Strategic Partnerships Lead - Industry Bodies

Travalyst; City Of London; Remote; GBP 60,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading sustainable tourism organization is seeking a Strategic Partnerships Lead to enhance relationships with industry partners. This remote role requires expertise in partnership management within the travel sector and aims to foster collaboration to promote sustainable travel practices. Ideal candidates will have a strong track record in strategic partnerships and a passion for sustainability.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of experience in strategic partnerships or business development.
• Proven ability to build and manage relationships with diverse stakeholders.
• Deep understanding of the travel and tourism ecosystem.

Responsibilities

• Manage and advance relationships with key industry organizations.
• Implement collaborative activities with current partners.
• Coordinate meetings and track progress on partnerships.

Skills

Partnership management

Strategic thinking

Sustainability knowledge

Project management

Negotiation skills

Communication skills

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Tourism, Business, or related field

Job description

Overview

As Strategic Partnerships Lead - Industry Bodies, you will play a pivotal role in managing and advancing Travalyst’s relationships with key industry organisations, NGOs, and non-commercial partners, working on projects that will have a global positive impact. Your goal will be to strengthen collaboration, align priorities, and drive collective impact across the global travel industry. Your good understanding of these partners and the industry as a whole, will allow us to further strengthen Travalyst´s position as a thought leader and convener in the sector.

During this maternity cover period, you will ensure our strategic partnerships continue to thrive, focusing on engagement, delivery of agreed joint activities, and representing Travalyst across collaborative projects.

Ideal candidates will have a passion for sustainable travel, the ability to mix strong partnership skills with strategic thinking so that our work can deliver measurable change. You will already be working in travel or sustainability and understand the complexity of the industry both on the structural and technical side.

Contract type

Fixed Term (6.5 months, employee or contractor), starting end of January 2026 - beginning of August 2026.

Location

Remote (EU friendly time-zone)

As part of the Tourism Policy & Industry Relationship (TPIR) team, you’ll get to:

• Maintain and strengthen existing partnerships through regular engagement, trust-building, and open communication.
• Implement agreed collaborative activities with current strategic partners.
• Lead presentations and workshops with current and potential strategic partners to work out how we can align approaches to sustainability and amplify our joint impact.
• Coordinate quarterly meetings of the Strategic Partnerships Group, ensuring productive exchange and follow-up.
• Ensure that key decision makers at industry bodies know what we need from them, and when.
• If opportunity occurs, explore development of new relationships with potential strategic partners with the aim to establish mutually beneficial collaborations.
• Track and report on the progress and impact of ongoing collaborations.
• Monitor sector trends and emerging opportunities relevant to sustainability and industry collaboration.
• Collaborate closely with your TPIR colleagues to support industry outreach and engagement with policy makers, government officials and standard setters.
• Work closely with the wider Travalyst team to help everyone understand the strategic partnership approach of the organisation and coordinate external industry engagement for different workstreams.
• Support or lead the organisation of events organised by Travalyst in relation to strategic partners and the industry.

What skills we’re looking for:

• Bachelor’s degree in Tourism, Sustainability, Business, or a related field; Master’s a plus.
• Proven track record (8+ years) in strategic partnerships, business development, or a related field within the travel and tourism industry.
• Proven ability to build, manage, and influence relationships across diverse organisations.
• Deep understanding of the travel and tourism ecosystem, including sustainability trends, policy, and data challenges.
• Strong problem solving, analytical, and decision making skills.
• High attention to detail and the ability to effectively manage multiple projects at a time.
• Excellent negotiation, presentation and skills, both written and verbal.
• Strong organisational and project management skills; able to prioritise effectively.
• Collaborative, diplomatic, and empathetic working style with excellent communication skills.
• Strategic thinker with a hands-on approach to implementation.
• Passion for sustainable travel and belief in the power of collective action.
• Self-motivated worker with entrepreneurial passion.
• Thrives in a fast-paced work environment while being comfortable in a fully-remote virtual and results-driven environment.

About Us

We believe tourism can, and must, play a key role in achieving a sustainable future for our world; so we’re convening the key players, and catalysing the necessary action, to change the impact of travel, for good. We are committed to being a driving force that redefines what it means to travel, helping everyone explore our world in a way that protects both people and places, and secures a positive future for destinations and local communities for generations to come.

Founded by Prince Harry, The Duke of Sussex, we are a pre-competitive coalition of some of the biggest names in travel and technology including Amadeus, BCD, Booking.com, Expedia, Google, Mastercard, PitchUp, Sabre, Skyscanner, The Travel Corporation, Trip.com Group, Tripadvisor, and Visa. We now partner with fifteen of the world’s leading companies and brands associated with travel representing a combined market value of almost $3tn, working together to make travel more sustainable.

Travalyst provides supportive, independent and neutral governance, empowering our Coalition of some of the biggest – and occasionally competing – travel companies and service providers to share data and accelerate change. The goal is to bring credible, consistent sustainability information to the mainstream, helping both travellers and travel companies make better, greener choices.

How do we work?

We are bold and humble, showing a willingness to embrace challenges head-on. We try new things, take risks, make educated guesses and move quickly to deliver impact. We are rigorous yet adaptable in the face of evolving challenges and opportunities. Most of all, we work closely and collaboratively showing care for each other and the planet we share, so excellent communication and collaboration skills are a must. We all work remotely, so rely heavily on video calls and other technology. We strive for excellence in everything we do, and pride ourselves by learning every day.

Our guiding values are: Courage | Kindness | Collaboration | Excellence | Growth Mindset

An ‘Open to All’ employer, we warmly welcome everybody to the team. People of colour, LGBTQIA+ people, neurodiverse people, individuals with impairments, and parents are encouraged to apply. We encourage you to notify our team of your pronouns at any stage of your application. We also welcome applications from people who come from communities that are directly affected by the impacts of travel and tourism. We are committed to making reasonable adjustments to the recruitment process as required. Please add any adjustment requests to your application.