Subject Matter Expert (SME) – Ferries Revenue Management & Pricing

Description

Fetcherr builds responsible AI that transforms market complexity into measurable profit growth. At the core of the company is the Market Model - a proprietary AI-powered model delivering accurate, granular demand predictions with 96% forecast accuracy and real-time decision intelligence for commercial teams. Built on a glass-box architecture, it uses market data - not personal data - with full transparency into logic and outcomes. First deployed in global aviation, the technology is industry-agnostic and scales across volatile markets. Fetcherr delivers a consistent average profit uplift of 7%, with corporate partners including Delta, Virgin Atlantic, WestJet, Viva, and Azul. While Fetcherr initially focused on the airline industry, the company is now expanding into additional verticals, bringing its dynamic AI-driven optimization capabilities to new industries such as travel, mobility, retail, e-commerce, and beyond.

Having successfully transformed airline pricing, Fetcherr is now expanding into the ferry industry, bringing AI-driven revenue optimization to leading ferry operators.

We are looking for a Subject Matter Expert (SME) to support the development of an AI-driven pricing solution tailored to ferry operations. The ideal candidate brings hands-on experience in ferry revenue management, route and sailing pricing, mixed passenger/vehicle/freight inventory optimization, or demand forecasting within a large-scale ferry operator. This role serves as a strategic advisor to our Product, Data Science, Engineering, and Customer teams, helping shape our ferry solution, validate business assumptions, and guide product and data strategy.

Responsibilities

Industry Leadership

• Serve as Fetcherr's primary authority on ferry revenue management, pricing, demand forecasting, and commercial operations, advising Product, Engineering, Data Science, Solutions, and Commercial teams.
• Provide expertise on ferry pricing dynamics, including:
• Route, sailing, and one-way vs. return pricing
• Accommodation category management (cabins, reclining seats, deck, pet cabins)
• Vehicle pricing across cars, motorhomes, motorcycles, and trailers
• Ro-ro freight pricing — accompanied vs. unaccompanied units, contracted vs. spot rates
• Promotions, early booking, last-minute and walk-up pricing
• Group bookings, tour operator allotments, and coach traffic
• Resident fares, public service obligation (PSO) and territorial continuity routes, and other regulated fare regimes
• Guide revenue management strategies balancing passenger load, vehicle deck and lane-meter yield, accommodation occupancy, and profitability across seasonal fleet deployments.
• Advise on ancillary revenue optimization — accommodation upgrades, priority boarding, onboard dining, lounges, Wi-Fi, pet accommodation, and flexible-fare products — and on dynamic pricing across the short booking curve and high walk-up share characteristic of ferry demand.

Data & Product Development

• Own the definition of ferry operational data requirements: reservations, passenger and vehicle manifests, accommodation and deck inventory, lane-meter utilization, route and sailing performance, cancellations and no-shows, onboard purchases, freight contracts, pricing, and promotional campaigns.
• Lead discovery workshops and data mapping sessions, and translate ferry business processes into product requirements and AI modeling logic.
• Define business rules, operational constraints, and regulatory fare obligations, and ensure they are correctly represented in the pricing engine.
• Review and validate model assumptions and pricing outputs against real-world ferry scenarios.
• Support development of scalable data ingestion and modeling processes.

Customer & Commercial Engagement

• Act as a trusted advisor during customer workshops, onboarding sessions, executive meetings, and business reviews.
• Support customer implementations by ensuring proper understanding of ferry operational workflows and data.
• Assist Sales, Customer Success, and Product teams during commercial opportunities.
• Share knowledge on route-level benchmarks, competitive pricing behavior, distribution channels (direct, OTAs and ferry aggregators, travel agencies, tour operators, freight forwarders), and partner relationships.

Internal Collaboration

• Work closely with Product, Engineering, Data Science, Solutions Architecture, Customer Success, and Program Management teams.
• Deliver internal knowledge sharing and documentation on ferry operations, pricing, and revenue management best practices.
• Monitor ferry market trends and sector-specific developments, providing strategic recommendations for future product development.

Requirements

• Proven experience in ferry revenue management, pricing optimization, demand forecasting, or commercial strategy, ideally within a major ferry operator (e.g., Grimaldi, GNV, Moby, Corsica/Sardinia Ferries, Baleària, Attica Group, DFDS, Stena Line, Brittany Ferries, Tallink).
• Strong understanding of ferry inventory management across multiple simultaneous capacity constraints — berths, seats, deck space, and lane meters — as well as route planning and sailing optimization.
• Experience with ferry reservation, inventory, and revenue management systems (commercial or in-house).
• Familiarity with mixed passenger and ro-ro freight commercial models, including contractual freight pricing.
• Ability to bridge deep ferry industry knowledge with Product, Data Science, and Engineering teams.
• Experience working in fast-paced, product-driven or technology-forward organizations.
• Knowledge of ferry KPIs such as revenue and yield per sailing, revenue per lane meter, passenger and vehicle load factors, accommodation occupancy, and ancillary revenue per passenger.
• Fluent English - A must, Fluent Italian - an advantage.

Work Location

*Remote. Periodic domestic and international travel may be required to ferry operator locations, industry conferences, workshops, and company meetings.