Business Development Lead - MENA

Cover Genius; Dubai; Hybrid; AED 160,000 - 220,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading insurtech company in Dubai is seeking an experienced commercial business development professional to drive account acquisition in the travel sector. The ideal candidate will have over 8 years of experience in commercial partnerships and a proven track record in the travel industry, with strong communication skills and a passion for high-growth technology environments. This position offers a flexible work environment and opportunities for ownership through employee stock options.

Benefits

Flexible work environment

Employee stock options

Philanthropic giving initiatives

Qualifications

• Minimum 8+ years commercial business development/partnerships experience.
• Proven track record for meeting revenue targets and KPIs.
• Ability to work collaboratively with cross-functional teams.

Responsibilities

• Drive new account acquisition across the Middle East Travel sector.
• Lead outbound efforts to generate strategic pipeline opportunities.
• Build tailored commercial narratives to connect our platform capabilities.

Skills

Commercial business development

Strong communication skills

Travel industry experience

Experience with embedded insurance

Job description

The Company

Cover Genius is a Series E insurtech that protects the global customers of the world’s largest digital companies including Booking Holdings, owner of Priceline, Kayak and Booking.com, Intuit, Uber, Hopper, Ryanair, Turkish Airlines, Descartes ShipRush, Zip and SeatGeek.

We’re also available at Amazon, Flipkart, eBay, Wayfair and SE Asia’s largest company, Shopee.

Our partners integrate with XCover, our award-winning insurance distribution platform, to embed protection for millions of customers worldwide each year.

Our team and products have been recognized with dozens of awards including by the Financial Times which ranked Cover Genius as the #1 fastest-growing company in APAC in 2020.

Our diverse team across 20+ countries and many language groups commit itself to diverse cultural programs, in particular “CG Gives” which makes social entrepreneurs out of us all and funds development initiatives in global communities.

Our People are

Bold, Authentic, Purposeful and Inspired

Our People are not

Perfect, Traditional, Complacent or Cautious

About The Role

Working closely with the SVP, Travel Partnerships, you will be responsible for driving new account acquisition across the Middle East Travel sector.

This role will lead the early stages of the enterprise sales process, from market research and lead generation through to solution design, commercial structuring and pitch delivery.

You will collaborate with Product, Insurance, Engineering and Client Solutions to craft compelling, high-value solutions that resonate with travel (airlines and OTAs) partners.

The ideal candidate will have experience selling complex digital solutions into the travel industry and a track record of winning strategic deals in fast-scaling technology environments.

What will your day look like? You will...

Lead outbound efforts to generate strategic pipeline opportunities across the travel ecosystem, including airlines and online travel agents

Act as the pre-sales lead across key deals, owning discovery, qualification and early solution design for complex prospects

Build tailored commercial narratives that connect our platform capabilities to partner goals, regulatory context and customer journeys

Develop trusted relationships with senior stakeholders (Product, Commercial, Digital, Risk) to guide solution shaping and gain stakeholder buy-in

Lead cross-functional collaboration with Product, Insurance, Engineering and Compliance to co-develop high-quality partner proposals

Support smooth handoff to Partner Services post-signature, ensuring continuity and delivery of partner expectations

Represent Cover Genius at travel industry events to build market presence and top-of-funnel engagement

To Help Us Level Up, You'll Ideally Have

Minimum 8+ years commercial business development / partnerships experience

Experience with embedded insurance or regulated platforms is highly desirable

Proven track-record for meeting and exceeding revenue targets and performance driven KPIs

Demonstrated passion and agility leading within high-growth technology companies / startups

Strong network and successful track record within the travel industry desirable

Experience executing B2B2C or B2B2B distribution models desirable

First class communication skills, able to present, negotiate and influence at C-level

Ability to work collaboratively as a member of cross-functional teams (Incl.

engineering, product and finance) to deliver high quality outcomes to timelines

Appetite and enthusiasm for working as part of a small collegial team that is not afraid of getting their hands dirty and supporting each other

Why Cover Genius?

Cover Genius not only cares about being the best in our industry, we care about our team.

We’re a business that understands life can be fluid and so we flex to ensure we provide the environment to suit that.

What does that mean?

Flexible Work Environment - Our teams are hybrid.

We work from home on a Wednesday and Thursday and attend the office on Monday, Tuesday and Friday with flexibility around start / finish times.

Employee Stock Options - we want our people to share in our success, we reward them with ownership for their contribution in creating a world-class company.

Work with like-minded people who are passionate about both the work we're doing and giving back.

Our CG Gives programs enables us to all become philanthropists through our peer recognition and rewards system.

Social Initiatives - pictures speak a thousand words!

Sound interesting? If you think you have the best composition of the above, send us your resume and let's chat!

Cover Genius promotes diversity and inclusivity.

We don't tolerate discrimination, demeaning treatment of anyone, or harassment due to race, national origin, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, protected veteran status, disability, age, or any other legally protected status.

By submitting your application, you acknowledge that we may collect, store and process your personal data for recruitment purposes.

To ensure a fair evaluation, we may use AI to assist in sorting applications, but all final decisions are made by our hiring team and no candidate dispositions are automated.

We will keep your information on file for three years from the date of your application.

For detailed information about how we handle your data and our use of AI, please review our full Privacy Policy.

The ideal candidate will have a minimum of 8 years of experience in commercial business development and a proven track record in the travel industry.

Experience with embedded insurance and strong communication skills are highly desirable.