Director of Aviation Commercial Supply · London · Hybrid Remote

loveholidays; London; Remote; GBP 80,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

An established industry player is seeking a Director of Aviation to drive strategic ownership of their Aviation product. This pivotal role involves managing over £3B in flight transactions and leading relationships with more than 120 airlines. You will leverage your deep aviation expertise and commercial acumen to optimize the flight offering and enhance revenue opportunities. Collaborating with cross-functional teams, you will ensure the company remains competitive in the dynamic travel market. If you have a passion for aviation and a strategic mindset, this is your chance to make a significant impact in a forward-thinking organization.

Qualifications

• Deep experience in the aviation industry, especially with low-cost airlines.
• Strong negotiation skills and commercial acumen are essential.

Responsibilities

• Own the Aviation product strategy and roadmap within the company.
• Lead the commercial Aviation team to maximize revenue opportunities.
• Manage relationships with airlines and technology partners.

Skills

Aviation industry experience

Relationship-building skills

Commercial acumen

Strategic mindset

Cross-functional team leadership

Data-driven decision-making

Communication skills

Job description

Why loveholidays?

At loveholidays, we’re on a mission to open the world to everyone, giving our customers unlimited choice, unmatched ease, and unmissable value for their next getaway. Our team is the driving force behind our role as our customers’ personal holiday expert -

The smart way to get away.

The impact you’ll have

This is a pivotal role in the business, reporting directly to the VP Commercial. The Director of Aviation will be accountable for more than £3B of flights transaction value, leading relationships with over 120 airlines across multiple source markets.

The role straddles the commercial, product, and technology areas of our flights supply and requires a blend of strategic, commercial, and product skills and knowledge to ensure loveholidays has the broadest, most competitive flights offering in the market.

Your day-to-day:

• Full strategic ownership of the Aviation product within loveholidays, including ownership of the Aviation strategic roadmap.
• Leading the commercial Aviation Team to maximise revenue opportunities within Aviation and the wider product set.
• Understanding Aviation mix and network planning to optimise our Aviation offering to the customer, which underpins our Dynamic Package product.
• Working directly with product owners and technical leads to promote Aviation as a product.
• Ownership of all Airline relationships, including low-cost carriers, scheduled, and charter airlines.
• Ownership of all technology and data relationships within Aviation, including global distribution system operators, low-cost carrier booking partners, and all aviation technology and data partners.
• Being the business owner for the cross-functional Aviation Team, including engineers, product owners, analysts, data scientists, and Aviation Operations.
• Balancing revenue maximisation with risk mitigation in a concentrated UK airline industry.
• Participating in the Company-wide OKRs process, setting the quarterly objectives to deliver the strategy you have set, and leading the execution of the OKR process within Aviation.
• Full financial ownership of the Aviation function, including budgeting and forecasting, and cost control.

Your skillset:

• Deep aviation industry experience and expertise, across low-cost airlines, scheduled carriers, and GDS.
• Strong relationship-building and influencing skills, comfortable up to C-Suite level.
• Commercial acumen and negotiation experience.
• Strategic mindset.
• Ability to lead cross-functional teams to successful outcomes, comfortable working with Product and Technology teams.
• Data-driven decision-making.
• Outstanding communication and interpersonal skills.

Desirable:

• Experience in fixed commitment and down-payments with airlines with associated negotiation, forecasting, and revenue management.
• Experience working in other European countries (e.g. Germany, Netherlands).

The interview journey:

• Talent Acquisition Partner intro - 30 mins.
• 1st stage with Hiring Manager - 45 mins.
• 2nd stage with key stakeholders including a task to present, followed by team chemistry meetings - 2 hours.
• Final stage with senior stakeholders - 30-45 mins.