Business Development Officer – Travel Channel

Role Overview

This position centres on expanding the distribution of travel insurance through a wide network of third-party sellers, including travel agencies, tour operators, airlines, online booking platforms, visa and education consultancies, and corporate travel desks. You will own the full commercial cycle for these partners, from initial onboarding and activation through ongoing pipeline management, conversion optimisation, and retention. The role matters because it directly drives premium income and policy volumes while protecting the customer experience and ensuring every sale meets compliance standards.

Key Responsibilities

• Own the travel channel sales plan, delivering agreed targets for written premium, policy count, and profitability while maintaining a healthy, qualified prospect pipeline across all partner segments.
• Convert quotes into issued policies by optimising proposal quality, average premium levels, renewal rates, and cross-selling on leisure, business, student, and group travel products.
• Track channel loss ratios and campaign returns, diagnosing underperformance and implementing tactical fixes to bring results back on target.
• Onboard new partners through structured due diligence, documented agreements, and clear activation milestones that define early sales expectations and support needs.
• Run regular partner business reviews, renewal discussions, and service-level follow-ups, using CRM data to keep every relationship active and productive.
• Train partner sales teams on product features, customer disclosures, and compliant selling practices, maintaining verifiable evidence of each training session.
• Coordinate accurate policy documentation, including quotations, endorsements, cancellations, and renewals, while acting as the first escalation point for partner and customer queries involving underwriting, finance, or claims teams.
• Support customers and partners through the claims notification process and emergency assistance escalation, while feeding recurring service issues back to the relevant teams without making claims-admissibility decisions.

Requirements & Qualifications

• A bachelor’s degree in insurance, business, marketing, tourism, travel management, or a related field from a recognised institution.
• A mandatory professional insurance qualification, such as CII, ACII, or AIIK, or evidence of equivalent industry certification.
• At least five years of experience in insurance or financial services, with a minimum of three years specifically in business development, account management, or channel sales.
• Demonstrated success building and activating distribution partnerships that deliver measurable growth; experience with travel insurance, the travel trade, airlines, tourism, student travel, or digital distribution is strongly preferred.
• Hands-on knowledge of travel insurance products, including benefits, exclusions, policy wording, emergency assistance, and claims notification processes, along with general insurance distribution controls.
• Proficiency in CRM platforms, Microsoft Office, and data reporting tools, with the ability to analyse pipelines, conversion trends, partner productivity, and campaign returns.
• Proven ability to collaborate across underwriting, product, claims, operations, marketing, risk, and compliance teams to resolve issues and implement improvements.