Team Lead Corporate Travel

Avenir is Direct Travel's next-generation corporate travel service, combining a modern booking platform (powered by Spotnana) with high-touch, concierge-level support. As Team Leader, you will lead a team of Corporate Travel Consultants, Avenir, providing the day-to-day direction, coaching and support they need to deliver outstanding experience for every client.

Working closely with the Avenir Hub Manager, you will make sure clients receive accurate, cost-effective and policy-compliant travel arrangements, using corporate contracts and preferred suppliers, as part of an always-on service across multiple markets, languages and time zones.

This role suits a well-organized, self-motivated leader and true Customer Champion: someone with high standards, a genuine enthusiasm for technology, and the ability to get the best from both their people and the platform.

Objective of the Role:

• Know the client: build strong relationships with Avenir clients and a deep understanding of their needs, expectations and service requirements, and make sure the team delivers against them.
• Deliver the service: coach the team to meet client SLAs across phone, email and chat, and continually raise performance.
• Support the team: be the first point of guidance on workload, operational questions, client-specific requirements and Avenir platform queries.

Focus of role

• 50% Supervisory: leading the team, rostering and shift planning, team meetings and performance reviews.
• 40% Operational: hands-on support with Avenir bookings, servicing, changes and escalations.
• 10% Administration: reporting, credit card and client reports, refunds and items requiring manual action.

Key Roles & Responsibilities

Service Delivery:

• Lead the team to achieve contractual SLAs with Avenir clients across phone, email and chat, as well as internal SLAs with other departments, while maintaining consistently high quality.
• Ensure domestic and international are compliant with each client's travel policy and preferred suppliers.
• Ensure the team supports a multi-cultural client base and correctly advises travelers on visa, passport and health requirements.
• Make sure every call, email and chat is handled promptly and professionally, in line with Direct Travel service standards, etiquette and escalation procedures.
• Work closely with other Avenir hubs and the World Service Centers to ensure seamless handovers and a consistent service across markets and time zones.

Clients, escalations and the Avenir platform

• Act as the escalation point for travelers, travel arrangers and travel managers on service and Avenir platform issues, resolving them quickly and escalating to Avenir Product Support where needed.
• Own the investigation of issues, client complaints and ADM disputes, making sure all feedback is logged, reviewed and resolved in a timely way.
• Build client relationships and attend client review meetings where relevant, or in the absence of the Avenir Hub Manager.
• Support the Avenir Hub Manager with new client implementations and go-live readiness.
• Keep the team up to date on client changes, Avenir platform releases and new functionality, industry news and product knowledge.
• Capture team feedback on how the Avenir platform can be improved and share it with the relevant Product and Operations teams.

Operational control and continuous improvement

• Plan rosters and shift patterns (including weekends) against forecast demand, so the team is properly resourced and workload is shared fairly.
• Embed and monitor operational and quality processes, using them to measure team output and the overall service experience, and highlight opportunities to improve efficiency.
• Review daily reports with the team, ensuring refunds, cancellations and items requiring manual action are completed on time.
• Use reporting tools to share performance and financial updates with the team.
• Treat feedback and issues as opportunities to improve, using root cause analysis to drive continual improvement.

People leadership

• Support the Avenir Hub Manager to develop and motivate the team through 1:1s, objective setting, coaching and performance reviews.
• Mentor team members to maximize performance and margin potential.
• Identify development and training needs, including completion of the Avenir training plan, and make sure team members have protected time to use Direct Travel learning platforms.
• Help the Avenir Hub Manager run regular team meetings to keep everyone informed.
• Create a positive, cooperative, high-performing team culture that lives Direct Travel's values and its "Everyone Is a VIP" service vision.
• Balance your own time effectively between operational and supervisory duties.

This is not an exhaustive list of the responsibilities, skills, duties, requirements or efforts associated with the position.

Key Experience, Knowledge & Skills

Required:

• Experience leading, supervising or coaching a team in a corporate travel environment.
• Strong industry knowledge, including international pricing rules and procedures.
• Applied knowledge of one or more GDS.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• A strong sense of accountability, close attention to detail and a high level of professionalism.
• Calm under pressure, with the ability to defuse tense situations, think logically and find solutions.
• Confident decision-maker and problem solver.
• Able to motivate and retain a team.
• Able to prioritize your own workload and meet agreed deadlines.
• Flexible to work different shift patterns, including weekends, to support an always-on service.
• A willingness to learn new ways of working and lead a team that is part of the new 'tech generation'.
• Good working knowledge of Outlook and Microsoft platforms.

Optional:

• Knowledge of the Avenir platform (powered by Spotnana). Full training will be provided.
• An additional language: French, Spanish, German or Portuguese.

Leadership Attributes & Qualities

Business:

• Customer Focus – builds strong relationships with internal and external customers and puts the customer perspective at the heart of every decision.
• Strategic & Innovative Thinking – keeps the bigger picture in view, anticipates emerging issues, and looks for (and encourages others to find) new and better ways of working.
• Commercial Awareness – understands people, situations and practices, and weighs up conflicting information to make sound commercial decisions.
• Acts Decisively – has the courage to make tough calls on business and people issues, and acts with urgency when needed.

People:

• Inspires with Vision – brings the company's strategy to life, giving people a clear picture of the future and a sense of direction that means something to them.
• Builds Leaders & Teams – earns trust through consistent actions, values and clear communication, creating a team where people work together and grow through coaching and empowerment.
• Drives Performance & Results – motivates and guides others to successful outcomes, holds people accountable and continually raises standards.

Self:

• Influences Others – engages with confidence and adapts their style to shape the thinking and decisions of others.
• Self-awareness & Integrity – knows their strengths and development areas, shows empathy and consideration for others, and is honest in a way that puts people at ease.
• Passion for Success – goal-driven, sets high expectations, and challenges and encourages others to excel.