Senior Product Manager
Apply on The Walt Disney Company's site
Job Posting Title:
Senior Product Manager
Req ID:
10162033
Job Description:
At Disney Experiences Technology, our team creates world-class immersive digital experiences for the Company’s premier vacation brands including Disney’s Parks & Resorts worldwide, Disney Cruise Line, Aulani, A Disney Resort & Spa, and Disney Vacation Club. We are responsible for the end-to-end digital and physical Guest experience for all technology & digital-led initiatives across the Attractions & Entertainment, Food & Beverage, Resorts & Transportation, and Merchandise lines of business, as well as other initiatives including the My Disney Experience app.
As Senior Product Management, you will own the end-to-end product delivery lifecycle for Disney PhotoPass: Disney Cruise Line (DCL) initiatives putting you at the forefront of innovation, creating magical experiences through cutting-edge technology onboard the DCL fleet. You'll have the unique opportunity to apply advanced photo imaging, video, and machine learning technologies to bring joy to millions of families worldwide. This role will drive the integration of advanced analytics, artificial intelligence, and computer vision technologies into our products, transforming how our guests capture and experience their Disney vacation memories. The ideal candidate is a proactive self-starter with expertise in creating and executing product vision at the intersection of cruise shipboard/shoreside systems and cutting-edge media technology.
This role reports to Manager, Product Management and works collaboratively with cross-functional teams including product managers, engineers, designers, and business stakeholders
Key Responsibilities
Product Strategy & Vision
- Own the product strategy and vision for the Disney Cruise Line PhotoPass technology ecosystem, with near-term focus on modernizing the onboard photo platform and long-term focus on scalable digital-first growth.
- Lead the strategic transition from legacy print-based onboard photography technology to a modern digital commerce, fulfillment, association, storage, and guest-access platform.
- Define the future-state product model for DCL PhotoPass, ensuring the platform supports onboard operations, shoreside business needs, guest satisfaction, revenue growth, and future fleet expansion.
- Partner with PhotoPass technology teams to adapt, extend, and implement existing digital-first PhotoPass capabilities for the unique needs of Disney Cruise Line.
- Identify and prioritize strategic opportunities that improve guest experience, operational efficiency, revenue capture, platform scalability, and alignment with Disney’s broader digital ecosystem.
- Guide modernization away from layered legacy technology and toward clean, maintainable, platform-aligned architecture that reduces operational friction and long-term support burden.
- Serve as the accountable product leader for the long-term health, evolution, and business value of the DCL PhotoPass technology stack beyond the initial modernization project.
Product Development & Delivery
- Translate business objectives, guest-experience needs, onboard operational requirements, and technical platform constraints into actionable product requirements, user stories, acceptance criteria, and delivery plans.
- Own product discovery and requirements definition for DCL PhotoPass features, including gallery improvements, digital download experiences, commerce enhancements, mobile app integrations, entitlement improvements, and operational tooling.
- Drive backlog health, prioritization, dependency management, release planning, and delivery readiness across modernization, sustainment, and enhancement workstreams.
- Partner closely with engineering, architecture, QA, design, operations, vendors, shipboard teams, shoreside DCL leadership, and PhotoPass business stakeholders to deliver modernization milestones.
- Collaborate with QA, Guest Quality Engineering, shipboard testing teams, and release partners to validate platform changes across shoreside and onboard environments before launch.
- Partner with design and experience teams to ensure guest-facing PhotoPass experiences are intuitive, mobile-friendly, brand-appropriate, and aligned with cruise guest expectations.
- Support shipboard technology deployments, new ship launches, itinerary expansion, and future fleet growth by ensuring PhotoPass platform capabilities are repeatable, supportable, and scalable.
Strategic Planning
- Develop and maintain the DCL PhotoPass product roadmap across modernization, sustainment, platform enhancements, technical debt reduction, and future scalability.
- Lead annual operating planning, annual capital planning, and long-term planning inputs for DCL PhotoPass technology.
- Define funding needs, roadmap priorities, capacity requirements, business cases, and sequencing recommendations for DCL PhotoPass platform investment.
- Balance modernization work, sustainment needs, business priorities, technical dependencies, shipboard operational requirements, and future expansion planning.
- Communicate roadmap status, delivery risks, tradeoffs, financial implications, operational readiness, and long-term platform direction to senior leadership.
- Ensure the roadmap accounts for cruise-specific constraints, including intermittent connectivity, ship-to-shore data movement, voyage-based guest journeys, embarkation and debarkation flows, and post-cruise fulfillment needs.
Data & Analytics Leadership
- Define success metrics for modernization and ongoing platform performance, including guest engagement, digital adoption, photo purchases, conversion, revenue impact, operational performance, and supportability.
- Partner with analytics, finance, and business stakeholders to assess the impact of platform changes on guest behavior, onboard photo revenue, operational efficiency, and long-term business value.
- Use data, guest insights, operational feedback, and production performance signals to prioritize platform improvements and roadmap decisions.
- Evaluate opportunities to improve digital product performance, including gallery usability, download completion, entitlement delivery, purchase flows, and post-cruise access.
- Support business case development for platform investments by connecting product improvements to measurable guest, operational, financial, and technical outcomes.
Stakeholder Management & Collaboration
- Act as the primary liaison between Disney PhotoPass technology and Disney Cruise Line leadership for onboard photography technology needs, priorities, risks, planning, and future opportunities.
