Senior Director of Travel
EF Education First
Sales & Business Development
Zürich, Switzerland · Switzerland
Posted on Friday, May 3, 2024
Senior Director of Travel
Location: Zurich/Switzerland
A career with EF combines the support and opportunity of a large international organization with the spirit and energy of a small business. We look for thinkers and doers – creative, collaborative, and motivated people who are excited by education and travel.
EF Education First, the world leader in international education, is looking for a passionate, organized, and hardworking Director to join EF’s Educational Tours Travel Team. In this role, you will be a member of an energetic, multinational team and report to the Vice President of Travel overseeing EF Educational Tours’ flights division.
The ideal candidate is motivated to lead an emerging team focused on strategizing and securing the best flights inventory for our customers and business and also possess the necessary skills to service and support the needs of our K-12 sales teams based in North America. This role requires international travel approximately 25% of the time.
Start date for this full-time position is August 2024.
What you’ll be doing
- Working closely and collaboratively with several stakeholders at all levels of the business
- Representing Travel in high level meetings with the Educational Tours Leadership team
- Managing a multi-million dollar budget consisting of both direct and indirect costs
- Setting the procurement strategy for a team responsible for procuring flights for the Educational Tours’ product group with a focus on quality, customer experience, and financial stewardship
- Providing support, training and development for the Directors that report to you.
- Owning a portfolio of airline supplier relationships and being responsible for the negotiations with those airlines on behalf of the entire Travel division
- Collaborating with the senior sales leadership of Educational Tours to outline service level agreements, determine business rules and set up processes that work towards providing an ideal customer experience for our North American Customers while ensuring strong budget adherence
- Working closely with the other Sr. Directors across Travel to ensure that we achieve our collective strategic priorities
- Helping to drive innovation through technology as we seek new ways to scale our business and improve our ways of working.
- Showcasing proficiency in our GDS systems Sabre and Amadeus.
Who you are
- bringing 5+ years of proven success leading teams or positively influencing teams in a Director level or above capacity.
- experienced working with North American travel consumers – prior experience working in the educational travel industry or in a role working with the K-12 school market a plus
- highly collaborative and excited to work with a team to achieve high results.
- well-versed in working with senior level stakeholders, comfortable making decisions, and communicating clearly between relevant parties.
- able to raise concerns, challenge colleagues, and propose solutions in constructive and tactful ways.
- proficient in your understanding of the group travel model and the required airline procurement and servicing processes
- have a proven track record of managing or acting as a senior decision maker on technical projects that have streamlined processes
- a strategic leader who will bring drive, passion, and inspiration to the role.
- competitive and goal driven as an individual and embody a “nothing is impossible attitude” when it comes to helping your team achieve its goals.
- flexible and understand that the Travel industry is unpredictable, and you are prepared to ride the highs and lows.
- a team player who comes to work every day with a work hard and have fun attitude.
About EF
At EF we believe that the world is better when people try to understand one another. Since 1965, we have helped millions of people see new places, experience new cultures, and learn new things about the world and about themselves. Our culturally immersive education programs—focused on language, travel, cultural exchange, and academics—turn dreams into international opportunities.
At EF we believe that the world is better when people try to understand one another. Since 1965, we have helped millions of people see new places, experience new cultures, and learn new things about the world and about themselves. Our culturally immersive education programs—focused on language, travel, cultural exchange, and academics—turn dreams into international opportunities.
When you join EF, you join a multicultural and diverse community working across more than 600 schools and offices in 50 countries, all with one shared mission of opening the world through education. Whoever you are, whatever you are passionate about—we welcome you and want you to bring that to work every day. EF is proud to be an equal opportunity employer and we are committed to inclusion and belonging across race, ethnicity, gender, age, religion, caste, parental status, identity, experience and everything else that makes you unique.
Founded in Sweden in 1965, EF has schools and offices around the world, including hubs in Boston, London, Mexico City, São Paulo, Shanghai, Stockholm, Zürich, and more. Learn more at https://www.ef.com.