Senior Manager Learning & Development (f/m/d)

Riveradvice; Basel; Vor Ort; CHF 150.000 - 210.000; Vollzeit

Zusammenfassung

River Advice seeks a Senior Manager Learning & Development to lead the function across shipboard and shoreside teams of over 4,000 colleagues. You will partner with HR and business leaders to build capability across nautical, technical and hospitality functions.

You will design end-to-end L&D, including programs from deckhand to captain, implement an LMS, manage budgets, and drive training standards across nautical, technical, and hospitality domains.

Qualifikationen

• Proven experience building or scaling an L&D function in cruise, maritime, or hospitality.
• Experience managing L&D budgets and end-to-end LMS implementation.
• Design training across technical, operational and service-culture domains.
• Able to partner with senior stakeholders up to executive level.
• Degree in relevant field; CIPD certification is an advantage.
• Fluent in English and German.

Aufgaben

• Develop end-to-end L&D lifecycle for nautical, technical, and hospitality functions.
• Lead strategy for 4,000+ shipboard and shoreside colleagues across River Advice.
• Design training pathways from deckhand to captain with River Academy.
• Establish technical training programs aligned with ES-TRIN and ISO 9001.
• Lead hospitality training and service culture programs.
• Deliver onboarding, assessments, certifications, and coaching.
• Implement LMS strategy and drive its rollout across functions.
• Manage the L&D budget and reporting to leadership.
• Partner with Nautical Operations, Technical, Hospitality, and HR leadership.
• Lead and develop a team of trainers and training coordinators across regions.
• Establish reporting on training effectiveness and talent pipeline.

Kenntnisse

Leadership

Budget management

Vendor/LMS implementation

Training design

Stakeholder management

Bilingual English/German

Ausbildung

Relevant degree (organizational psychology/HRM/hospitality/maritime management)

CIPD certification (advantage)

Jobbeschreibung

Senior Manager Learning & Development (f/m/d)

Required Language

Location

Contract

100 %

Experience

Experienced

Description

It’s time to shape how 4,000+ colleagues across River Advice learn, grow, and deliver excellence — on the water, in the engine room, and at the guest table.

River Advice runs nautical, technical, and hospitality operations for river cruise fleets across Europe, as the leading white-label provider in the market. We are creating a newly scoped Senior Manager Learning & Development role to lead Learning & Development across our shipboard and shoreside workforce of more than 4,000 colleagues, partnering closely with HR and business leaders to build capability across our nautical, technical and hospitality functions.

Your responsibilities

• Develop and implement the Learning & Development lifecycle end to end: needs analysis, design, delivery, and evaluation across nautical, technical, and hospitality functions.
• Drive the implementation and continuous evolution of the Learning & Development strategy for 4,000+ shipboard and shoreside colleagues across River Advice.
• Design and continuously develop nautical training pathways, from deckhand to captain, including simulator-based training and competency assessment with our partner River Academy, aligned to the CESNI ES-QIN framework and Directive (EU) 2017/2397.
• Establish technical and engineering training programs covering vessel systems, maintenance standards, and safety-critical certification, in line with ES-TRIN and ISO 9001.
• Lead hospitality training and service-culture programs supporting guest experience standards fleet-wide, in close partnership with the VP and SVP Hospitality and the Hospitality leadership organization.
• Develop standardized hospitality training curricula and competency models for all shipboard and corporate hospitality functions, including career paths and succession planning.
• Deliver the hospitality training calendar across the season: standardized onboarding, pre-season assessments and certifications, mandatory refresher trainings, structured in-season development, and coaching for Hotel Managers and corporate teams.
• Use guest satisfaction results, audits, and quality KPIs to derive targeted development measures and ensure systematic knowledge transfer and best-practice standards across vessels and fleets.
• Recommend LMS strategy, drive vendor selection, and coordinate rollout and adoption across all functions, including the digitization of hospitality standards, manuals, and SOPs into modular e-learning and digital learning paths.
• Manage the L&D budget, with direct reporting into Director HR and dotted line to EVP Operations.
• Partner with Nautical Operations, Technical, Hospitality, and HR leadership to align training with fleet growth, newbuild timelines, and client requirements.
• Lead and develop a team of trainers and training coordinators across regions and vessels.
• Establish reporting on training effectiveness, compliance completion, and talent pipeline health for leadership review.

Your profile

• Proven experience building or scaling a Learning & Development function within cruise, maritime, or hospitality operations.
• A track record of managing L&D budgets and vendor or LMS implementation end to end.
• Experience designing training across technical, operational, and service-culture domains, ideally within a regulated or safety-critical environment.
• Comfortable partnering with senior stakeholders up to executive level, translating strategy into scalable, practical learning.
• A relevant degree (e.g. organizational psychology, HRM, hospitality, or maritime management) or equivalent professional experience; CIPD or a comparable certification is an advantage.
• Fluent English and German.

What we are looking for

• A structured, hands-on operator, equally comfortable in strategic design and practical delivery.
• A partner who moves fluently across nautical, technical, and hospitality functions without needing translation between them.
• Someone who takes ownership of a mandate end to end and partners across levels in the organization.
• Sound judgement operating across multiple client-facing fleet entities and stakeholder groups.

What to expect

• Development and implementation of learning strategy across the full fleet.
• A cross-functional leadership network spanning nautical, technical, hospitality, and HR.
• A dynamic environment where your work will have a direct impact on employee capability and guest experience.
• The opportunity to build a training function from the ground up and shape how it scales alongside fleet growth.

Ready to build the future?

If you want to own Learning & Development for a fleet operator at the center of the river cruise industry — not a single department, but the full nautical, technical, and hospitality talent agenda — we would like to hear from you.