Digital Technology_Application Delivery & Strategy_Delivery Lead

What we are aiming for in Digital Transformation

An opportunity with USJ's Digital and Technology team is an experience like no other. From developing state-of-the-art theme park locations in Orlando, Hollywood, Beijing and Japan, to new destinations, like our Halloween Horror nights themed destination in Vegas and a kids park in Frisco… our teams are at the heart of the new and innovative digital technologies that power our guest and team member experiences.

In this role, you will be responsible for working with our business partners and product teams to understand the requirements that drive the technology solutions we will deploy and analyze key requirements needed. You will engage in the testing cycles of those solutions to align and drive that the design meets the original set of expectations. You are part of a global team that is consistently looking at ways to enhance the experience for guests, from planning their trip to their in park visit, to their post return all while driving the best experience all around.

As part of the Digital and Technology team, you will work in a global and multinational team atmosphere, with team members that come to work with us, from various countries. You will engage with not only team members but with multinational vendors that support our destinations and experiences across the globe. So be prepared, as our primary language to operate in is English, daily; however, having other languages, like Japanese is a plus, for local communications.

After joining the company, you will gain a basic understanding of the latest technology for our theme parks and overall in park ride solutions. Not to worry, we will work with you to refine your business system analysis skills. Your role will be responsible for reporting to management both in Japan and within the US. Regardless of your length of service, you will be involved in operations with other parks around the world and will be able to grow significantly.

Examples of projects or the kind of projects you may engage in, include but are not limited to:
Commerce Platform
Ticketing and Access Control systems
Web and Mobile application development
Gaming and new technologies innovations, that connect the guest at home and in park
Photo validation technologies
Ride Reservation platforms
Food and Beverage platforms
Character digitally connected experiences, and the list goes on.

So come join the fun, with destinations all around the world, Universal Destinations and Experiences Digital & Technology team, has multiple ways to immerse you in our brand, while growing your career.

JOB SUMMARY

This role is a key technology leader driving on time and stable application delivery for business groups throughout the company. They will be responsible for leading the delivery practice that crosses multiple disciplines while delivering on the agreed upon deliverables of 3rd party theme park / resort specific industry specific applications from advanced biometrics / facial recognition, ticketing solutions, crew/team member tools to guest / revenue related systems, etc. This role must be able to own the end-to-end technology solution continuity for major strategic business milestones and programs. They will collaborate with cross functional teams including Solution Architecture, Services, Web/Mobile, Commerce, Global Custom Development, Payments, Global Ticketing, Product, PMO, Testing and external partners, including infrastructure and information security teams. The role must be able to manage the day-to-day efforts to design, develop, deploy, and support guest facing digital applications, digital sales ticketing & hotel integrations, and other new technology initiatives that support our destinations and experiences. This role is responsible for supporting the technical release components through the completion/sign-off of hyper care, aligning with the standards & processes for digital technology deployment at UDX.

RESPONSIBILITIES

♦ Platform Stability & Operational / Delivery Excellence 40%

● Drive focus on operational excellence throughout the organization & partners, including (but not limited to) processes, governance, efficient working approaches, collaboration, and cross departmental and divisional communication both internally and with external vendors.

● Has delivery responsibility and serves as a key expert in end-to-end application software development. Will partner closely within Digital Technology, Parks/Operations Technology / Infrastructure / Security, Digital Product / Innovation, PMO; business divisions; functional support partners like Finance, Sourcing, and others.  

● Achieve consistently high platform reliability and uptime of newly developed digital technology solutions to ensure superior “Digital Show Quality” for the Guest and Team Member experience.

● Partner with PMO & Product for on-time delivery of solutions, proactively mitigate risk of “scope creep” and business impact during transformational change.

● Hands on approach to solution and direction within the team for core applications, inclusive of partner managed applications.

♦ Technology Strategy & Delivery 30%

● Hands on leadership and management of development for customer software solutions.

● Execute strategic direction for simple, scalable, flexible, secure, and cost-effective technology design & engineering.

● Works with build and run development teams for applications like Resort Guest Experience platforms, digital sales ticketing / hotel integration, custom developed in-park resort applications; and middle platforms used for digital acceleration.

● Manage internal resources and external partners to achieve both best in class technology solutions while achieving speed to market.

● Deliver applications that enable rapidly evolving digital technology arena including potential discussions around software engineering & architecture, cloud architecture, gaming & Metaverse platforms/solutions etc.

♦ Cross-Team Collaboration, Team Culture, Staff Development 25%

● Work seamlessly with other Digital and Technology & business unit leaders to architect and build best in class solutions and experiences.

● Drive Universal culture of team-member satisfaction through effective communication, planning, risk management, and coaching of high-potential candidates at every level of the organization.

● Coaches and builds confidence in staff to make good business decisions using technology & analytical thinking.

● Promote working culture of accountability and technology depth to support Universal’s physical and virtual business aspirations.

♦ Administrative 5%

Manage appropriate departmental budgets; review/approve related budget expenditures with “act as an owner” mentality.

♦ Supervisory Responsibility
This role may supervise potentially 1-4 direct reports along with vendor partner management and oversight, can also be indirect reporting supervision.

QUALIFICATIONS

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily.  The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skills, and/or abilities (KSAs) required:

● Experience managing and mentoring teams with ability to lead by strategic decision-making and priority management.

● Deep technical architectural and engineering knowledge; end-to-end application architecture for B2B and B2C business models.

● Deep expertise in software/integration design, various data integration patterns (e.g. Microservices, API, ETL, Web Service, ESB, etc).

● Excellent analytical, written and oral communication skills, and ability to explain complex concepts both concisely and simply to technical & non-technical audience.
● Proven ability to maintain a high-level of client service while executing key technology strategic initiatives.

● Experience in strategy, build, and execution of eCommerce, POS, Custom Development, Ticketing, Data warehouse, and microservices solutions is highly desired.

● Budget and vendor related management is highly desired.

LANGUAGE:

Must be able to speak, read and write in Japanese, with business level dexterity of communication with external and internal partners.

EXPERIENCE:

● 9+ years’ experience in large scale transformation initiatives & custom software engineering; experience with cloud/hybrid cloud & virtualization technologies.

● Experience in large scale global technology implementations; program planning.

● Demonstrated experience with application/technology simplification & rationalization in legacy environments; previous experience in “bi-modal” technology environments that combine digital/agile with enterprise/monolithic applications.

● Experience communicating, relationship building, and collaborative decision making with all levels of the organization; experience with stakeholder and partner management.

EDUCATION:

Bachelor's degree is required. Degree in engineering, technology, analytics, or related fields preferred. Advanced degree preferred.

Work Location

Osaka, Japan

Application Process

● CV Screen

● Interview w/ Recruiter

● Multiple Interviews w/ Hiring Manager & Stakeholders

● Reference Check

● Offer

LIFE at Universal Studios Japan

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