(Senior) Business Development Manager, Travel - United Kingdom (m/f/d)

Pliant; London; Hybrid; GBP 50,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

Pliant seeks a (Senior) Business Development Manager to expand its UK commercial unit in B2B travel payments. The role emphasizes customer acquisition, market understanding, and collaboration to drive growth. Ideal candidates will possess strong industry knowledge and a proven track record in sales within the fintech landscape.

Benefits

Competitive salary and performance-based incentives

Opportunities for career growth and professional development

Hybrid working environment with opportunities for remote work

Auto-enrolment into workplace pension with enhanced employer contributions

Qualifications

• 3-5+ years in sales/business development within travel, fintech, or financial services.
• Understanding of B2B travel payments.
• Fluency in English is required.

Responsibilities

• Identify and engage prospects in the UK travel industry.
• Manage the full sales cycle from prospecting to closing.
• Represent Pliant at industry events and advocate for its technology.

Skills

Communication

Negotiation

Interpersonal Skills

Analytical Skills

Job description

ABOUT US

Since 2020, Pliant has been on a mission to empower companies to grow by providing a smart way to pay that scales with their business. With our app and API-based solutions, Pliant allows companies to issue physical and virtual credit cards, automate payment processes, track spending, and seamlessly integrate these data into their finance stack.

Pliant is growing quickly. With our expansion into 25 international markets, we believe that people, passion, and diversity are the key ingredients to our future success. Our growing team of 170+ Plianteers come from 35 nationalities, and have offices in London, Vienna, and Helsinki, in addition to our global HQ in Berlin. To date, we’ve raised over $70M in equity financing from world-class investors such as PayPal Ventures, Motive, Speedinvest, and more.

We’re just getting started and are looking for more people to join us on our journey!

ABOUT THE ROLE

You will support Pliant as (Senior) Business Development Manager, Travel - United Kingdom (m/f/d)and help build up our commercial unit in the UK with a strong emphasis on B2B Travel
use cases. You will convince our prospective customers from the travel industry that Pliant's card and payments platform is the best partner for their supplier payments. You will work closely with your colleagues from Customer Success, Underwriting and Product Management to successfully deliver on KPIs.

WHAT YOU'LL DO

• Customer Acquisition & Retention: Identify, engage, and build strong relationships with key prospects across the UK. Convert leads into customers, while managing and nurturing long-term client relationships to maximize retention and satisfaction.
• Pipeline Management: Oversee the full sales cycle from prospecting and qualification to negotiation and closing. Ensure you follow a structured, efficient process and consistently achieve targets.
• Thought Leadership: Serve as a market expert for Pliant, representing the brand at industry events, networking opportunities, and client meetings. Advocate for Pliant’s vision and technology within the UK travel industry network.
• Market Understanding: Stay up to date with the latest developments in the UK fintech & travel landscape, competitors’ offerings, and customer needs. Provide valuable market insights and recommendations for product enhancements and go-to-market strategies.
• Go-To-Market Strategy: You are spearheading the UK expansion and helping define our local strategy as well as shape the product for specific market needs.
• Collaboration & Reporting: Work closely with sales, growth and rev ops teams to ensure alignment with business goals. Regularly report progress, insights, and results to senior management.

WHAT YOU`LL BRING

• Proven experience (3-5+ years) in a sales and/or business development role within the travel, fintech, SaaS, or financial services industries, with net new logo acquisition experience
• A solid understanding of the travel industry, as well as the underpinnings of credit, lending, and B2B payments
• An intimate understanding of the B2B travel payments value proposition
• Excellent communication, negotiation, and interpersonal skills, with the ability to interact effectively with stakeholders at all levels
• Experience in launching and scaling products or services in new markets, ideally within the UK
• Demonstrated track record of sourcing, managing and winning the most complex client deals
• Self-motivated and goal-oriented, with the ability to work autonomously in a fast-paced startup environment
• Strong analytical and reporting skills, with the ability to assess market opportunities and identify key growth levers
• A strong network within the UK travel industry
• Fluency in English (written and spoken) is required

WHAT WE OFFER

• Competitive salary and performance-based incentives
• Opportunities for career growth and professional development
• Join an innovative and rapidly growing international company at the forefront of fintech innovation
• Auto-enrolment into our workplace pension with enhanced employer contributions
• Hybrid working environment with opportunities for remote work