutions that maximize business value and Guest outcomes.
• Strong technical fluency in modern software architectures, including APIs (REST, SOAP, JSON), microservices, distributed data systems, and containerization technologies.
• Demonstrated experience translating complex technical capabilities into clear product requirements, including epics, user stories, acceptance criteria and release strategies using tools such as Jira and Confluence.
• Strong analytical and data-driven decision-making skills, leveraging product analytics, KPIs, monitoring, and operational metrics to inform product strategy, prioritize work, and evaluate industry trends, technical, user, and business impacts.
• Experience leading Agile development teams within a Product Operating Model, utilizing Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) practices, and managing work at different levels using Scrum or Kanban for delivery.
• Experience with experimentation and experience analytics, including A/B testing, competitive and consumer research, and behavioral analysis using tools such as Contentsquare.
• Excellent communication, storytelling, and stakeholder leadership skills, with the ability to bridge technical and business audiences, effectively communicate complex technology concepts, influence decisions, and collaborate effectively with distributed, external, bi-coastal, and international teams.
• Proven ability to navigate complex problems, negotiate priorities, and drive alignment across cross-functional teams to deliver high-quality outcomes.
• Commitment to mentoring, guiding, and supporting team members while advocating for strong product management and Agile best practices.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Graduate degree in a related field.
• Experience working with Disney digital platforms, including Disney Cruise Line’s website, mobile app, Seaware, and shared platforms including GAM, Profile/F&F, the Adaptive Payment Platform, and the suite of asset management tools.
• Strong understanding of consumer product experience design, with the ability to build solutions that support multiple user groups including internal teams, travel agents, and direct-to-consumer Guests.
• Experience evaluating emerging technology solutions and companies for fit and viability against use cases.
• Familiarity with digital marketing performance and optimization, including SEO, social media campaign measurement, AI-driven content insights, and media attribution models.
• Familiarity with financial reporting and reconciliation, including data integrity and testing requirements for regulatory standards and best practices, including Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) rules, internal audit controls, general ledger, and fraud controls.