Product Design Manager

The Travel Corporation is a global travel company that creates and delivers travel experiences across more than 70 countries and its award-winning brands. The Product Design Manager will own assigned North American regions and develop commercially viable, differentiated itineraries and experiences through market research, costing, contracting, and ongoing product maintenance. The role also supports brochure production, systems accuracy, product training, and cross-functional collaboration with Marketing, Sales, Operations, Contracting, and Content teams.

Responsibilities:

• Take ownership of assigned regions and itineraries
• Approves itinerary changes at a series level and exceptions for brand pillars at a departure level
• Develop innovative and exciting itineraries and experiences for each of the relevant brands you support
• Negotiation/Contracting and initial set up of experiences including collaboration with the Ops Team prior, during & post tour operation
• Cost analysis for new itineraries in order to create commercially viable programs
• Work to identify & fill brand pillar gaps across assigned tours
• Research and analyze industry trends and market competitors in the relevant regions you are responsible for. You need to aspire to be a subject matter expert
• Review guest and market feedback – monitor FEEFO, TD reports, and Guest Questionnaires across your assigned tours
• Travel required - To be a subject matter expert you must be available to travel regularly to experience existing product, to seek improvements and to create new experiences. Approximately 4-8 weeks, may vary
• Collate data and prepare the documents used for planning, contracting and product development
• Prepare the annual capacity review and new product proposals for Senior Product Design Manager and Director of Product Design
• Participate in the annual brochure production process, working closely with the brochure production/content/brand team to ensure your itineraries and experiences are attractive and accurately portrayed
• Create and maintain Master Travel Experience Files Airtable and liaise with various stakeholders, both internal and external, to ensure accurate information for internal team use
• Carry out regular web health checks and report anything that needs correcting
• Keep product records consistent across our systems so the wider business can rely on them
• Assess, approve and action changes through the ticketing system
• Prepare product information requested by Sales, Marketing and Sustainability
• Work with Operations and Contracting to track the success of existing itineraries and identify problems and opportunities
• Develop and maintain strong relationships with the Contracting Team (hotel, meal & experiences) to ensure the Travel Experiences briefs are met
• Support knowledge sharing cross-departmentally to ensure all staff are well informed on your region’s product
• Work with the Content Team to ensure all systems speak the same language: what we brief, what we contract, what we have on sale, and what we say about it is all aligned
• Represent the company at various trade shows, travel events, on webinars and other events as necessary
• Work within a creative travel experiences development team
• Pick up cross team tasks at busy points in the cycle and provide cover during absence
• Provides backup support during crisis

Requirements:

• 3+ years of travel industry related experience required
• Willing and able to travel regularly, approx. 4 – 8 weeks per year
• Strong oral and written skills
• Organized and flexible with a strong attention to detail
• Confident use of Microsoft Applications
• Comfortable managing a high volume of regular tasks and working to fixed deadlines
• Able to work independently and manage own priorities, as well as part of a team
• Negotiation & contracting experience
• Previous travel operations or on road experience is a plus
• Experience of database or workflow tools such as Airtable or Salesforce is an advantage