Business Development Officer - Travel Channel

Role Overview

This position drives the growth and profitability of travel insurance by building strong distribution relationships across the entire travel ecosystem, including tours, airlines, online booking platforms, visa and education specialists, corporate travel managers, brokers and banks. Day to day, you will open and activate new partner accounts, manage sales pipelines from quote through to conversion, train partner staff on product details, coordinate policy issuance and act as the first point of escalation for service and claims-related matters. Your work matters because the travel channel is a key revenue engine, and your ability to convert partner opportunities into satisfied, long-term customers directly affects the company’s bottom line.

Key Responsibilities

• Own the end-to-end sales cycle for travel insurance, building a healthy pipeline of prospective partners and hitting agreed targets for gross written premium, policy count and portfolio profitability.
• Onboard new travel partners by completing due diligence, executing agreements, and creating concrete activation plans that turn new relationships into active sellers.
• Develop and maintain long-term relationships with key decision-makers at travel agencies, tour operators, airlines, online travel platforms, visa and education consultants, and corporate travel accounts through structured contact plans and regular business reviews.
• Train partner staff on product features, exclusions, customer disclosure obligations and the correct sales process, while keeping clear records of completed training sessions.
• Design and launch seasonal campaigns and promotional offers that improve quote-to-policy conversion, average premium, renewals and cross-selling across leisure, business, student and group travel segments.
• Act as the first escalation point for partner and customer enquiries, coordinating with underwriting, operations, finance and customer experience teams to resolve issues with quotations, policy changes, cancellations and documentation within agreed service levels.
• Support customers and partners through the claims journey by explaining how to notify claims, escalating urgent travel assistance cases, and providing clear guidance on benefits, limitations and emergency procedures.
• Monitor channel performance indicators such as loss ratio, activity levels, partner productivity, campaign results and service turnaround, then implement corrective actions and maintain accurate forecasts, CRM records and monthly reports.

Requirements & Qualifications

• A bachelor’s degree in insurance, business, marketing, tourism, travel management or a related discipline from a recognised institution.
• Professional insurance certification such as CII/ACII or AIIK is mandatory.
• At least 5 years of experience in insurance or financial services, with no less than 3 years in business development, account management or channel sales.
• Demonstrable experience forming partnerships and generating measurable growth, preferably within travel insurance, the travel trade, airlines, tourism, student travel or digital distribution platforms.
• Sound understanding of travel insurance policy wording, benefits, exclusions, emergency assistance, claims notification procedures and the regulatory controls required when selling through non-traditional partners.
• Strong ability to use sales analytics, market insight and competitive intelligence to improve conversion, retention, partner productivity and campaign return on investment.
• Proficiency in CRM systems, Microsoft Office and data reporting tools, plus proven ability to collaborate with underwriting, product, claims, operations, marketing, risk and compliance teams.

Why Join

This role offers direct involvement in shaping how travel insurance reaches customers through a broad partner ecosystem, with exposure to strategic decisions around product, pricing and digital journeys. You will work across multiple internal teams and external partners, giving you a well-rounded view of the insurance business while building specialist expertise in a high-growth distribution channel. The position also carries a clear commitment to your professional growth through an annual development plan, structured training requirements and regular sharing of market intelligence with product and operations leadership.