Sense Getaways Manager

• Our client is a premium inbound destination management company in Africa, with an established presence and “Boots on the Ground” in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Botswana, Namibia, and South Africa. The company specializes in personalized travel services and exceptional products, including private guided tours, FIT arrangements, group travel experiences, and MICE products.
• The organization prides itself on building strong human-to-human business partnerships, supported by robust systems and processes, while providing expert insights into unique tour and safari destinations at competitive prices.
• Our client is offering an exciting opportunity for an experienced, commercially astute, and strategically driven professional to join its senior leadership team in Nairobi.

Role Overview

• We are seeking a dynamic, commercially astute, and strategically driven Sense Getaways Manager to provide overall leadership and accountability for the business unit. The role will drive strategic direction, revenue growth, profitability, market expansion, and operational excellence across various product portfolio ie Sports, domestic market sales, outbound travel, travel and ticketing, experiential and leisure travel, corporate experiences, events, and other specialized activities.
• The successful candidate will identify new market opportunities, develop and commercialize innovative travel products, strengthen strategic partnerships, and ensure the portfolio remains competitive, relevant, and profitable.

Key Responsibilities

• Provide strategic, commercial, and operational leadership for Sense Getaways, setting clear priorities and performance expectations.
• Develop and execute annual business plans, budgets, forecasts, and commercial strategies, with accountability for revenue, profitability, margins, market expansion, and cost management.
• Drive business development by identifying new markets, client segments, partnerships, distribution channels, and revenue opportunities.
• Lead the development, pricing, positioning, and commercialization of travel products, experiences, sports travel, events, and specialized propositions.
• Oversee product development, sales, travel operations, reservations, ticketing, tours, and service delivery to ensure efficiency, quality, and exceptional customer experience.
• Lead, coach, and performance-manage the team.
• Build and maintain strategic relationships with corporate clients, key accounts, suppliers, airlines, hotels, tourism partners, sports federations, event organizers, and destination partners.
• Monitor sales pipelines, revenue forecasts, conversion rates, product performance, and commercial KPIs, taking corrective action where required.
• Ensure effective financial management, pricing discipline, yield optimization, cost control, governance, risk management, and compliance.
• Champion innovation, digitalization, data, and AI to improve productivity, customer engagement, decision-making, and commercial performance.
• Collaborate with other business units and regional teams to identify cross-selling and portfolio-wide growth opportunities while developing talent and succession within the team.

Minimum Qualifications and Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in Tourism Management, Hospitality Management, Business Administration, Marketing, or a related field.
• Minimum of eight (8) years of progressive experience in travel, tourism, hospitality, sports travel, corporate experiences, events, or a related commercial environment.
• At least five (5) years of experience in a senior leadership or management role, preferably covering both commercial and operational functions.
• Proven track record in revenue growth, business development, commercial performance, and profitable results.
• Strong experience in product development, pricing, sales, customer experience, travel operations, budgeting, forecasting, and performance analysis.
• Experience with TourPlan and Microsoft Office Suite will be an added advantage.

Required Knowledge and Skills

The ideal candidate should demonstrate:

• Strong strategic, commercial, and entrepreneurial thinking.
• Excellent negotiation, communication, presentation, stakeholder management, and relationship-building skills.
• Strong financial and analytical capability, with the ability to translate market intelligence into commercially viable opportunities.
• Proven leadership, team development, performance management, and succession-planning skills.
• Strong understanding of travel products, customer needs, market trends, and commercial opportunities.
• Digital and technology orientation, including the ability to use CRM, travel systems, data, digital sales tools, and AI to improve performance.
• High levels of integrity, accountability, adaptability, and customer focus.

Ideal Candidate Profile

• The successful candidate will be a strategic and commercially minded business leader who can combine senior-level strategic direction with hands-on business development and operational leadership.
• They should have an entrepreneurial approach to building and growing a diverse travel and experiences portfolio, together with a genuine passion for travel, experiences, sports-related travel, domestic tourism, and corporate engagement solutions.