Skywards Commercial Manager (Air Partners)

Job description / Role

Responsibilities

Responsible to develop and manage Skywards airline partnerships portfolio - initiation, negotiation, implementation of new partners and day-to-day management of existing partners in strategic markets in order to maximise revenue. Accountable for overseeing all aspects of the airline partnerships including earn and burn proposition, reward inventory, member experience, marketing, analytics, legal and digitization efforts, ensuring the business is always evolving to meet members' changing needs.

In this role, you will:

• Work closely with the manager of partnerships to explore and source new partnership opportunities in strategic markets. Fully define reciprocal earn, reward, and benefits which are compelling to members and best deliver upon commercial goals, assisting with project plans, business cases and structured briefing packs, and any other related activities.
• Lead the negotiations with prospective partners to secure additional revenue for Skywards and manage cross-organizational and cross-functional teams through contracting and technical set-up, along with any ad-hoc or recurring marketing or tactical activities.
• Manage all elements of airline partnerships to deliver on targets and KPIs. This includes the day-to-day tasks and activities such as reporting, communications, problem solving, data exchange, and legal tasks, that all help deliver partner revenue and member engagement.
• Participate in new and existing airline partnership forecasting, target and budget setting process. Analyse current agreements to seek opportunities and identify changes to rates to maximize revenue. Monitor partnership performance to identify shortcomings and potential opportunities. Drive optimal performance of the partnerships through agreed project milestones, monthly revenue targets and bi-annual review meetings.
• Develop and manage relationships with internal departments and be a project lead for new products and initiatives to benefit the strength of the partnerships. Track progress on new partner or product implementation and support internal stakeholders with regular updates.
• Contribute to strategic cross-functional projects, such as frictionless digital reward automation, refined inventory approaches, fees and ancillaries, and blockchain use cases. Collaborate closely with relevant stakeholders and vendors for any necessary system integrations and steer enhancements as required. Actively monitor industry trends to innovate mutually beneficial partnership offerings.
• Conduct research and review partnerships and products run by competitors to provide actionable recommendations and insights. Continually evaluate the competitive landscape to maintain effective partner relationships with airlines worldwide. Maintain a comprehensive knowledge base on other airlines and programmes, monitor industry trends and ensure distribution of the information to internal stakeholders.
• Collaborate with airline partner teams (as well as Skywards member engagement, CCMB and regional sales teams) to manage the combined member portfolio through marketing campaigns, data analysis and reporting to increase partnership awareness, effectiveness and revenue that aim to maximize returns and be able to demonstrate marketing campaign ROI and performance.
• Improve processes and documentation to support operations and update existing contracts and relevant procedures as necessary. Assist in responding to partner, sales and operational queries and follow up to ensure the issues are resolved and completed.
• Manage, coach, develop and motivate team members, ensuring they understand team and individual objectives and have the necessary skills to execute their role effectively.

Qualifications & Experience

To be considered for the role, you must meet the below requirements:

• Degree or honours (12+3 or equivalent) in commerce, marketing, economics or related field.
• 8+ years of experience in commercial or sales.
• Experience in airline management, loyalty marketing or partner management with a minimum of 5 years in a senior role.

Knowledge/Skills

• Track record of delivering to targets, especially across a partnership portfolio and comfortable participating in technical conversations.
• Exceptional oral and written communication and negotiation skills. Ability to assimilate, interpret and communicate information quickly and effectively.
• Relationship management skills with the ability to build and maintain effective relationships, both internal and external, with the ability to work to a high quality standard in a fast-paced environment.
• Strong commercial awareness to build business cases. Solid analytical skills with the ability to interpret data and results.
• Self-reliant and driven to achieve goals, self-motivated, proactive and highly organized.

Leadership Role

Yes

About the Company

A fast-growing international airline with one of the youngest fleets in the sky and more than 400 awards for excellence worldwide.