Senior Director, Electrical, Automation, Safety & Nautical (Cruise)

New senior level role based in Southampton (Hybrid) for a Senior Director, Electrical, Automation, Safety & Nautical to join a global brand in the cruise sector.

You will provide senior technical leadership and act as the company’s recognised technical authority across the electrical, automation, safety and nautical disciplines within newbuild programs as well as providing support to the in‑service fleet of ships owned.

Responsibilities

This pivotal role carries end‑to‑end accountability for technical excellence, strategic direction, governance and risk management across electrical power generation and distribution, automation and control systems, and integrated safety and nautical systems, influencing vessel design from early concept through construction and commissioning. Your involvement won’t stop there; your skills and expertise may also be called upon to support our fleet of ships in service too.

• Provide senior technical leadership and decision authority for the EASN disciplines, acting as final escalation point for complex and high‑risk matters.
• Accountable for technical governance and integrity across supplier selection, system concepts, and high‑ and low‑level design development.
• Ensure end‑to‑end technical oversight across the full vessel lifecycle, from early concept and contract definition through construction, commissioning and delivery.
• Represent the company as senior technical authority with shipyards, key suppliers, consultants, class societies and regulatory bodies.
• Identify, manage and mitigate technical risk, while driving innovation, standardisation, lessons learned and continuous improvement across newbuild programmes.
• Develop and empower technical leaders within the EASN department through mentoring, delegation and clear accountability, while retaining ownership of outcomes and technical integrity.
• Act as a technical ambassador within and beyond the organization, fostering strong relationships across the brands, technical communities and external industry stakeholders.

Requirements

• Significant senior technical leadership experience within complex engineering environments, ideally shipbuilding, marine, offshore or similarly regulated industries, with accountability for technical outcomes across multiple projects.
• Strong Electrical Engineering background – previous seagoing experience as ETO or Electrical Engineer (desirable)
• Proven experience acting as a technical authority and escalation point, resolving complex and high‑risk technical issues and influencing design, specification and delivery decisions.
• Demonstrable experience leading technical strategy, roadmaps and innovation, including contribution to wider organisational technology plans and future capability development.
• Experience working in matrix organisations, collaborating across disciplines, brands, suppliers, shipyards, consultants and corporate stakeholders.
• Track record of mentoring and developing technical capability, supporting succession planning, knowledge transfer and long‑term organisational resilience.

Required Qualifications

• Degree in relevant engineering discipline
• Chartered Engineer
• MSc, MEng or MBA
• Project management recognised accreditation (e.g. Agile, PRinCE2, PMP)