The Gig:
The Business Development Manager, Australia is a front line commercial role focused on executing the trade sales and business development strategy for Australia & New Zealand, working in tandem with the Head of Sales, Australia & New Zealand.
The role is vital for the delivery of local market objectives through hands-on account management, proactive trade engagement, and consistent brand representation. The Business Development Manager plays a key role in executing sales strategy set by the Head of Sales across Red Hot Accounts, while also identifying, nurturing, and growing incremental revenue streams. Working in tandem with the Head of Sales, the role ensures Virgin Voyages’ strategy is effectively activated at ground level across key partners and distribution channels.
This is a highly visible, outward-facing role that requires strong relationship skills, disciplined execution, and the ability to operate confidently on the front line of the trade. The role is based remotely with domestic and occasional international travel. It suits someone who is highly self directed, prioritises effectively, and operates with flexibility across time zones, while maintaining strong connection to the broader organisation.
We’re on the lookout for a bold and brilliant human to chart big things down under. You'll need drop anchor at home in either Sydney or Brisbane to cover one of our most vibrant territories where we bring a knack for shaking up the norm, and a Virgin spirit that turns “why?” into “why not?”
What You'll Be Up To:
- Execute the trade sales and business development strategy for Australia & New Zealand in tandem with the Head of Sales, ensuring strong in market activation and partner engagement.
- Act as a front line representative of Virgin Voyages across the Australian trade, maintaining regular, high quality engagement with First Mates, consortia, tour operators, and emerging partners.
- Identify, onboard, and consolidate new business opportunities, supporting the conversion of new partners into productive and sustainable revenue channels.
- Manage a portfolio of developing and growth focused accounts, supporting performance through consistent communication, trading updates, and campaign execution.
- Support the delivery of commercial initiatives including campaigns, incentives, and partner activity, ensuring clear execution at account level.
- Provide regular feedback and market insight to the Head of Sales, including partner sentiment, competitor activity, and executional opportunities.
- Represent Virgin Voyages at trade events, roadshows, conferences, ship visits, and fam trips, supporting broader engagement objectives.
- Work collaboratively with internal teams including Marketing, Trade Engagement, and Operations to ensure smooth execution of partner activity.
- Track account-level performance and contribute to reporting against agreed KPIs, bookings, and growth targets.
- Uphold Virgin Voyages’ brand values through professional, consistent, and high-quality representation in all market interactions.
Superpowers Required:
- Bachelor’s Degree or equivalent (3+ years experience) required
- Minimum 3 years in travel or hospitality sales; cruise industry preferred
- Working knowledge of travel industry travel agencies, tour operators and consortia.
- Proven experience growing new business into sustainable, incremental revenue channels.
- Knowledge of the cruise market and its sales strategies across a variety of segments
- An appreciation for how paramount customer and partner experiences are for Virgin to be successful
- A proven performance track record of personal sales results
- Analytical and results driven.
- Exceptional presentation and communication skills, both with a front line and senior leadership audience, internally and externally.
- An ability to think outside of industry norms and be innovative in approach
What Matters to Us:
At Virgin, your personality matters as much as how good you are at what you do. We want you to bring it to our hangout spot and help make the place even better. So, we won’t be surprised to hear that when people talk about you they say you are clever, on top of it, able to think ahead, intuitive, passionate and someone people respect and enjoy working with because you make things happen.
Virgin Voyages is committed to being an Equal Opportunity Employer and encourages applications from qualified, eligible applicants regardless of their sex, race, disability, age, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, religion or belief, marital status, pregnancy and maternity. Our greatest strength comes from our ability to come together as unique individuals -- we seek to always embrace and celebrate our differences, providing an inclusive workplace environment that allows you to be your best self.
Virgin Voyages is not accepting unsolicited assistance from search firms for this employment opportunity. All resumes submitted by search firms to any employee at Virgin Voyages via-email, the Internet or in any form and/or method without a valid written Statement of Work in place for this position from Virgin Voyages HR/Recruitment will be deemed the sole property of Virgin Voyages. No fee will be paid in the event the candidate is hired by Virgin Voyages as a result of the referral or through other means.
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