Global Account Director

Direct Travel; United States; Remote; USD 150,000 - 250,000; Full time

Job summary

Direct Travel is seeking a Global Account Director to serve as the senior executive partner for our largest global customers. You will own the full account relationship, lead cross-functional teams, and drive profitability and measurable outcomes.

This is a fully remote role with travel to key customer locations and Direct Travel offices. Responsibilities include executive relationship management, multi-year strategy, governance, and cross-regional program delivery to optimize service and ROI

Responsibilities

• Strategic Relationship & Executive Leadership: Act as the primary executive relationship owner for the customer's management stakeholders and key leaders.
• Strategic Relationship & Executive Leadership: Build partnerships across sourcing, procurement, finance, operations, and technology.
• Strategic Relationship & Executive Leadership: Understand customer priorities, risks, and long-term vision.
• Strategic Relationship & Executive Leadership: Advocate internally for customer needs and represent the voice of the customer.
• Strategic Relationship & Executive Leadership: Position Direct Travel as a strategic partner through counsel and insights.
• Strategic Account Planning & Business Development: Lead multi-year account strategy aligned with customer objectives.
• Strategic Account Planning & Business Development: Identify optimization, expansion, and cross-sell opportunities across the global footprint.
• Strategic Account Planning & Business Development: Implement plans to meet performance objectives and financial targets.
• Strategic Account Planning & Business Development: Conduct complex contract negotiations for renewals and RFI/RFPs.
• Strategic Account Planning & Business Development: Drive profitability while maximizing ROI for the customer.
• Strategic Account Planning & Business Development: Understand customer business models and competitive landscape.
• Program Governance & Performance Management: Own an account governance framework with executive touchpoints and KPIs.
• Program Governance & Performance Management: Ensure delivery aligns with SLAs and performance across regions.
• Program Governance & Performance Management: Lead quarterly business reviews and annual strategic planning.
• Program Governance & Performance Management: Analyze data and trends to recommend strategic enhancements.
• Program Governance & Performance Management: Monitor risks and ensure proper documentation in systems.
• Cross-Functional Leadership & Coordination: Coordinate activity across PM, Service Delivery, Reporting, and regional teams.
• Cross-Functional Leadership & Coordination: Be the single point of accountability for issue resolution.
• Cross-Functional Leadership & Coordination: Align national and regional managers to drive outcomes.
• Cross-Functional Leadership & Coordination: Collaborate with Direct Travel leadership to allocate resources.
• Cross-Functional Leadership & Coordination: Support global program implementation with multi-region requirements.
• Cross-Functional Leadership & Coordination: Lead change management across stakeholders.
• Cross-Functional Leadership & Coordination: Escalate issues and resolve with urgency.
• Cross-Functional Leadership & Coordination: Drive accountability without direct reporting authority.
• Stakeholder Communication & Enablement: Deliver clear communication on performance and opportunities to customer leadership.
• Stakeholder Communication & Enablement: Share industry developments and thought leadership to inform the customer

Job description

The Global Account Director is a strategic executive level business partner responsible for leading Direct Travel's largest and most complex global customer programs. This role serves as the trusted advisor and primary executive liaison between Direct Travel and key strategic customers, driving program excellence, profitability, and long-term partnership value. The Global Account Director owns the complete account relationship—from strategic planning and governance to implementation and optimization—while leading cross-functional teams to ensure exceptional service delivery and measurable business outcomes.

This is a fully remote position with ~25% travel to key customer locations and Direct Travel offices.

Key Responsibilities

Strategic Relationship & Executive Leadership

• Serve as the primary executive relationship owner and trusted advisor for the customer's management stakeholders, and key business leaders
• Build and maintain deep, consultative partnerships across customer sourcing, procurement, finance, operations, and technology functions
• Develop comprehensive understanding of customer's strategic business priorities, corporate objectives, risk landscape, and long-term vision
• Advocate internally for customer needs and serve as the voice of the customer in Direct Travel leadership discussions
• Position Direct Travel as a strategic business partner, not a vendor, through proactive counsel and industry insights

Strategic Account Planning & Business Development

• Lead development and execution of comprehensive multi-year account strategy aligned with customer business objectives
• Identify and drive strategic optimization, expansion, and cross-sell opportunities across the customer's global footprint to optimize service usage and customer ROI
• Implement business plan to establish, achieve, and measure mutually agreed performance objectives and financial targets
• Conduct complex contract negotiations for renewals, extensions, and amendments; lead RFI/RFP processes
• Proactively manage account profitability while maximizing customer value and ROI
• Develop deep understanding of customer's business model, competitive landscape, and how Direct Travel programs drive strategic value

Program Governance & Performance Management

• Own and maintain comprehensive account governance framework, including executive touchpoints, cadence, success metrics, and escalation protocols
• Ensure delivery aligns with agreed service scopes, SLAs, and performance expectations across all customer regions
• Lead quarterly business reviews and annual strategic planning sessions focused on performance, adoption, optimization, and innovation
• Analyze performance data and market trends to recommend practical, strategic enhancements
• Monitor adherence to program objectives and proactively identify risks before escalation
• Ensure accurate documentation of program details, decisions, and actions in required systems

Cross-Functional Leadership & Coordination

• Lead and coordinate activity across Program Management, Service Delivery, Reporting, Automation, and regional teams to ensure achievement of customer goals
• Act as the single point of accountability for ensuring holistic issue resolution rather than siloed responses
• Align and lead national and regional Account Managers across multiple countries to drive outcomes
• Collaborate closely with Direct Travel leadership to align resources and drive program success
• Support implementation of global programs with complex, multi-region requirements
• Champion change management initiatives by aligning messaging, timing, and execution across internal and customer stakeholders
• Ensure issues, risks, and changes are escalated appropriately and resolved with urgency
• Drive accountability without necessarily having direct reporting authority over all members of the account team

Stakeholder Communication & Enablement

• Deliver clear, compelling communication to customer leadership regarding program performance, service health, and strategic opportunities
• Distribute industry developments and thought leadership to keep customers informed of trends affecting their business