About the Role
Were looking for a smart, driven, and domain-strong business professional with 7+ years of experience in Business Development, Partnerships, and Account Management in the travel industry preferably with direct experience in airline operations, ticketing systems, and OTA distribution is a strategic role where youll help scale the Flights vertical by driving new partnerships, optimizing supplier integrations, and enabling operational excellence in airline distribution and automation.
Key Responsibilities
1. Business Development Strategic Accountability
Strategic Roadmap: Execute the Flights vertical roadmap in line with company objectives, ensuring operational and technical feasibility.
Revenue Enablement: Identify and activate new airline and supplier partnerships to drive volume and improve margins.
Resource Optimization: Design initiatives to address operational challenges such as budget constraints or GDS integration bottlenecks.
Process Innovation: Enhance workflows for partner onboarding, contracting, and automation of ticketing and after-sales processes.
Cross-Functional Collaboration: Work closely with Finance, Product, Growth, and Operations teams to ensure alignment on business goals.
2. Technical Excellence Product Integration
System Expertise: Deep understanding of airline ticketing systems, GDS/CRS platforms (Amadeus, Sabre, Travelport), and emerging distribution models like NDC.
Issue Management: Lead root-cause analysis and resolution of operational and tech issues (PNR cancellations, ADM/ACM disputes, API failures).
Tech Partnership: Collaborate with Engineering, QA, and Product teams to ensure travel systems are scalable, reliable, and optimized for uptime.
Feature Deployment: Oversee pre- and post-deployment validation for new capabilities such as ancillaries, branded fares, and direct airline integrations.
3. Partner Account Management
Airline Relationship Management: Build and manage strong commercial relationships with airlines, consolidators, and GDS providers.
Competitive Intelligence: Analyze industry trends, competitor fare strategies, and distribution models to identify growth opportunities.
Co-Creation: Collaborate with partners to co-design win-win product and pricing models, including dynamic fares and exclusive deals.
4. Operational Leadership
Ticketing Process Excellence: Define best practices for ticket issuance, reissue, refund, and exchange workflows.
Market Insights: Conduct route-level and inventory analysis to guide airline strategy and promotional opportunities.
Cross-Team Coordination: Partner with CX, Tech, and Growth teams to deliver consistent traveler and partner experiences.
Automation Compliance: Drive automation in fare caching, reconciliation, and reporting to ensure compliance with airline and IATA standards.
Ideal Candidate Profile
Experience:
7+ years in business development/partnerships within travel or airline domains.
5+ years in OTA or airline environments, with hands-on experience in airline reservation and ticketing systems.
Skills Competencies:
Airline Domain Expertise: Strong command over airline ticket issuance, GDS/CRS workflows, BSP/ARC settlements, and ADM/ACM management.
Technical Acumen: Familiarity with travel tech stacks (API integrations, NDC, fare caching, automation workflows).
Negotiation Skills: Proven success in closing high-value airline or supplier deals.
Execution Focus: Bias for action with experience scaling new airline integrations or distribution models.
Stakeholder Influence: Ability to manage and align cross-functional teams toward business outcomes.
Key Success Metrics
Growth in direct airline partnerships and supplier-driven revenue
Improved efficiency in ticket issuance and reconciliation
SLA adherence for customer issue resolution
Enhanced operational reliability and automation adoption