Global Head of Business Travel

The Global Head of business travel (including Meetings & events) is a strategic leadership role, responsible for overseeing and optimizing the WTW's travel and meetings program and leading the travel category for sourcing, operations and vendor management with regards to airlines, hotels, ground transport, meetings & events and corporate card.

The Global Head of business travel will oversee the successful delivery of travel services to 52 countries, with overall responsibility for managing the travel agency relationship and collaborating with their leadership team to continually grow our strategic partnership.
The Global head of business travel leads a team of two regional travel managers, a travel supplier category manager and a data / business manager who work very closely to build a best-in-class travel program using innovative technology to enhance the colleague experience, while maintaining value for the organization. This role includes overall management of WTW's Travel Management provider (& associated systems and processes).

The Global Head of business travel must be comfortable communicating with stakeholders at a very senior level, providing visibility into travel expenditure, compliance, leakage and saving opportunities for both the travel and card programs. In addition, the role involves pro-actively partnering with Finance, HR, Mobility, Legal, Security, Tax and other internal teams on initiatives such as our ESG strategy, net-zero carbon commitments or compliance to ever-changing regulatory requirements.

The role will also form part of the Procurement management team, therefore prior procurement experience outside of travel will be an advantage.,

• Strategic vision to guide WTW in optimizing travel & meetings processes globally. Develop the travel category strategy including commercial & ESG deliverables.


• Lead the regional travel teams to deliver the travel program operations and sourcing activities.


• Pivotal role in negotiating contracts with suppliers, ensuring compliance with WTW policies and industry regulations, and driving innovation in travel management processes and technologies.


• Ownership for the travel agency and card vendor relationships and contracts.


• Partner with Procurement Operations to develop the card strategy and growth program.


• Engage closely with Procurement Operations and the MI team to deliver travel and expense reporting, compliance to programme and leakage reports to key internal stakeholders for decision making.


• Manage and enhance the travel and expense policy and procedures.


• Developing and implementing policies to ensure efficient and cost-effective travel arrangements and optimizing payment channels.


• Ensure compliance to regulatory requirements (GDPR / data privacy) is maintained, including supporting breach management with Info Sec.


• Demonstrated ability to work closely with internal stakeholders to drive plans that generate commercial value and execute against business strategy - engagement with senior stakeholders for travel category planning in a commercial-focused manner using reporting and change management buy-in.


• Form part of the global procurement management team and support the Procurement and Finance strategies.


• Engage with other internal corporate functions i.e. Security, Insurance, Mobility, Facilities to socialise program enhancements and initiatives.


• Drive the sourcing process for strategic meetings management, partnering with Marketing and other corporate functions.


• Detail oriented with a drive for optimizing processes and driving cost efficiency.
  
  Strong knowledge of global corporate travel industry with experience in managing travel agency across all regions. Ability to adapt strategies based on regional and industry specific nuances.


• Excellent travel & meetings procurement and analytical skills.


• Strong understanding of financials principles and the ability to manage budgets effectively.


• Global market awareness and the ability to effectively collaborate across departments.


• Proven experience of delivering corporate card programs; individual, purchasing, supplier and meeting card across all regions.


• Proven experience in driving and managing a meetings program in a matrix environment.


• Experienced in partnering with Mobility, Tax, & external suppliers to manage visa / tax changes per country.


• Experience in expense management and expense processes to provide commercial value-add.


• Experience in managing and developing a global team and associated outsourced travel management company (including management of SLAs / KPIs).


• Demonstrated experience in managing vendor global relationships to ensure optimal services and cost-effectiveness


• Proven track record of implementing successful projects and RFPs (recent TMC and OBT RFP particularly beneficial); delivering reporting tools and insight capabilities in a large global organisation.


• Proven experience in leading and managing change initiatives, especially in implementing new technologies or process improvements.


• Drive and enforce compliance to the travel and expense policy.


• Ability to effectively communicate performance metrics to senior management.


• Strong change and communications skills.


• Ability to interpret data, identify trends and make informed decisions to improve processes and reduce cost.


• Ability to balancing costs against service levels and risk.


• Expertise in developing and enforcing policies to ensure compliance with company policies and industry regulations.


Behavioural Skills

• Leadership: Proven effective leader with a strategic mindset who drives team performance, development and supports colleagues to deliver target business outcomes. Ability to lead and inspire a global team, fostering collaboration and innovation.


• Stakeholder: Ability to manage diverse stakeholders at all levels in the organisation in order to deliver a progressive travel program.


• Communication: excellent written and verbal communication skills in English and ability to interact with senior management and leadership.


• Collaboration: confident with challenging others whilst building strong business relationships. Ability to navigate and make decisions in high pressure situations.


Essential Requirements


• Global travel procurement and operations experience


• Global card program experience


• Global meetings experience


• Travel procurement leadership experience


• Excellent analytical skills


• Proven track record of year-on-year delivery


• Strong leadership skills


• Change management and self-awareness skills to adopt targeted approaches to a dynamic set of stakeholders


• Excellent communication, collaboration and listening skills


• Demonstrable commercial expertise and experience with excellent negotiation skills


• Strong knowledge of global travel regulations, tax requirements and ESG regulations


• Experience in managing a high performing team
  
  At WTW, we believe difference makes us stronger. We want our workforce to reflect the different and varied markets we operate in and to build a culture of inclusivity that makes colleagues feel welcome, valued and empowered to bring their whole selves to work every day. We are an equal opportunity employer committed to fostering an inclusive work environment throughout our organisation. We embrace all types of diversity.