Drydock Projects Director in London

We are excited to be hiring for a Drydock Projects Director to join our growing Drydock & Maintenance team. In this role, you will oversee the successful delivery of drydock operations across the MSC Cruises and Explora Journeys fleets.

In this role, you will lead the end-to-end management and delivery of assigned vessel drydock projects. This includes ensuring that each project is executed safely, delivered on schedule, managed within budget, and completed to the required quality standards, while fully complying with contractual, regulatory, and organisational requirements. You will also act as the single point of accountability for drydock execution governance, with responsibility for commercial, financial, and contractual control with shipyards.

Your Impact

• Acts as the recognised project lead for assigned vessel drydock operations across the fleet.
• Defines and implements robust project governance and execution strategies, ensuring alignment across all stakeholders involved in drydock activities.
• Accountable for the definition and approval of the consolidated Scope of Work (SOW) for each drydock campaign.
• Ensures integration of technical, operational, and logistics requirements into a coherent execution plan.
• Acts as senior interface with shipyards, managing all commercial and contractual relationships.
• Leads contract negotiations, variations, claims, and change orders with shipyards.
• Holds financial accountability for drydock budget performance and final cost outcomes.
• Ensures approved scope, including authorised changes, is delivered within agreed cost and schedule constraints.
• Oversees change management processes, ensuring structured control of all scope variations and extra works.
• Chairs key execution coordination forums, ensuring alignment between technical, operational, and shipyard stakeholders.
• Leads resolution of escalated conflicts between technical disciplines, operational requirements, and execution priorities.
• Ensures application of structured project controls over cost, schedule, and scope performance.
• Maintains governance discipline across drydock execution, ensuring compliance with internal procedures and external requirements.
• Ensures effective coordination with the Fleet Asset Authority (DPA) regarding vessel deployment constraints and drydock timing alignment.
• Ensures lessons learned, risks, and performance feedback are captured and embedded into future drydock cycles.
• Builds and maintains strong relationships with shipyards and key external stakeholders.
• Undertakes additional responsibilities as required, consistent with the complexity of drydock execution activities.

Your Journey so far

• Proven track record in delivering large-scale, complex capital projects, ideally within ship repair and conversions.
• Strong experience leading multi-disciplinary and internationally distributed teams.
• Solid background in project governance, cost control, and execution management in complex industrial environments.
• Experience working across technical, operational, and commercial functions including procurement, engineering, operations, and finance.
• Strong stakeholder management capability, with proven ability to operate at senior executive and shipyard management level.
• Experience in managing contractual frameworks, claims, and commercial negotiations in industrial or marine contexts.

Your Essentials

• Degree in Engineering, Naval Architecture, or related technical discipline.
• Demonstrable experience in ship repair, drydock operations, shipbuilding, or large-scale marine engineering projects.
• Experience in complex multi-stakeholder industrial execution environments.

Our commitment

We are committed to building a future that values diverse perspectives, embraces the world beyond borders, and fosters an inclusive environment where every individual feels valued, respected and empowered to be their authentic selves. Our commitment extends to taking meaningful, measurable actions that have a long-term positive impact on our guests, our employees and our planet.

Ready to turn your passion into something extraordinary? Join us at MSC Cruises, where new opportunities await. Apply today to be part of a global team that is pushing boundaries and achieving something remarkable. Your journey starts here!