SVP - Implementation - Corporate Travel Management at Direct Travel

United States

<h1>Summary</h1> <p>Direct Travel is seeking a strategic, results-driven executive to serve as Senior Vice President of Implementation. This leader owns the full customer activation lifecycle across our global footprint and is accountable for delivering fast, high-quality, repeatable onboarding that speeds up time to revenue and sets clients up for long-term success.</p> <p>The SVP leads two organizations, Implementation and Global Solution Design. They set the vision, operating model, and performance standards for how Direct Travel scopes, sells, and delivers global travel programs. As a member of the extended leadership team, the SVP works with Sales, Operations, Technology, Product, Finance, and Legal to turn commercial wins into operational success, and drives company-wide initiatives that align systems, processes, and people for growth at scale.</p> <h1>Key Responsibilities</h1> <h2>Strategic Leadership &amp; Organizational Ownership</h2> <ul> <li>Set and carry out the multi-year strategy for implementation and global solution design, in line with company growth, retention, and profitability goals.</li> <li>Own the organization's budget, headcount plan, and resource model. Scale capacity ahead of pipeline and sales forecasts.</li> <li>Design the organization, roles, and career paths needed to support a growing, increasingly global client base.</li> <li>Represent Implementation at the executive level: report on performance, risks, and investment needs to the Chief Customer Success Officer and leadership team.</li> </ul> <h2>Implementation Delivery &amp; Operational Excellence</h2> <ul> <li>Hold executive accountability for every client implementation, from contract signature through go-live, phase-ins, acquisitions, and global expansions.</li> <li>Build and continuously improve a scalable, standardized implementation methodology and playbook, with clear stage gates, governance, and quality controls.</li> <li>Use automation, tooling, and data to cut cycle times, lower cost-to-implement, and improve predictability.</li> <li>Set up portfolio-level governance that gives the organization visibility into delivery health, at-risk accounts, and backlog.</li> <li>Serve as the final escalation point for high-risk or strategic implementations. Resolve issues quickly and protect client relationships and revenue.</li> </ul> <h2>Global Solution Design &amp; Commercial Partnership</h2> <ul> <li>Lead the Global Solution Design function, making sure multinational client solutions are commercially sound, operationally deliverable, and matched to local and regional service capabilities.</li> <li>Partner with Sales leadership on strategic pursuits and RFPs. Provide executive-level solutioning, implementation strategy, and client-facing presence in final-stage presentations.</li> <li>Make sure every solution sold can be delivered. Hold scoping, pricing assumptions, and contract commitments to standard, and flag delivery risk early in the sales cycle.</li> <li>Work with Product and Technology to shape the service and platform roadmap based on client requirements and market trends.</li> </ul> <h2>Client Executive Engagement</h2> <ul> <li>Build trusted relationships with client executives (travel, procurement, finance, and HR leaders), acting as a strategic advisor through onboarding and into steady state.</li> <li>Deliver a smooth transition to Account Management and Operations, with clear success criteria and post-implementation reviews.</li> <li>Use client feedback and implementation data to raise satisfaction and support long-term retention and growth.</li> </ul> <h2>People Leadership</h2> <ul> <li>Lead, develop, and retain a high-performing global team of implementation directors, project managers, solution designers, and technical specialists.</li> <li>Build a culture of accountability, collaboration, continuous improvement, and client focus.</li> <li>Set clear goals and performance expectations. Develop the next generation of leaders and plan for succession.</li> </ul> <h2>Key Performance Outcomes</h2> <ul> <li>Faster time to revenue by shortening implementation cycle times.</li> <li>New air booking transaction targets met through strong onboarding and service adoption.</li> <li>Implementations delivered on time, on scope, and within budget.</li> <li>High client satisfaction and adoption at go-live, and fewer revenue-at-risk accounts.</li> <li>Better implementation margin and efficiency as the business scales.</li> </ul> <h1>What We're Looking For</h1> <ul> <li>15+ years of progressive leadership experience in travel management, professional services, implementation, or customer success, including at least 5 years at the senior executive level leading multi-team, global organizations.</li> <li>A proven record of building and scaling implementation functions, including methodology, tooling, metrics, and org design, in a high-growth or transforming business.</li> <li>Deep expertise in global service delivery and solution design for complex multinational clients.</li> <li>Strong commercial sense and experience working with Sales on strategic deals and complex RFPs.</li> <li>In-depth knowledge of corporate travel ecosystems and technology platforms (such as Sabre, Amadeus, and Spotnana), as well as online booking tools and industry best practices.</li> <li>Experience managing budgets, headcount, and operating KPIs, and making data-driven decisions.</li> <li>Executive presence and strong communication skills, with the ability to influence the C-suite both internally and at clients.</li> <li>A track record of leading distributed, virtual, and global teams.</li> <li>A bachelor's degree is highly preferred; an MBA or PMP is a plus.</li> </ul>