Manager, Airline Partnerships

Location: USA <p>At Navan, airline partnerships shape the content, choice, and service our travelers experience. As Manager, Airline Partnerships, you'll own and grow a portfolio of airline partners across the Americas, securing competitive content and commercial agreements that create value for travelers, airline partners, and Navan.</p> <p>You'll lead negotiations, turn performance data into growth opportunities, and work with Product and Operations to bring better airline content to our customers. This role combines relationship building with commercial rigor: you'll have the autonomy to develop your supplier relationships, influence our airline strategy, and see your work translate into revenue growth and a better booking experience.</p> <p><strong>What You’ll Do:</strong></p> <ul> <li>Build and grow relationships with carriers across the Americas, conduct business reviews, and engage with key partner stakeholders, with particular emphasis on South America</li> <li>Lead airline partner engagement for Navan Signature Services and act as its airline partnerships subject matter expert across Navan Premier, Navan Events, Navan Specialty, and Navan Concierge.</li> <li>Evaluate, negotiate, and renew airline agreements, including incentives, content access, and marketing opportunities. </li> <li>Own revenue forecasts, track incentive attainment and partner commitments, and monitor booking trends and profitability. Identify performance gaps early and execute plans to meet or exceed commercial goals.</li> <li>Analyze deal economics, model commercial scenarios, and translate complex data into clear recommendations for senior leadership and airline partners.</li> <li>Partner with suppliers, Product, Engineering, and Operations to expand access to competitive fares and relevant content across various content channels.</li> <li>Coordinate with Finance, Sales, Customer Success, Marketing, and other stakeholders on partner initiatives. Equip customer-facing teams with clear airline updates and resolve issues that affect partnership performance.</li> <li>Build our industry relationships at partner meetings and events, and bring insights on airline retailing, distribution trends, and emerging risks back to the team.</li> </ul> <p><strong>What We’re Looking For:</strong></p> <ul> <li>5+ years of experience in airline partnerships, travel supply, distribution, commercial account management, or a related travel industry role, ideally working with or for airlines.</li> <li>A track record of leading commercial negotiations and growing partner relationships, with clear examples of revenue growth, stronger economics, or improved customer value.</li> <li>A strong understanding of airline distribution, including global distribution systems (GDS), New Distribution Capability (NDC), and direct connections, and how these affect content, pricing, and servicing.</li> <li>Strong analytical and financial skills, including advanced Excel or Google Sheets proficiency and the ability to build forecasts, assess profitability, and turn data into a clear course of action.</li> <li>Excellent written and verbal communication in English</li> <li>Sound judgment, strong organization, and a bias toward action. You can manage a portfolio independently, navigate ambiguity, and coordinate multiple teams to deliver results.</li> <li>Bachelor’s degree in business, economics, hospitality, or a related field, or equivalent professional experience.</li> <li>Ability to travel for airline partner meetings and industry events.</li> </ul> <p>Navan uses AI-assisted Automated Employment Decision Tool (Metaview) to assist with evaluating resumes against job qualifications for this role. All final decisions are made by human recruiters and hiring managers. </p> <p><strong>Human oversight:</strong> Metaview does not automatically reject candidates or make final hiring decisions. Our recruiters and hiring managers review all outputs and make the final hiring decision regarding every application. </p> <ul> <li> <p><strong>Your rights: </strong>If you prefer to have your application reviewed without AI assistance, you may request a human evaluation by entering your email <a href="[Link Protected] rel="nofollow ugc noopener" target="_blank">here</a>. Your decision to do so will not affect how your candidacy is evaluated. </p> </li> </ul> <p>Please refer to our<a href="[Link Protected] rel="nofollow ugc noopener" target="_blank"> Candidate Privacy Notice</a> for more information about our processing of personal data, and your rights.</p> GDPR Compliance: Sourced via verified public channels under Legitimate Interests (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR). [Contact Info Protected]

All work completed through HarryDesk zero-commission remote freelance marketplace is protected under verified milestone escrow contracts. Once hired, payments are held safely in escrow and released upon client milestone approval.