Business Development Manager (Travel & Tour Operator Sector) in City of London

Domain: Travel Spend Management, Tour Operators, Corporate Cards

Location: London / Hybrid

Term: Permanent / Full-time

Reports to: Chief Commercial Officer (CCO)

About the role

We are seeking a commercially driven, entrepreneurial Business Development Manager to spearhead our expansion into the travel and tour operator sector. This is a high-agency, outbound-focused role where you will identify, engage, and close new business with tour operators, travel management companies, and education travel providers. Our primary offering for this sector is card-based spend management - enabling tour operators to efficiently distribute funds to tour directors, manage group travel expenses, and maintain real-time visibility and control over operational spending across multiple currencies and geographies. Beyond cards, there is significant opportunity to expand client relationships into payments, FX, and other embedded financial services.

This is an early-stage growth role. You will be building a pipeline, shaping our go-to-market approach for the sector, and working closely with product and leadership to refine our offering based on real client feedback. We have growth ambitions for the space - you will be creating awareness, educating prospects, and demonstrating value through consultative, relationship-driven selling. If you thrive in ambiguity, enjoy the challenge of building out an opportunity space, and want to directly influence product direction based on market needs, this is the role for you.

In the role you will:

• Own outbound prospecting and pipeline generation - identify and engage tour operators, travel management companies, and education travel providers through multi-touch outbound sequences (LinkedIn, email, phone, events).
• Research and prioritise accounts based on fit signals, not just company size.
• Run consultative discovery and sales cycles - understand prospect pain points around fund distribution, expense management, compliance, and operational complexity. Position our card-based spend management solution to address their specific challenges, even when our product is still evolving to meet their needs.
• Handle objections and navigate complexity - you will encounter prospects who may have specific feature requirements we are developing. Your ability to build trust, articulate our roadmap vision, and find creative solutions will be critical.
• Close deals and drive revenue - manage the full sales cycle from first touch to signed contract, with support from leadership. Negotiate commercial terms and onboard new clients successfully.
• Shape our sector strategy - provide market intelligence and client feedback to product and leadership. Help define our ideal customer profile, refine messaging, and contribute to product roadmap priorities based on real prospect and client needs.
• Leverage AI and modern sales tools - utilise AI-powered research, prospecting, and personalisation tools to increase efficiency and effectiveness. We expect you to be curious and experimental with new technologies.

What you will need:

• 3-5+ years in a B2B sales role, ideally selling financial services, payments, expense management, or SaaS solutions to mid-market or enterprise clients (travel industry experience is a plus but not essential).
• Proven track record of outbound prospecting and pipeline generation - you have built pipelines from scratch, not just worked inbound leads. You know how to get responses and book meetings.
• Consultative selling skills - ability to understand complex operational workflows, identify pain points, and position solutions that address real business needs.
• Resilience and objection handling expertise - comfortable selling a product that is live and functional but still evolving, and able to turn objections into opportunities through creative problem-solving.
• High agency and entrepreneurial mindset - you take ownership, move fast, and do not wait to be told what to do. You are comfortable with ambiguity and energised by building something new.
• Strong commercial acumen - ability to structure deals, negotiate effectively, and understand the financial drivers of your clients' businesses.
• Excellent communication skills - articulate, persuasive, and able to build rapport quickly with senior stakeholders (CFOs, Operations Directors, Finance Managers).
• Curiosity and adaptability with AI and sales technology - willingness to experiment with AI tools for research, prospecting, and personalisation.
• English fluency required for both speaking and writing (additional European languages are a plus).

The interview process:

• Initial call with a member of our team
• Skills and experience deep dive with the CCO
• Practical exercise: mock prospecting or discovery call
• Meet the team: Cultural fit conversation with team members

What we offer:

• Competitive base salary plus commission structure
• 25 days annual leave
• Annual wellness day off
• Access to one-to-one confidential counselling sessions through our Employee Assistance Programme
• Access to retail & other discounts
• Vitality health care plan
• Learning & development support - Access to our GO1 online learning platform to help continuously develop yourself
• Ride-to-work scheme
• Regular socials and relaxed working environment

Make a difference:

We are always on the lookout for talented individuals to help take us further - it is important to us to hire the right people for roles that work for both us and the individual.

Equality:

We strive to create a workplace that reflects the diverse communities we serve and where everyone feels empowered to bring their full, authentic selves to work.

Teamwork:

The strength of our team does not only lie in our combined experience and expertise but our ability to trust each other, no matter what. We understand that our best work is not produced by individuals but by enjoying collaboration as a team and supporting each other every day.

Quality:

We provide award-winning solutions and unsurpassed service that, together, deliver premium value to our clients.

Innovation:

Redefining the standard of excellence is in everything we do. Therefore, we are open to ideas that challenge the conventional views and drive innovation. The only constant in life is change and we believe that in order to stay relevant we must continuously improve and evolve with the changing needs of society.

Trust:

We strive to act in a manner that builds trust with our team, clients, business partners, and other stakeholders. We firmly believe that actions speak louder than words and transparency is key.