Rocket Travel is looking for an experienced VP of Global Partnerships to join our growing team! Rocket is based in Chicago’s West Loop, with team members around the world. We are a hybrid team and have a flexible work schedule. This role will require travel including some presence in the office, but remote is possible.

In this role, you’ll play a leadership role in our growing Partnerships organization. Rocket lives and breathes partnerships as the B2B2C technology arm of Booking Holdings. You will be pivotal in the success of the business generating revenue and being at the center of the table in all things Rocket.  You’ll lead a team of partner managers and regional leads to create the best outcomes for our travelers and partners. You’ll work closely with our product, design, operations, and technology teams - as well as our sister brands across Booking Holdings such as Booking.com, Kayak, Priceline, and Agoda - to drive successful commercial initiatives.

This is a global leadership role, with multiple direct reports, reporting directly to our EVP Commercial. 

Rocket Travel is a place where you:

• Work with a group of intrinsically motivated people with a track record for building successful new businesses from scratch.
• Embody curiosity, community, and accountability. We live and build products by these values every day. 
• Own decisions and take action that can be implemented in a matter of days (or hours).
• Get inspired and encouraged to vacation faster, with an annual vacation stipend.
• Receive a competitive compensation package, including bonus, equity, 401k with match, flexible vacation time, maternity/paternity benefits, health, and dental insurance.
• Total Compensation may vary depending on experience & is negotiable - Salary: $150k - $200k + Bonus: 60% + Equity
• Can have a flexible work schedule. We have an amazing primary office in the Chicago West Loop and team members all over the world. We have a hybrid team and a flexible work environment.
• Share your passion for travel with equally adventurous teammates. 
• Work within the largest online travel company in the world. Rocket Travel creates B2C and B2B2C travel products and is part of Booking Holdings (BKNG). We have many worldwide partners and a diversified business. Despite the world’s current situation, Booking Holdings has been rated the healthiest company in travel, and Rocket itself has already seen travel demand surpass pre-pandemic levels

As a VP of Partnerships at Rocket Travel, you will: 

• Set strategy and build relationship working directly with our partners and partner managers and to ensure marketing efforts are successfully executed, product is performing at or exceeding expectations, new optimizations are introduced and launched, and the partnerships are growing over time
• Carefully monitor and analyze and report to the broader business partner economics, KPIs, and general business performance. Identify trends and make growth recommendations based on those.
• Work closely with Product and Business Operations team members to optimize the product, run tests, and inform the partner product roadmap across regions and partners
• Work with stakeholders within the company collaboratively to communicate and finalize decisions and work closely with the senior leadership team to set strategic priorities. 
• Take a global view of the partnership landscape understanding local nuances, competitive landscapes, and core strategy of Booking Holdings strategic partnerships approach, implementing that approach across your team. 
• Lead and/or support partner managers in select business development efforts through being the senior stakeholder negotiating, analyzing deal ROI, and assessing tradeoffs of bringing on new business.
• Develop the partnership strategy for driving better partner experiences to align with product and business goals.
• Effectively engage with internal stakeholders, including operations, biz ops, legal, marketing, product, and technology to ensure each organization has full visibility into partner needs. 
• Communicate professionally and at multiple levels within the partner’s organization; anticipate customer needs and correspond proactively

About you:

• You are an expert in the B2B2C partnership space knowing how to navigate and influence in the complex organizations of our partners. 
• You are able to cut to the chase, have hard conversations backed up by your expertise to do what is right for the partner but also the business. 
• You are data-driven, able to ask the right questions and resourcefully find the answer
• You are thoughtful, intentional, and decisive, recognizing “how much is good enough” before making a decision
• You have extensive experience in account/partner management and managing a team of high performing partner managers. 
• Experience developing partnership strategy and identifying, sourcing, and analyzing new partnership opportunities
• Track record of success working effectively and independently across functions to deliver against deadlines

About Rocket Travel

We make travel more rewarding than anyone else 

Rocket Travel awards customers for booking travel through our products, allowing people to earn or use loyalty benefits from their favorite loyalty programs.

Our journey

We began in 2013 with the same goal of making travel even more rewarding. This started with our bespoke Rocketmiles website, earning travelers their favorite airline loyalty miles for hotel bookings, and every year since, we’ve advanced our goal.

We now partner with over 60 loyalty programs that travelers can choose from, we build unique partner-branded travel sites, we offer the ability to earn and redeem loyalty rewards, we sit within Booking Holdings (BKNG)—the most experienced Group of travel companies in the world—and we continually grow the number of ways that people can book travel through us, from stays to cars and more.

Travel constantly evolves, opening additional opportunities to create rewarding experiences, and we intend to be at the forefront of building and innovating on those for travelers worldwide.

A diverse and global team

Our teammates work across the globe, in person and remotely. We have offices in Chicago, NYC, Bangkok, Bogota, Kuala Lumpur, Manila, and Cebu. No matter where people work, our main team-building goal is to create a diverse, equitable, and inclusive environment. We do that with a Diversity and Inclusion Committee, setting DEI hiring goals, investing in employee retention, and conducting regular team training that fosters collaboration and morale.

All of these efforts help ensure that we’re promoting a supportive workplace, where people are motivated to grow professionally and build rewarding travel experiences together. 

Note on general employment requirements

Candidates should be authorized to accept employment in the US from any employer, should be willing to start within three weeks of accepting an offer, and should be able to work the same daily working hours as our Chicago office.

A final word

If the idea of working within an environment that promotes accountability, curiosity, and community to build reward travel products sounds motivating to you, we would love to hear from you—even if you’re unable to meet 100% of the job requirements. We never expect people to have all of the answers, as long as they’re willing and able to learn and grow with us.

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