The ideal candidate for this role will be experienced in global travel management, vendor/partner relationship and service management, online booking- and expense tool administration as well as corporate travel credit card management. This person will stay current with industry trends and have the ability to understand the business and effectively enhance the program to meet the needs of our business travelers. This candidate should be excited about solving problems and have a successful history of doing so. This person should also be able to effectively communicate and collaborate across multiple functions and interact with employees at various levels.
Role:
- Responsible for deployment, managing/running and development of our platform for business travel bookings and expense management (with interfaces to travel agencies, online booking systems, GDS systems, corporate credit card, accounting) as a shared service function.
- Managing customer relations and service provisions for Allianz operating entities, which participate in the Travel Management Service program.
- Field of responsibility covers end-to-end implementation process, as well as workflow and process management of the regional travel platform, including communication towards travelers.
- Also responsible for Fleet management Services which is part of GMS, alignment with Fleet management provider, communication with end-users.
- Implementation of Allianz’ global travel program including deployment of digital travel& expense platform (Amadeus Cytric), including their interfaces (Travel Security, Global Hotel Solutions, etc.)
- Act as regional business owner for Cytric, interacting closely with the project and technical team, travel agency, service providers and internal interfaces to ensure accurate set-up of the system.
- Definition and administration of travel policy rules and requirements in booking channels as well as requirement management of functionalities and workflow for platform development.
- Manage standardization and harmonization of processes to reduce costs and to make use of competitive advantages in the area of travel-approvals, booking, on-trip services, payment, reimbursement for mobile, online and offline processes.
- Implementation of new products and supplier/service providers, as well as setting up respective interfaces and ensuring agreed service levels.
- Supplier management (steering, evaluation and development) both for travel and fleet management across different countries participating in the regional hub.
- Spend management, performance controlling, and reporting requirements to identify trends, gaps and opportunities (cost savings, policy compliance, etc.)
- Communicate operational requirements (security, tax, airline, hotel etc.) requirements clearly and in a timely fashion to key stakeholders and travelers through the various channels both for travel and fleet management.
- Act as secondary point of contact and support for all travel& fleet related issues for all company employees.
- Stakeholder management with interfaces and contact persons for travel& fleet services in Allianz entities (Allianz entities, Allianz group functions.
a) Qualification and work experiences
- Bachelor’s or master’s degree in business administration (or similar studies) or professional training as travel agent, and 5-10 years of work experiences.
- Minimum 5 years of work experience in travel management or in strategic sales for travel agency, travel online booking tool, or GDS providers.
- Minimum of 5 years’ experience managing complex projects with multiple stakeholders and timelines.
- Strong knowledge and experience of service delivery processes in business travel, best practices, and new trends.
- Knowledge of leading travel& expense tools preferable (e.g. Concur, Amadeus Cytric, KDS, etc.)
- Work experience at a global corporation is advantageous.
- Languages: fluent written and spoken English - further languages are advantageous but not mandatory.
- Strong understanding and profound knowledge for planning, booking, payment and expense processes in the field of business travel.
- Profound knowledge of and experience in business travel industry standards, best-practices, functionalities, workflows in GDS systems, digital online booking tool systems as well as in operations of business travel agencies.
- Profound product knowledge in the field of airlines, hotel, rental cars, and rail.
- Ability to interface / engage with stakeholders via excellent communication and interpersonal skills; high assertiveness and solution-oriented thinking as well as strong service orientation.
- Passion and enthusiasm for the area of responsibility and the ability to take initiative in their work to ensure the company has a successful travel program where employees engaging in the program have a seamless travel experience.
- Strong level of ownership while acting and working in a team and network. Strategic and innovative business development in business travel market.
- Excellent knowledge on Microsoft Office Suite (Outlook, Excel, Word, and PowerPoint.