Director, Airline Partnerships

Summary

Join Hopper as Director, Airline Partnerships and lead a team of Sr. Business Development Managers to achieve key success metrics in airline distribution partnerships within your assigned region(s). Represent Hopper, build executive relationships with airline partners, and manage your region as a business, developing and executing growth strategies. Coach your team, uncover opportunities to improve commercial relationships, and create and execute regionally-focused strategies. Negotiate contracts, develop strategies for managing partners, and collaborate with internal teams to optimize processes. This role requires extensive experience in airline distribution and account management, strong leadership skills, and the ability to navigate a fast-paced environment.

Requirements

• Minimum 10 years sales/account management experience with successful background of driving revenue growth for key accounts, and 3+ years experience leading a team of account managers
• Positive attitude; creative and self-motivated and always striving to do your best
• Ability to craft and deliver compelling and data driven presentations
• Team mentality, desire to help the team win
• Excellent prioritization and time management skills with ability to distinguish urgent from important work
• An innovative and detail-oriented approach to problem-solving
• Passion for travel and technology
• Strong value selling skills
• Executive-level business acumen
• Ability to navigate and succeed in a fast-paced and dynamic work environment
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills

Responsibilities

• Manage your region like a business: identify, develop, and execute growth strategies; track and monitor team portfolio performance; and drive analysis to identify areas of risk and opportunity
• Create and execute a regionally-focused strategy to address team objectives and regularly report on progress toward target attainment
• Coach the team on preparing pitches for partnership opportunities, delivery of quarterly business reviews, and managing through risk
• Uncover opportunities to improve commercial relationships and optimal connectivity for airline partner content; summarize and articulate business cases to internal teams, and develop strategies to address commercial opportunities, in collaboration with internal stakeholders
• Create and build upon existing sales processes and business rhythms, ensuring utilization of tools such as salesforce
• Work with financial teams on forecast and revenue projections for the region(s)
• Develop marketing strategies and execute I/Os with airline partners in support of our Growth team
• Lead and complete the negotiation for contract renewals for the top partners in the region, as well as negotiation of key commercial opportunities or issues which may happen outside of contract renewal periods
• Develop a strategy for management of long-tail partners
• Work with internal business partner teams, such as Flight Operations, Finance Operations, and Customer Service to optimize collaboration processes, in order to reduce traveler friction and reduce costs
• Develop a strong understanding of the global travel market, with a particular focus on the dynamics of the airline industry including new and legacy distribution capabilities and their economic impact for both the partner and Hopper

Preferred Qualifications

Prior experience in airline distribution (OTA, TMC, GDS, or airline)

Benefits

• Competitive salary, possibility of annual bonus (OTE) based on team performance and upsides of pre-IPO equity packages
• Hopper covers 100% of the premiums for group insurance plan
• Hopper offers life, short term and long term disability coverage
• HSA that covers eligible medical and dental expenses
• All employees and dependents have access to Dialogue’s telemedicine services, anytime, anywhere
• All employees have access to an RRSP plan with automatic pre-tax withdrawals per pay
• Please ask us about our very generous parental leave, much above industry standards!
• Unlimited PTO
• Carrot Cash travel stipend
• Access to co-working space on demand through FlexDesk AND Work-from-home stipend
• Entrepreneurial culture where pushing limits and taking risks is everyday business
• Open communication with management and company leadership
• Small, dynamic teams = massive impact
• $175,000 - $240,000 a year
• Total compensation to also include possibility for annual bonus for achievement of annual targets, equity, and other incentives such as signing bonus