Head of Business Development Direct Supply Middle East Commercial Dubai ETG

Emerging Travel Group is a global travel-tech company whose brands have been operating in over 220 source markets since 2010. We specialize in developing advanced online booking platforms for all types of clients - from individual tourists to travel agents and companies organizing business trips. Our solutions empower hoteliers to effortlessly showcase their accommodations, boosting visibility and attracting a broader audience.

Our mission is to create, distribute, and operate the most convenient travel products. We constantly innovate and break the rules of the highly complex travel industry to make travel more widely available for individuals, more rewarding for professionals, and simpler for everyone.

As a Head of Readgion, Middle East at ETG, you will play a key role in strengthening and maximizing the performance of our hotel portfolio.

Your main focus will be maintaining strong relationships with hotel partners, driving their performance, and identifying opportunities to unlock additional growth. The role combines commercial acumen with a solid understanding of hotel systems and effective project management.

From optimizing existing collaborations to supporting partners with best practices, you will be central to ensuring both immediate results and long-term success!

This is a vacancy open to candidates residing in Dubai, UAE.

Job responsibilities

1. Commercial Ownership of the Region: Full accountability for regional revenue and target delivery. Build and execute a clear regional commercial strategy aligned with department goals. Analyse destination performance, identify portfolio gaps, and prioritise contracting focus. Drive incremental revenue through direct contracting and optimisation of existing supply.

2. Contracting & Portfolio Strategy: Define target hotel segments by destination, category and commercial value. Lead negotiations on rates, availability, overrides and commercial conditions. Ensure strong activation and speed to market for newly contracted properties. Improve competitiveness versus third-party suppliers where relevant.

3. Market Intelligence - Especially Dubai: Maintain deep knowledge of key destinations, with strong focus on Dubai. Monitor competitor presence, pricing position, distribution mix and chain strategies. Identify white space opportunities and underpenetrated hotel groups. Use market data to drive contracting decisions, not intuition alone.

4. Team Leadership & Performance Management: Lead, structure and develop the regional Business Development team. Set clear KPIs for acquisition, activation and revenue contribution. Drive accountability and performance discipline. Optimise time allocation between acquisition, optimisation and strategic deals. Coach underperformance quickly and decisively.

5. Revenue & Activation Focus: Ensure newly contracted hotels convert to revenue within defined timeframes. Monitor production by property and take corrective action where needed. Drive joint actions with hotels, promotions, visibility, rate reviews. Align with revenue optimisation stakeholders internally.

6. Process & Governance: Implement structured reporting cadence and pipeline management. Ensure regional execution fits the overall Direct Supply operating model. Maintain clean data, forecast visibility and clear action tracking. Contribute to department-wide initiatives and structural improvements.

Required Skills & Qualifications

• Minimum 5-7 years in hotel contracting, travel distribution or B2B travel sales
• Proven experience managing a commercial team with revenue accountability
• Strong negotiation capability with independent hotels and regional chains
• Demonstrated track record of delivering revenue growth against targets
• High commercial acumen and ability to interpret performance data
• Strong stakeholder management, both internal and external
• Experience operating in fast-paced, target-driven environments

We offer you

• Ambitious and supportive team who love what they do, appreciate each other, and grow together;
• Internal programs for adaptation and training, development of soft skills, and leadership abilities;
• Partial compensation for participating in external training and conferences;
• Corporate English school: Group and individual lessons, speaking clubs with colleagues from all over the world;
• Corporate prices on hotels and travel services;
• MyTime Day Off - an extra non-working day without loss of compensation.