Global Business Development Manager

Tripadvisor

4h•$130,000 - $140,000•Remote

About The Position

Cruise Critic is looking for a driven, entrepreneurial Manager of Partnerships & Business Development to lead the identification, pursuit, and activation of high-value commercial relationships outside of the core cruise endemic category. This is a hunter role — built for someone who thrives on opening doors, building pipelines from scratch, and closing partnerships that create real, measurable value. You will be the primary driver of new revenue from ancillary travel categories and emerging verticals, bringing net-new partners into the Cruise Critic ecosystem and helping establish the commercial models to grow them over time. You will sit within the Growth Partnerships Pod, working in close collaboration with the Pod's activation, product, and strategy leads to move opportunities from first conversation to live partnership. This is not an account management or renewal role — it is about finding and winning new business.

Requirements

5-10 years of experience in business development, partnerships, or commercial roles — ideally within travel, media, e-commerce, or a marketplace business.
Demonstrable track record of hunting and closing net-new commercial partnerships, not just managing existing accounts.
Demonstrated ability to use AI tools to improve efficiency, quality, and decision-making in day-to-day work.
Proven ability to operate effectively with a global-first mindset.
Experience building partnerships across ancillary travel categories, affiliate or rev-share models, or consumer marketplaces is strongly preferred.
Familiarity with digital media commercial models including sponsorship, content partnerships, and performance-based structures.
Experience with Salesforce or equivalent CRM for pipeline management and forecasting.
Proven hunter mentality — proactive, relentless in lead generation, and motivated by opening new doors.
Strong commercial acumen and ability to develop and evaluate pricing and revenue-share models.
Exceptional ability to build rapport quickly and influence senior decision-makers externally.
Strategic thinking balanced with a bias for action and execution.
Strong negotiation, presentation, and communication skills — written and verbal.
Analytical mindset with the ability to interpret data, size opportunities, and build business cases.
Self-motivated, resilient, and comfortable operating in ambiguous, fast-moving environments.
Highly collaborative — able to work cross-functionally and bring internal teams along on the journey.

Nice To Haves

Experience building partnerships across ancillary travel categories, affiliate or rev-share models, or consumer marketplaces is strongly preferred.
Familiarity with digital media commercial models including sponsorship, content partnerships, and performance-based structures.

Responsibilities

Proactively identify, target, and pursue partnership opportunities across ancillary travel verticals — including travel insurance, shore excursions, hotels, airport transfers, parking, luggage logistics, eSIM/connectivity, and port experiences.
Build and manage a robust, structured pipeline of prospective partners across non-endemic and emerging commercial categories relevant to the cruiser journey.
Lead all stages of the business development cycle: outreach, qualification, pitching, negotiation, and deal closure.
Develop and own a prospecting framework and prioritization approach to maintain focus on highest-value opportunities.
Represent Cruise Critic at industry events, trade shows, and networking opportunities to generate leads and raise brand profile in new verticals.
Assess commercial viability and strategic fit of new partnership opportunities, including revenue potential, user value, and operational complexity.
Develop pricing models, revenue-share structures, and commercial terms that are competitive, sustainable, and scalable.
Work with internal stakeholders to build compelling, data-informed business cases for new opportunities.
Maintain a clear view of the competitive landscape and emerging monetization models across travel and adjacent industries.
Provide accurate forecasting and pipeline reporting to senior leadership on a regular cadence.
Serve as the senior external face for Cruise Critic in new partner conversations, building trusted relationships with key decision-makers.
Collaborate with the Growth Partnerships Pod to ensure smooth handoff from deal close to partner activation.
Act as a key liaison between new partners and internal teams — ensuring early-stage partner needs are understood and translated into actionable briefs.
Support expansion opportunities where new partners evolve into deeper, multi-faceted commercial relationships.
Work closely with Product, Editorial, Marketing, CRM, and AdOps to shape partnership structures that can be realistically activated onsite.
Partner with the Pod's product and activation leads to define clear, lightweight launch paths for new commercial opportunities.
Provide commercial intelligence and market insight to inform broader business strategy and portfolio prioritisation decisions.
Contribute to the development of scalable processes, pitch materials, and commercial frameworks that support the wider Growth Partnerships Pod.

Benefits

Competitive compensation packages (routinely benchmarked against the latest industry data), including base salary and annual bonuses
“Work your way” with flexibility to suit your lifestyle. Tripadvisor Group takes a remote-friendly approach to collaboration across a worldwide team, with the option to join on-site as often as you’d like or as required by your team.
Flexible schedule. Work-life balance is ingrained in our culture by design. Trust and accountability make it work.
Donation matching. Give back? Give more! We match qualifying charitable donations annually.
Tuition assistance. Want to level up your career? We love to hear it! Receive annual support for qualified programs.
Lifestyle benefit. An annual benefit to spend on yourself. Use it on travel, wellness, or whatever suits you.
Travel perks. We believe that travel is employee development, so we provide discounts and more.
Employee assistance program. We’re here for you with resources and programs to help you through life’s challenges.
Health benefits. We offer great coverage and competitive premiums.
Generous referral scheme. Help us grow and be rewarded with generous awards for referring successful candidates.