Frequent Flyer Commercial Manager

The Role:

This role will report directly to the Managing Director of the Frequent Flyer Program and will be responsible for the management of the program commercials in line with the new loyalty program strategy and set up.

This includes:

• The ongoing management of the programs’ structure, benefits, accrual and redemption values based on regular market analysis and benchmarking to ensure offering a competitive attractive customer proposition, drive members’ acquisition and increase RJ’s share of customers’ wallets.
• The ongoing management of a set of local and global airline and non-airline loyalty partnerships’ for RJ’s frequent flyer program, with full accountability for managing the accrual and redemption aspects in order to hit the business plan targets and increase the revenues.
• Initiating and developing new services, products and sub-programs for the different customers’ segments based on analytics, benchmarking, market trends and needs.
• Leading the loyalty marketing campaign strategy to drive database growth, drive and maximize incremental revenue and ROI through targeted campaigns.  

The right candidate should be dynamic, structured and committed with commercial acumen and business development experience.

Should be adept in agile development processes and be able to understand software, user interface design, and the business needs while at the same time have the ability to simplify complex and sometimes competing requirements. The successful candidate will also be a strong communicator who is equally adept at talking to IT, finance, marketers, and customers.

Primary responsibilities include detailed commercial analysis including forecasting, budgeting, negotiation and stakeholder management.

Responsibilities:

• Lead initiatives to create new partnerships ( non- airline) across varied businesses such as Credit Cards, Hotels, Retails etc. that maximize value for customers in addition to driving member retention and incremental revenue growth.
• Acquire new and strategic global / regional partners for the program based on detailed market/opportunity analysis.
• Ownership of individual Partners relationships with accountability for negotiation, analysis & contracting of agreements to meet business plans.
• Accountability for achieving annual revenue targets and targets for new partnerships.
• Accountability for delivering the individual accrual volume, CPM targets and minimum commitment targets for allocated partners
• Accountability for developing and owning strong business relationships with key stakeholders internally and externally.
• Ability to analyze, interpret and use complex data to support business decisions to the benefit of the program and customers
• Regularly monitor the competitors’ offering, benchmark with latest trends and analyze customer data to identify key issues, trends and opportunities. Translate those findings into action plans for future goals and growth.
• Proactively ensuring processes and procedures are documented and adhered to, meeting audit, legal and regulatory requirements
• Take responsibility / ownership for providing business inputs to various IT development projects.
• Ensure the distribution channels (on & off line) are effectively and efficiently supporting the program’s products and services.
• Ensure a seamless experience for the members through all customers’ touchpoints and throughout their travel journey.
• Liaise with internal departments such as Marketing, Pricing, Finance, Ancillary, Legal, Inflight, Airport Services and Sales to strengthen working relationships
• Ensure systems are delivering the required functionality and where not, raise the issue with the appropriate team(s)

• Strong analytical skills and commercial acumen
• Excellent and proven negotiation & influencing skills
• Strong communication skills at all levels, both written & verbal
• Financial modeling skills
• Proven experience in relationship management, product launch and enhancement, partnership marketing.
• Ability to plan and prioritize workloads effectively
• Ability to work independently and cross-functionally
• Pro-active, adaptable and highly driven to deliver results
• Ability to efficiently lead and motivate a team
• Ability to work to both long term and tight deadline
• Organized, structured and logical approach towards business
• Willingness to learn and adapt in a fast paced environment
• Skilled at communicating data-driven insights and coming up with accessible ways to visualize data
• BA/BS Degree or equivalent experience
• PC literate (excellent working knowledge of Excel, PowerPoint and other Microsoft PC programs
• Loyalty background is a Plus.