Travel Manager
£69,305 p/a + benefits
London SW1, Pall Mall
Closing date: Thursday 13 February 2025 at 17:00 GMT
The Commonwealth Secretariat’s Travel Section plays a pivotal role within the organisation and is responsible for providing travel-related services with a focus on traveller needs, value for money and operational efficiency. Travel is an important component and facilitator of the Secretariat’s work in achieving its goals and delivering the outcomes of the Strategic Plan.
The Travel Manager is responsible for the value-added strategic management of the Secretariat’s comprehensive global travel programme, which supports the Secretariat and its travellers. Key responsibilities for the Travel Manager include: strategic planning, stakeholder engagement, staff management, vendor management, risk mitigation, compliance, and budget oversight. Please refer to the job description for full detals
Duties of the role include coordinating identified Commonwealth Secretariat sport-related projects, supporting and advising on the development of national policy and strategies, providing support in building and maintaining relationships with key stakeholders, assisting in the provision of the Secretariat for the Commonwealth Advisory Board on Sport (CABOS), and representing the Commonwealth Secretariat in external partner briefings, clinics, conferences, networking and other training and development workshops when required. Please refer to the job description for full details.
To be considered for this opportunity, you will need a degree in tourism, travel or hospitality or bachelor’s degree plus a professional qualification in the relevant field or ten years progressive business travel experience. You will need to have at least seven years global travel management experience together with extensive knowledge of the travel industry and travel logistics.
Other requirements include experience of travel services procurement and contract management, Excellent negotiation/consensus building skills as well as the ability to maintain flexibility and manage conflict, and at least one year of people management experience. The ability to deal confidently and effectively at the highest level and to establish effective working relationships ensuring dealing at all times with utmost tact, diplomacy and confidentiality is essential. Also required is the ability to build and maintain positive relationships with vendors; excellent organisational, analytic and problem-solving skills and attention to detail; experience in multicultural and international settings; financial acumen; and knowledge of online booking tools, management information systems (MIS) tools and other travel technology.
The Commonwealth is a voluntary association of 56 member governments and provides guidance on policy making, technical assistance and advisory services to Commonwealth member countries. We support governments to help achieve sustainable, inclusive, and equitable development.
If you feel that you are suitable for this role, please apply by submitting a CV and Covering Letter. Covering Letters should be structured to address the key criteria required in the Job Description, giving clear examples.
To join us, you must be a citizen of a Commonwealth country.
The Commonwealth Secretariat is the principal intergovernmental body of the Commonwealth, responsible for advancing and achieving the shared goals of the association’s 56 member governments in promoting democracy, development and respect for diversity.
