Sr Business Development Manager, Airline Partnerships- Europe

ABOUT THE ROLE As a Sr. Business Development Manager, Airline Partnerships (Europe), you will own and grow a portfolio of strategic airline relationships across Europe, driving both revenue and margin performance within Hopper's ecosystem. You will play a critical role in shaping Hopper's airline distribution strategy across NDC, GDS, and direct partnerships, working closely with leading European carriers such as Lufthansa Group, IAG, Air France-KLM, and Turkish Airlines. This is a high-impact, commercially driven role where you will act as the primary interface between Hopper and airline partners, balancing relationship management, negotiation, and performance optimization. What would your day-to-day look like - Own and manage a portfolio of European airline partnerships with a P&L mindset, serving as the primary point of contact for commercial, distribution, and operational topics - Build strong, senior-level relationships across airline sales, distribution, and revenue management teams - Develop and execute strategies to grow top-line revenue (TTV) and improve unit economics, analyzing performance across channels (NDC vs. GDS), fare mix, and ancillary attachment rates - Lead negotiations for new agreements, renewals, and extensions -- driving improved commercial terms including base commissions, sector rebates, and marketing development funds (MDF) - Identify and act on opportunities to optimize underperforming partnerships - Develop deep expertise in airline distribution (NDC, EDIFACT, aggregators) and European airline competitive dynamics, translating industry trends into actionable strategies - Partner cross-functionally with Product, Growth/Marketing, and Finance to align on feature development, campaigns, forecasting, and deal modeling - Track KPIs including revenue, margin, incentive attainment, and product mix, and lead Quarterly Business Reviews (QBRs) with airline partners. An ideal candidate has - 6+ years of experience in airline distribution, OTA, TMC, GDS, or airline partnerships in European markets; MENA experience is a plus - A proven track record managing strategic accounts, negotiating commercial agreements, and driving measurable revenue growth - Strong understanding of airline distribution (NDC vs. GDS), fare structures, ancillaries, and airline economics - A commercial mindset -- you think in revenue and margin, not just volume, and have experience working with incentives, rebates, and performance-based deals - Excellent presentation and storytelling skills; ability to communicate effectively with both airline executives and internal stakeholders - Highly organized, self-driven, and comfortable operating in a fast-paced, high-growth environment - Bilingual or advanced proficiency in German, Spanish, or French is a plus Perks and benefits of working with us: - Well-funded and proven startup with large ambitions, competitive salary, upsides of pre-IPO equity packages. - Hopper covers the cost of employee premiums for private medical and dental coverage. - Hopper also offers private life and accident coverage. - Please ask us about our very generous parental leave, much above industry standards!. - Access to co-working space on demand through FlexDesk AND Work-from-home stipend. - Unlimited PTO. - Hopper offers a monthly cash allowances for gym memberships and to cover home - office expenses for a comfortable remote working experience. - Carrot Cash travel stipend. - Entrepreneurial culture where pushing limits and taking risks is everyday business. - Open communication with management and company leadership - Small, dynamic teams = massive impact. More about Hopper At Hopper, we are on a mission to become the leading travel platform globally – powering Hopper’s mobile app, website and our B2B business, HTS (Hopper Technology Solutions). By leveraging massive amounts of data and advanced machine learning algorithms, Hopper combines its world-class travel agency offering with proprietary fintech products to