At British Airways Holidays our customers and colleagues are at the heart of everything we do. We’re one of the UK’s leading and most trusted tour operators, providing holiday packages, hotels, car hire and experiences via ba.com and the British Airways contact centres. From carefully selected hotels to our 24-hour support helpline, we take every element of our customers’ holidays seriously.
As a subsidiary of BA, we offer the advantages of being a significant part of the UK’s largest airline coupled with all the benefits of being in a smaller company. Our country’s creativity, diversity, style, wit and warmth are the same special qualities that make British Airways Holidays who we are. As our business grows, this is a really exciting time to join our team.
We are recruiting for a Senior Destination Manager on a permanent basis. This is a fabulous opportunity for someone who has experience in leading a team responsible for buying, product and/or commercial management within the travel industry and looking to expand their experience in one of the UK’s leading tour operators.
The purpose of this role is delivering profitability through effective selection, sourcing, negotiation, and commercial management of the British Airways Holidays product portfolio for accountable area(s).
Key accountabilities include:
- Responsible for leading, managing, developing and motivating a multifunctional team of 8 to 12 Destination Managers, Executives and Assistants
- Responsible for the product supply strategy for accountable area(s). Including sourcing approach and effective implementation. Managing quality assurance of products to agreed targets and for supplier compliance with BA Holidays Health, Fire & Safety policy
- Buying the product portfolio for accountable area(s) at optimum commercial terms, to agreed timeframes and legal advice from BA. Effective supplier management and delivery of targets and service level agreements. Agreeing and delivering on supplier overrides, marketing contributions and exploiting all promotional and PR opportunities.
- Working with the Yield Manager on the overall profitability of accountable area(s). Analysing booking data, competitor analysis, market insight, inventory reports to understand, manage and optimise destination performance
This is a senior role. Our essential criteria for this role are:
- Proven experience in the travel industry at a senior management level with extensive experience in a Buying or Commercial role
- Proven experience of successfully managing a busy team to effectively deliver against targets
- Proven ability to work at both a strategic and detailed level
- Excellent commercial acumen & analytical skills coupled with proven knowledge of market trends & the online travel landscape
- Excellent communication, negotiation and influencing skills plus experience with multiple stakeholder management
- Demonstrate excellent problem solving & decision making skills with sound judgement
- Ability to commute to our Crawley office, minimum twice weekly or plan to relocate before starting work and the willingness to travel and represent the Company at product supply and trade functions
- Hold a full UK driving licence, and have the confidence to drive abroad
To help you decide whether you would like to apply for this role, as a guide, a typical salary in this role is circa £55,000 - £65,000 per annum (this will vary depending on your relevant skills and experience), plus benefits.
Our offices are based near Gatwick Airport and we offer hybrid working (within the UK only). Generally, this role works from our offices twice a week, with additional days as needed depending on meetings etc. Office days are co-ordinated so that colleagues in the same team are in the office together to collaborate in person. We usually support new colleagues in the office full time for the first four-six weeks with us. We offer flexible start and finish times.
This role is full time.
At BA Holidays we value diversity and encourage a positive and inclusive environment for everyone. Applications from all backgrounds are welcome.
Please see our LinkedIn page to find out a bit about our recent activity!
Key benefits include
- 25 days holiday per calendar year, plus bank holidays
- Staff travel – from the date you join
- Flexible benefits package including market leading defined contribution pension scheme and generous life assurance cover, plus options such as dental /medical cover, and cycle to work, technology and electric car schemes.
- Hybrid working and flexible start & finish times
- Range of colleague wellbeing and recognition programmes
Closing date for applications is: 19th March 2024
Please note - we may close this vacancy early if we receive lots of applications or business priorities change.