Business Development Manager

Business Development Manager – New Zealand

Travel Technology | Agency Partnerships | National Territory
New Zealand | Field Based

Where can you #findmypeople?

If you know the New Zealand travel industry, love being out in market and get a genuine kick out of helping travel agents grow their business, this one should get your attention.
We’re recruiting a Business Development Manager – New Zealand for Room-Res, an Australian travel technology business that is continuing to expand its presence across the New Zealand market.
This is a national, field-based role for someone who enjoys building relationships, opening doors, training travel professionals and turning strong partnerships into commercial growth.
It’s not a role for someone who wants to spend five days a week behind a desk.

So... what’s the role about?

Reporting to the Chief Commercial Officer  you will be developing the Room-Res business across New Zealand.
Initially, there’s an established opportunity to drive engagement and adoption across existing agency networks.
Your job is to make Room-Res visible, relevant and easy for travel agents to do business with.
That means being in market, meeting agencies, demonstrating the platform, helping consultants understand how to get the best from it and building relationships that ultimately translate into stronger account performance and revenue.

What you’ll be doing

You’ll spend your time:

• Building and developing relationships with travel agencies and agency groups across New Zealand
• Increasing adoption, engagement and revenue within existing accounts
• Onboarding new agencies and consultants onto the Room-Res platform
• Delivering product demonstrations, training sessions and ongoing education
• Becoming a genuine product expert and trusted point of contact for your customers
• Understanding what agents need and feeding market intelligence back into the business
• Representing Room-Res at conferences, industry events, roadshows and trade functions
• Working closely with the Australian commercial and marketing teams
• Managing your territory, pipeline, activity and follow-up.

This is very much a get out and see your customers role.
As a guide, you might spend around three days each week on the road, another day proactively connecting with customers and prospects, and a day managing administration, follow-up and planning.
Where geography allows, the aim is around five to six quality agency appointments per day, rather than racing around simply to tick off call numbers.
National travel will be part of the role, by both car and air.

How will I know if I’m their people?

You’ll probably already be well connected across the New Zealand travel industry.
Your background could come from a:

• Travel wholesaler
• OTA
• TMC
• Travel agency group
• Travel technology business
• Airline
• Cruise company
• Tourism or travel supplier
  More important than the exact logo on your CV is your ability to build credibility quickly with travel professionals.
  You’ll need to be confident developing relationships, presenting to individuals and groups, training customers and having focused conversations about growing business together.
  You’ll also be comfortable working independently with support from your line manager and colleagues.
  You’ll need the energy and organisation to manage a national territory and the willingness to travel regularly to where your customers are.

Sounds great... but what’s in it for me?

The remuneration guide is:
NZD $80,000 base salary
+ NZD $10,000 car allowance
+ market-leading, uncapped quarterly bonus structure
There is some flexibility around the base for the right person.
Just as importantly, you’ll be joining a business where New Zealand is seen as a genuine growth market and where you’ll have the opportunity to  develop the market.
You’ll have an existing platform and relationships to work with, rather than starting with a blank sheet of paper, while still having plenty of room to build partnerships.

The good news...

You’ll have a national territory and a product that already has relationships within some significant agency networks.
You’ll be joining at a stage where there is still plenty to build, which means your work should be highly visible within the business.
And if you enjoy spending time with travel agents rather than living inside spreadsheets all week, the balance of this role should suit you.

The bad news...

If your ideal BDM role involves waiting for leads to arrive, conducting every meeting over Teams or avoiding regular travel, this probably isn’t the one.
Room-Res wants someone who genuinely enjoys being in the market.

And finally...

At Kellaway People, we’ve spent more than 30 years recruiting within the travel and tourism industry across Australia and New Zealand.
We know the businesses, we know the market and, importantly, we understand the difference between simply filling a job and finding the right people.
If this sounds like your kind of opportunity, we’d love to hear from you.