[Hiring] Head of Commercial Partnerships @The Cruise Globe

Role Description

This is primarily a sales role, with compensation to match. Your first and most important objective is to secure co-operative marketing investment from cruise lines and travel partners, against an annual target, across the UK, the US and all future territories.

We are looking for someone who is already plugged into the UK and US cruise lines, with relationships they can call on from day one. You bring the network. We give you more to work with than you have ever had: our audience, our dataset and our content.

Alongside co-op, you will take ownership of our cruise line and supplier relationships, and lead a number of commercial and marketing functions that tie them together. You will sit on the agency leadership team and report to the Head of Agency.

What You Will Do

• Win co-operative marketing investment (your number one priority)
  • Secure co-operative marketing investment from cruise lines across the UK, US and future territories, against an annual target.
  • Build our commercial offer from the ground up: partner decks, rate cards, proposals and packages.
  • Extend co-op beyond cruise lines to tourism boards, destinations, ports and adjacent brands such as travel insurance, luggage, travel money and credit cards.
  • Oversee delivery of every campaign you sell, working with our content, email and design teams, and report results back to partners to drive renewals.
• Own our supplier relationships
  • Take overall ownership of our cruise line relationships across the UK and US, optimising rates, overrides and coverage.
  • Ensure 100% cruise line coverage in both markets, including the ability to book UK lines for our US audience.
  • Build relationships with ancillary suppliers: hotels, flights, transfers, excursions and travel insurance.
  • Work with Ops and Finance to make sure every override and incentive we earn is claimed and paid.
  • Over time, shape our preferred partner strategy: which lines get preferred status, what they receive in return, and what they invest.
  • Work alongside our Head of Group Sales to facilitate the best possible supplier rates for groups and charters.
• Keep meticulous records
  • Maintain detailed, up-to-date records of every existing and prospective partnership in Salesflare, our company CRM, across the UK and US.
  • Log every contact, meeting, agreement, set of terms, co-op deliverable and result, so any relationship can be picked up by another team member at any time.
• Assist product and email marketing
  • Assist with packaging in the UK market, creating attractive packages for The Cruise Globe Collection using our supplier relationships.
  • Own all email communications in Klaviyo pertaining to The Cruise Globe Agency: the logic, timing, audiences and final sign-off on design and copy, across flows and campaigns.
  • Surface the best cruise offers each week for the Emma Cruises and The Cruise Globe weekly emails.
• Represent The Cruise Globe in the industry
  • Act as the central point of contact for FAM trips, ship visits and training events: coordinate budgets, liaise with the content team, and hand over to Ops for delivery.
  • Represent The Cruise Globe at key trade shows and industry events, building and maintaining our network.
  • Lead our applications to the major cruise and travel industry awards, and represent us on the night.

Qualifications

• A proven co-op track record. You must have demonstrable success securing co-operative or trade marketing investment from cruise lines.
• An established cruise line network. Strong, current relationships with the key commercial, trade marketing and sales contacts across the major UK and US cruise lines.
• Commercial negotiation skills. Confidence negotiating rates, overrides, incentives and partnership terms with senior supplier contacts.
• Experience building travel packages, and a working knowledge of ATOL and ABTA.
• Understanding of large-scale email marketing. Knowledge of how large email programmes are organised: segmentation, flows, scheduling, approvals and quality control.
• CRM discipline. You use a CRM as a daily working tool and keep meticulous records.
• The ability to excel remotely. Self-motivated, organised and consistent without supervision.
• Ambition and flexibility. A passion for this work and a willingness to put in what it takes.

Requirements

• Experience with Klaviyo.
• Experience within a host agency or consortium model, ideally within the Internova network.
• Connections with tourism boards, destinations or non-cruise travel brands.
• Experience leading industry award submissions.
• Personal cruise experience.

Benefits

• £80,000 (realistic) on-target earnings in Year 1, made up of a very competitive base salary plus commission on the co-operative marketing revenue you generate.
• Commission is completely uncapped.
• 25 days holiday plus UK bank holidays.
• Pension (statutory minimum).
• Fully remote, with the option to join us in our London HQ.
• Full access to industry familiarisation trips and events.
• Laptop, phone system, and all tooling to operate at your best.
• Staff travel discounts.

Location

Fully remote. UK-based preferred, but we will consider US-based candidates for the right person. This is a global role with oversight of the UK, the US and all future territories. Travel will be required, including to partner meetings, trade shows and industry events.

Before You Apply

Please review any non-compete, confidentiality and non-solicitation obligations in your current employment contract carefully before applying. We will ask you about these during the process.