Director of Purchasing and Tour Operations

Director of Purchasing and Tour Operations, London / Hybrid, £Excellent. A truly superb opportunity to join this multi-award winning, escorted tour operator where you play an integral role in supporting the business with their growth ambitions in the years ahead. 

The role will be both strategic and tactical by nature, providing leadership to regional teams responsible for both purchasing and the seamless delivery of exceptional tours.  

Responsibilities
 

• Lead the geographically dispersed purchasing / buying / contracting teams, ensuring they secure the best inventory such as hotels, transport and excursion that meet brand guidelines and cost targets.  
• Provide leadership to the team accountable for trip leader recruitment, training, scheduling and engagement. 
• Monitor customer feedback, carry out supplier inspections and lead on quality control ensuring the highest standards and brand guidelines are being met. 
• Be the point of escalation during any critical incidents or major disruption to the delivery of tours. 
• Collaborate cross-functionally with global teams such as product and sales to ensure critical information and customer feedback is shared. 
• Ensure your teams are supported with clearly set KPI's in place to track, measure and improve performance. 
• Continually seek improvements to processes and systems. 

Skills Required
 

• We are ideally seeking a senior level purchasing and operations director with extensive experience in escorted touring.  
• Excellent knowledge of the travel supply chain
• Highly adept in purchasing touring inventory 
• Superb interpersonal, communication and negotiation skills
• Experience managing a network of trip leaders / tour guides.
• Strong knowledge of European destinations  

Additional Details
 

• A highly competitive package dependant on experience, to be discussed on application 
• There is a preference for this role to be hybrid in London but other UK and European base countries also considered for the right candidate.