Job Summary
The Vice President (VP) leads end-to-end destination operations to deliver world-class, safe, and efficient guest experiences across attractions, rides, aquatic operations, entry operations, central zone operations, and shared services. The VP sets strategy and standards for guest flow, safety, staffing, show readiness, incident response, and quality across parks and zones. The role also ensures frontline service delivery and Voice of Customer management. The VP is also accountable for operational KPIs such as safety, throughput, uptime, guest satisfaction and cost efficiency, while strengthening the brand through differentiated experiences and seamless arrivals. The role will also lead capital and refurbishment plans, ensuring regulatory compliance and continuous improvements in the quality of the facilities.
Job Responsibilities
Strategic Leadership & Governance:
- Define and execute operations strategies that are aligned with brand, growth, safety, ESG, and financial targets.
- Establish governance for operating procedures, standards, and audits across all operating areas.
- Own the annual operating plan and longer-term plan for OPEX/CAPEX, prioritizing investments in throughput, safety, and guest value.
Attractions/Rides Operations & Safety:
- Oversee daily operations of all attractions and zones, ensuring quality, availability, and time-to-recover standards.
- Drive throughput efficiency via dispatch optimization, queue management and queue strategies.
- Ensure adherence to operator certification/recertification and emergency protocols.
- Lead downtime root-cause reviews and drive corrective action plans.
- Ensure lifeguard staffing, certification, vigilance standards and water quality compliance.
- Oversee all aquatic rides, ensuring optimal load, rescue-readiness, and safety SOPs.
- Ensure compliance with ride codes, standards, fire life safety, accessibility, and environmental requirements.
- Oversee safety protocols, regulatory compliance, and risk mitigation strategies.
- Ensure a safe and secure environment for guests and employees while maintaining adherence to local, national, and industry standards.
- Champion safety reporting, incident investigations, trend analytics, and continuous improvement.
Scheduling, Workforce Optimization and Operations Base:
- Lead centralized scheduling and manpower planning (seasonality, events, weather, school holidays).
- Implement workforce management systems to optimize demand, minimize overtime, and enhance team well-being.
- Drive cross-training and talent pipelines for critical operations roles.
- Ensure readiness of the Operations Base for real-time monitoring of ride status, queues, capacity, show control, incidents, and weather.
- Leverage on CCTV, access control, ticketing, and guest flow analytics for dynamic decision-making.
New Attractions & Refurbishment Projects:
- Collaborate with design, construction, and creative teams to align operational needs with development plans.
- Oversee the development and management of detailed operational timelines, milestones, and deliverables.
- Identify operational risks and develop mitigation strategies.
- Ensure compliance with safety, accessibility, and regulatory standards throughout the development process.
- Oversee budget planning and resource allocation for operational components.
- Manage expenditures and ensure cost-effective solutions.
- Manage seasonal and major refurbishments to minimize guest impact, ensuring recommissioning and acceptance testing.
- Own Operational Readiness (SOPs, staffing models, training, crowd-flow, signage, accessibility, emergency procedures).
Guest Experience:
- Define standards for guest experience, ticketing and turnstiles.
- Oversee Guest Services and Guest Correspondence with SLA-driven responsiveness and insight mining.
- Design and scale VIP Tours and premium experiences (capacity, pricing, routing, hosts, service recovery).
- Own admissions operations: ticketing systems, online/offline sales integration, fraud prevention, passholder processing, and turnstile throughput.
- Optimize arrival flows.
- Partner with IT on POS uptime, identity & access, and real-time capacity dashboards.
Park & Central Zone Operations:
- Coordinate cleanliness, theming upkeep, audio/lighting, and utilities coordination to maintain an immersive environment.
- Manage routes, events, seasonal overlays, and post-show egress efficiency.
Park Quality:
- Oversee enhancement projects execution by managing budgets, internal stakeholders, vendors and consultants.
- Oversee inspections and ensure compliance with quality standards and regulations.
Job Requirements
- Bachelor's degree in Operations Management, Hospitality, or related field.
- 15-20 years of experience in large-scale theme parks, attractions, cruises, stadiums, airports, or resort operations, with at least 5 years in senior leadership.
- Proven track record in ride/aquatic operations, safety systems, workforce optimization, and multi-million OPEX/CAPEX management.
- Deep familiarity with ride codes/standards, aquatic safety, emergency response protocols, and permit regimes.
- Experience leading operational readiness for new attractions and major refurbishments.
- Conversant with workforce management, ticketing/turnstile systems, access control, queue management, and analytics dashboards.
- Business-oriented and creative mindset, with the ability to balance commercial and operational requirements in decision making.
- Strong leadership, interpersonal, verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to communicate clearly, concisely and persuasively with a wide range of diverse personnel.
- Able to handle multiple priorities simultaneously and meet dynamic demands.
- Resilient, adaptable and able to work through issues and provide solutions in a challenging and fast paced environment.
