Travel & Expense Manager

Scale AI is looking to hire a highly motivated and enthusiastic Global Travel & Expenses Manager to join its Corporate Accounting team. This crucial role will play an integral part in building its global travel and expense operations in a fast-paced environment. This role will be responsible for managing the strategic Travel program and expenses cycle and supporting the month-end close process. You must have strategic thinking, strong analytical skills and an eagerness to learn, as well as be a collaborative team player. You’ll need to not be afraid to roll up your sleeves and pivot between high-level vendor negotiations and hands-on system troubleshooting and also doing tactical work. What you’ll be doing: Design and execute the global travel category strategy , leading end-to-end supplier selection (RFP), onboarding, and lifecycle management for airlines, hotels, and ground transportation. Architect high-leverage negotiation strategies to secure preferential rates and corporate benefits, ensuring maximum ROI on the company’s annual travel spend. Champion "Preferred Supplier" adoption through creating policies, data-driven influence and internal marketing, optimizing corporate leverage and volume-based discounts. Govern the global Travel & Expense (T&E) ecosystem , overseeing corporate credit card programs and employee reimbursements to ensure 100% alignment with fiscal policy and tax compliance. Execute rigorous internal controls and audits , identifying leakage or non-compliant spending patterns and implementing corrective action plans. Pioneer process optimization by auditing existing workflows and designing automated, scalable solutions that reduce friction for the traveler while increasing back-office efficiency. Serve as the Functional Product Owner for travel-related technologies (e.g., Navan, Brex, etc), managing system integrations, troubleshooting technical hurdles, and leading future-state implementations. Synthesize T&E data into actionable insights , delivering ad-hoc analysis and executive reporting that informs budgetary decisions and policy shifts. What we’re looking for: Minimum 4 years of Travel, AP and/or accounting experience. Experience with OBT software (Navan, Spotnana, Egencia, etc). Experience with employee expenses systems: Netsuite, Coupa, Brex or other major systems. Bachelor’s degree in Accounting/Finance, or related degree. Strong understanding of full global travel industry. Excellent organizational skills and ability to handle multiple priorities within deadlines. Excellent AI, problem-solving skills and high level of attention to detail. Excellent verbal and written communication skills in English. Proficient knowledge of Microsoft Excel. Remote based in México. 15% travel, primarily to the USA but potentially also to worldwide Scale travel locations Nice-to-haves: Experience with S2P software (Brex, Zip, LevelPath and/or Navan). Prior experience at a fast growing start-up or public company. Passion for the AI industry. PLEASE NOTE: Our policy requires a 90-day waiting period before reconsidering candidates for the same role. This allows us to ensure a fair and thorough evaluation of all applicants. About Us: At Scale, our mission is to develop reliable AI systems for the world's most important decisions. Our products provide the high-quality data and full-stack technologies that power the world's leading models, and help enterprises and governments build, deploy, and oversee AI applications that deliver real impact. We work closely with industry leaders like Meta, Ernst & Young, Mayo Clinic, Time Inc., the Government of Qatar, and U.S. government agencies including the Army and Air Force. We are expanding our team to accelerate the development of AI applications. We believe that everyone should be able to bring their whole selves to work, which is why we are proud to be an inclusive and equal opportunity workplace. We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, an