Business Development - General Manager - Travel

About Us: Paytm is India’s leading mobile payments and financial services distribution company. A pioneer of the mobile QR payments revolution in India, Paytm builds technology that empowers small businesses with payments and commerce. Our mission is to serve half a billion Indians and bring them into the mainstream economy through technology. About the Travel Team: Paytm Travel has revolutionized the Indian travel industry with a mission to empower millions of travelers who choose us as their preferred travel partner. Within just a few years, we’ve become the #3 player in India’s online travel space, and we’re on track to becoming #1 soon. As one of the largest travel platforms in the country, we aim to make every travel experience seamless, transparent, and delightful — from instant booking to hassle-free journeys. With customer centricity at our core, our vision is to make Paytm Travel synonymous with trust and affordability for all travelers. About the Role: We’re looking for a smart, driven, and domain-strong business professional with relevant years of experience in Business Development, Partnerships, and Account Management in the travel industry — preferably with direct experience in airline operations, ticketing systems, and OTA distribution models. This is a strategic role where you’ll help scale the Flights vertical by driving new partnerships, optimizing supplier integrations, and enabling operational excellence in airline distribution and automation. Key Responsibilities: 1. Business Development & Strategic Accountability: ● Strategic Roadmap: Execute the Flights vertical roadmap in line with company objectives, ensuring operational and technical feasibility. ● Revenue Enablement: Identify and activate new airline and supplier partnerships to drive volume and improve margins. ● Resource Optimization: Design initiatives to address operational challenges such as budget constraints or GDS integration bottlenecks. ● Process Innovation: Enhance workflows for partner onboarding, contracting, and automation of ticketing and after-sales processes. ● Cross-Functional Collaboration: Work closely with Finance, Product, Growth, and Operations teams to ensure alignment on business goals. 2. Technical Excellence & Product Integration: ● System Expertise: Deep understanding of airline ticketing systems, GDS/CRS platforms (Amadeus, Sabre, Travelport), and emerging distribution models like NDC. ● Issue Management: Lead root-cause analysis and resolution of operational and tech issues (PNR cancellations, ADM/ACM disputes, API failures). ● Tech Partnership: Collaborate with Engineering, QA, and Product teams to ensure travel systems are scalable, reliable, and optimized for uptime. ● Feature Deployment: Oversee pre- and post-deployment validation for new capabilities such as ancillaries, branded fares, and direct airline integrations. 3. Partner & Account Management: ● Airline Relationship Management: Build and manage strong commercial relationships with airlines, consolidators, and GDS providers. ● Competitive Intelligence: Analyze industry trends, competitor fare strategies, and distribution models to identify growth opportunities. ● Co-Creation: Collaborate with partners to co-design win-win product and pricing models, including dynamic fares and exclusive deals. 4. Operational Leadership: ● Ticketing Process Excellence: Define best practices for ticket issuance, reissue, refund, and exchange workflows. ● Market Insights: Conduct route-level and inventory analysis to guide airline strategy and promotional opportunities. ● Cross-Team Coordination: Partner with CX, Tech, and Growth teams to deliver consistent traveler and partner experiences. ● Automation & Compliance: Drive automation in fare caching, reconciliation, and reporting to ensure compliance with airline and IATA standards. Ideal Candidate Profile Experience: ● Relevant 10-15 years in business development/partnerships within travel or airline domains. ● Relevant years in