Local Partnership Development Specialist – Tourism Network

MatchaTalent; Johannesburg; Presencial; ZAR 260.000 - 420.000; Jornada completa

Descripción de la vacante

MatchaTalent is seeking a Partnership Executive – Tour Guide Acquisition in South Africa to source and onboard local tour guides while building relationships with tourism associations, universities, and other stakeholders. You will assess candidates using structured criteria, negotiate terms, coordinate onboarding, and continuously expand sourcing channels to support the company’s growth in local travel ecosystems.

English fluency and a proactive, independent work style are essential.

Formación

• Bachelor's degree preferred in tourism, hospitality, or related fields.
• 1–3 years in business development, recruitment, partnerships, or tourism operations.
• Experience sourcing candidates and conducting structured interviews.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management.
• Familiarity with local tourism ecosystems and universities.
• Experience onboarding contractors or freelancers is a plus.
• Proficiency in English; additional local languages are an advantage.

Responsabilidades

• Source tour guides through local directories, associations, and universities.
• Build relationships with universities and tourism bodies to strengthen pipelines.
• Conduct background checks on guides including languages and certifications.
• Perform structured screening interviews assessing professionalism and storytelling.
• Rank candidates using standard criteria and maintain pipelines.
• Prepare profiles and recommendations for management review.
• Negotiate partnership terms and coordinate onboarding.
• Identify new sourcing channels and test them.
• Maintain CRM records, pipelines, and weekly activity reports.
• Gather feedback to improve recruitment standards.

Conocimientos

Negotiation

Relationship building

Sourcing channels

CRM proficiency

English proficiency

Educación

Bachelor's degree

Herramientas

CRM systems

MS Office

Descripción del empleo

This role requires the candidate to work in South Africa.

Client Overview

Our client is a rapidly growing travel and tourism company focused on building a trusted network of local tour guides and destination partners to deliver authentic, high-quality travel experiences. Through strategic partnerships with independent guides, tourism communities, educational institutions, and local organizations, the company continues expanding its presence while maintaining exceptional service standards and customer satisfaction.

Operating in a dynamic and fast-growing market, the organization emphasizes strong local partnerships, rigorous partner selection, and sustainable business growth. The company offers an exciting opportunity for professionals who are passionate about tourism, partnership development, and building long-term relationships within local travel ecosystems.

Job Role

The Partnership Executive – Tour Guide Acquisition is responsible for sourcing, evaluating, and onboarding qualified local tour guides while building strategic relationships with tourism associations, universities, and other key stakeholders. The role focuses on expanding the company's network of professional guide partners through proactive sourcing, structured candidate assessment, partnership development, and onboarding coordination.

Working closely with management, the successful candidate will identify high-potential guide partners, conduct thorough evaluations, negotiate partnership arrangements, and continuously improve sourcing channels to support the company's long-term expansion strategy.

Key Responsibilities

• Source qualified tour guides through local directories, tourism associations, social media platforms, guide marketplaces, university tourism programs, tourism offices, referrals, community groups, and other sourcing channels.
• Build relationships with university tourism departments, lecturers, faculty members, student organizations, alumni networks, and tourism institutions to strengthen the candidate pipeline.
• Conduct comprehensive background research on prospective tour guides, including tour specialties, language capabilities, certifications, customer reviews, online presence, and professional credibility.
• Perform structured screening interviews to assess professionalism, communication skills, storytelling ability, destination knowledge, guest service standards, safety awareness, and operational readiness.
• Evaluate and rank candidates using standardized assessment criteria while maintaining an organized pipeline of qualified guide partners.
• Prepare concise candidate profiles, recommendations, strengths, weaknesses, and market-fit assessments for management review and partnership approval.
• Negotiate basic partnership terms and coordinate onboarding activities, including contracts, scheduling, pricing guidance, and operational readiness.
• Continuously identify and test new sourcing channels, including community organizations, tourism job boards, alumni networks, industry events, and referral programs.
• Maintain accurate CRM records, recruitment databases, candidate pipelines, and weekly reports covering sourcing activities, conversion metrics, and partnership progress.
• Gather feedback from newly onboarded guides and operational teams to continuously improve recruitment standards, partnership quality, and selection criteria.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Tourism, Hospitality Management, Business Administration, Human Resources, Marketing, or other related disciplines is preferred.
• Minimum 1-3 years of professional experience in business development, recruitment, partnerships, hospitality, tourism operations, or related fields.
• Strong experience conducting candidate sourcing, outreach activities, and structured interviews through both online and offline channels.
• Excellent communication, interpersonal, and stakeholder management skills with the ability to build relationships across universities, tourism associations, and independent professionals.
• Familiarity with local tourism ecosystems, university structures, and tourism communities is highly preferred.
• Experience working with tour operators, destination management companies (DMCs), travel marketplaces, or university career services will be considered an advantage.
• Experience evaluating multilingual candidates or working within multicultural environments is highly desirable.
• Previous experience onboarding contractors, freelancers, or independent service providers is an advantage.
• Familiarity with local licensing or certification requirements for tour guides is preferred.
• Strong research capability with the ability to verify candidate credentials, certifications, customer reviews, language proficiency, and online reputation.
• Excellent organizational skills with the ability to manage multiple recruitment pipelines simultaneously while maintaining accurate documentation.
• Strong negotiation skills and confidence discussing partnership terms and commercial arrangements.
• Proficient in CRM systems, Microsoft Office applications, and recruitment database management.
• Self-motivated, proactive, detail-oriented, and capable of working independently in a fast-paced environment.
• Professional proficiency in written and spoken English is required. Additional local language capabilities will be considered an advantage.

Job Code: #748