- Own the ongoing relationship between PhotoPass technology and DCL business partners, ensuring the platform continues to support onboard photography operations, guest satisfaction, revenue growth, and operational efficiency.
- Partner with onboard photography operations and shoreside DCL teams to understand real-world Cast Member workflows, guest pain points, operational limitations, and opportunities to simplify or modernize the experience.
- Manage stakeholder expectations across complex cross-functional teams, including business partners, engineering, architecture, QA, design, operations, vendors, shipboard teams, and shoreside leadership.
- Communicate clearly with senior leadership on roadmap status, delivery progress, risks, tradeoffs, financial implications, guest impact, and operational readiness.
- Own vendor and partner engagement where applicable, ensuring third-party capabilities, integrations, or services meet Disney’s technical, operational, security, and guest-experience standards.
Platform Ownership, Operations & Sustainment
- Serve as the primary product owner for the onboard and shoreside DCL PhotoPass technology ecosystem, including photo capture, image association, photo storage, gallery access, digital entitlement delivery, product purchase flows, and post-cruise photo access.
- Maintain accountability for the ongoing functionality, reliability, usability, and improvement of the onboard and shoreside PhotoPass platform.
- Own sustainment priorities, including production health, defect prioritization, operational support, technical debt reduction, reliability improvements, and iterative platform enhancements.
- Ensure product decisions account for the operational realities of cruise environments, including shipboard workflows, constrained connectivity, voyage cycles, onboard support models, and shoreside dependencies.
- Maintain strong documentation of product decisions, business rules, guest journeys, system behaviors, operational processes, and platform dependencies to support long-term ownership and knowledge continuity.
- Ensure the platform remains scalable, supportable, and aligned with future DCL business growth, including new ships, new destinations, new itinerary models, and evolving onboard photo operations.
- Take complete product accountability for the ongoing relationship between the DCL photo business, shipboard operations, shoreside leadership, and the underlying technology platform.
Key Competencies
- Ability to define product vision, modernization strategy, business value, and long-term platform direction across a complex technology ecosystem.
- Strong ability to translate complex technical, operational, and guest-experience needs into clear product requirements, user stories, acceptance criteria, and delivery priorities.
- Competency in building multi-year roadmaps, annual operating plans, annual capital plans, business cases, funding narratives, and executive-ready prioritization recommendations.
- Ability to lead engineering, architecture, QA, design, operations, vendor, shipboard, and shoreside partners through discovery, delivery, testing, launch, and sustainment.
- Ability to define success metrics, interpret product and business performance data, assess ROI, and use analytics to guide prioritization and platform improvement.
- Strong communication skills with the ability to align senior leaders, business partners, technical teams, and operational stakeholders around tradeoffs, risks, priorities, and outcomes.
- Comfort owning the long-term health of a live production platform, including sustainment, defect prioritization, supportability, reliability, and iterative improvement.
- Ability to design and deliver technology solutions that account for shipboard operations, intermittent connectivity, voyage-based guest journeys, embarkation/debarkation workflows, and shoreside dependencies.
Required Qualifications
Experience
- Bachelor's degree in business, Information Technology, Computer Science, or related field required
- Minimum 5 years of related work experience in product management, technology delivery, or strategy development
- Proven experience managing cruise line-tailored products from concept to launch
- Demonstrated success with the software delivery lifecycle and agile methodologies
- Experience leading initiatives spanning multiple teams and functional areas
- Track record of integrating diverse viewpoints toward unified solutions
- This role will require up to 10% domestic and international travel
Technical Skills
- Solid understanding of Disney Cruise Line onboard and shoreside technologies, including passenger services, financial systems, cloud data migration, and commerce platforms.
- Ability to work with complex and multifaceted technology stacks that integrate deeply and critically onboard and shoreside with different business systems.
- Strong analytical skills with experience using data, metrics, and experimentation for product decisions.
- Proficiency with data visualization and collaboration tools.
- Proficiency and literacy in AI productivity workflow tools.
Preferred Qualifications
- Master's degree in business, Information Technology, Computer Science, or related field
- Experience with Disney Cruise Line operations or hospitality industry
- Background in photography, digital imaging, or photo-sharing platforms
- Experience with cloud-based ML platforms (AWS SageMaker, Google Cloud AI, Azure ML)
- Knowledge of privacy regulations and ethical AI principles
- Experience with real-time image processing and edge computing
- Familiarity with Disney brand standards and guest experience principles
- Relevant certifications in AI/ML, product management, or cloud platforms valued
Why Disney PhotoPass?
Join us in creating magical moments that last a lifetime. As part of the Disney PhotoPass team, you'll have the opportunity to blend cutting-edge technology with world-class storytelling to deliver experiences that delight guests from around the world. Your work will directly contribute to preserving the magic of Disney memories for millions of families.
The hiring range for this position in Orlando, FL is $135,200 to $181,200 per year. The base pay actually offered will take into account internal equity and also may vary depending on the candidate's geographic region, job-related knowledge, skills, and experience among other factors. A bonus and/or long-term incentive units may be provided as part of the compensation package, in addition to the full range of medical, financial and/or other benefits, dependent on the level and position offered.
Job Posting Segment:
DX Technology
Job Posting Primary Business:
Tech Delivery, Platforms, & Core Systems
Primary Job Posting Category:
Product Management
Employment Type:
Full time
Primary City, State, Region, Postal Code:
Orlando, FL, USA
Alternate City, State, Region, Postal Code:
Date Posted:
2026-10-07
About The Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company started as a cartoon studio and evolves into sports coverage and television shows.