Travel Manager (Corporate Travel)

Job description / Role

Supreme Group is currently hiring a Travel Manager for our office in Dubai, UAE. The Travel Manager will be responsible to provide cost effective, knowledgeable and timely travel solutions to Supreme employees (and related travelers), in accordance with the company travel policy.

The Travel Manager is responsible and accountable for (but not limited to) the following:

Managing Company Travel Requirements and Operations
- Responsible to oversee the day-to-day travel requirements of Supreme employees (and related travelers) and to ensure timely and cost effective customer service is delivered
- Responsible for the travel arrangements of all grade 13 and above employees (and related travelers), ensuring proactive service and appropriate travel solutions are provided
- Company Owned & Leased Accommodation
- Overall responsibility to monitor bookings and usage of company accommodation aiming for 100% occupancy rate, including ensuring priority of use over hotels

Managing Company Travel Policy & Processes
- Responsible for the periodic review of the company travel policy and processes; making recommendations for updates and improvements, and following through to the implementation of any improvements
- Responsible for the development of a fit for purpose and team efficient travel database, linking where possible to the People Connect system, and highlighting and driving process improvements
- Responsible to communicate, coach and educate business areas, SMT and employees on the company travel policy and processes, and to ensure team members are also effectively doing the same
- Responsible to monitor, report and challenge any non-compliance against the company travel policy, and to raise the issue with the employee and escalate to the relevant SMT where appropriate
- Liaise with employees/travelers on a regular basis to understand improvement opportunities and to take travel recommendations on board and provide regular updates and feedback to travelers regarding improvement suggestions
- Responsible to oversee an effective customer satisfaction survey for regular business travelers; including analyzing the results, providing feedback to the travelers and developing any improvements plans based on the survey results
- Responsible to ensure smooth relationships are in place with the HR/ Admin teams to ensure effective employee mobilizations and ex-employee repatriations
- Responsible to proactively keep abreast of industry news, innovations, trends and best practices in order to transfer this knowledge and best practice to Supremes travel processes
- Responsible to provide travel support and guidance regarding travel policy and processes to Supreme and EMS SSoffices (i.e. UK, US, etc.), ensuring their compliance with the company policy and raising issues of non-conformance with the relevant SMT or CO where appropriate

Managing the Travel Agent & Other External Supplier Relationships
- Responsible to develop and maintain a strong working relationship with the appointed company travel agent
- Responsible to proactively identify any on-going issues with the travel provider and address any such issues with the view to a speedy and professional resolve
- Responsible to identifying, appoint and put in place supplier agreements with hotels, airlines, etc.; effectively negotiating rates and/or additional services, and for reviewing these agreements, at minimum, annually
- Responsible to monitor all supplier agreements to establish and manage supplier performance to their set and agreed SLAs
- Responsible to put in place annual performance reviews with suppliers, developing a baseline for acceptable performance levels
- Responsible to manage the relationship with travel suppliers in order to drive process improvements and cost savings and efficiencies
- Responsible to develop and maintain strong supplier relationships not only between the Travel Manager and the suppliers, but across the whole Travel team

Managing Financial Performance of Company Travel
- Responsible to ensure the required information and documents are provided to the Finance Department in order to facilitate smooth payments to Travel suppliers
- Overall responsible to monitor company travel costs and identify savings opportunities; maximizing savings and efficiencies across the Group
- Responsible to provide timely and accurate monthly travel reports to both HR and the relevant business areas, as required; including utilization, spend, non-conformance, etc.
- Responsible to proactively work with the department heads to analyse their areas travel spend and advise where savings can be made

Requirements

- A minimum of 7 years experience in the travel industry
- Excellent fares and ticketing knowledge
- Degree in Business or Tourism
- Strong team planning and leadership skills
- Proactive problem solving and decision making capability
- Ability and experience of project management; especially involving complex travel requirements and required solutions
- Experience in supplier selection, negotiations and post contract award relationship management
- Fluent in written, spoken and read English, with excellent communication skills and the ability to influence and negotiate across all levels
- Strong and capable negotiator, with the ability to gain agreement on positive win/win outcomes
- Strong attention to detail and experience with fare auditing
- Strong analytical abilities, with the ability to collect, interpret and report complex data in a timely manner
- Experienced PC user familiar with MS Word, MS Excel and MS Outlook

About the Company

Founded in 1957, Supreme Group is a global market leader specializing in developing and operating end-to-end customized logistics, supply chain and associated service solutions to military and privately owned organizations operating in some of the world’s most challenging locations.

With over 55 years’ experience, state-of-the-art warehouses, bulk fuel installations and a fleet of over 2,500 vehicles including land, sea and air transport, Supreme has the capabilities and knowledge to build and manage complete life support systems and offer full hard and soft facility management services.

The Group has a presence in over 25 countries across Africa, Asia, Europe, the Americas and the Middle East and with over 8,800 employees of 70 nationalities, it is truly global and culturally diverse.