Senior Relationship Manager - Travel

Do you want to be part of a success story, focused on innovation, customer service and loyalty?

With over 25 years’ experience, Collinson Group is a global leader in shaping and influencing customer behaviour to drive revenue and add value for our clients. We employ over 2,000 talented individuals who work from our 28 global locations. We manage over 20 million end customers and support our clients in 170 countries. Together we have more than 800 clients including MasterCard, Visa, American Express, Diners, Cathay Pacific, British Airways, InterContinental Hotels Group and Hilton.

Innovation and ideas are at the heart of who we are. We launched the first independent global VIP lounge access programme - Priority Pass; Columbus Direct was the first company to sell travel insurance direct to consumers in the UK and ICLP was the first loyalty marketing agency of its kind. Today we continue to invest in research and development to drive customer-centric innovation and bring new products to market. Read more by visiting www.collinsongroup.com

Insurance & Assistance

Strategic acquisitions, brand rationalisations and complete re-launches in the last 18 months have marked the start of an incredibly exciting period of growth and further investment within the Insurance and Assistance capability for the group. A forward-thinking, customer-centric approach, coupled with innovative insurance and assistance solutions will deliver significant growth over the coming three years. Today, we have retail, wholesale, underwriting and operational interests in the UK, mainland Europe, Australia, South Africa, Hong Kong, Singapore and the USA.

We deliver white-label or co-branded solutions for Travel, International Health and Personal Accident as well as Ancillary Motor, Home Emergency and Dental cover. Our flexible approach means that we can provide solutions from capacity only to fully-supported and fulfilled partnerships. We work with the travel trade, financial services companies, affinity groups and internet businesses across the world and we believe our innovative approach helps businesses grow.

Purpose of the job

You will be responsible for supporting the new and existing clients of one of the UK’s largest travel insurance portfolios; the role will be part of a multi-disciplined team tasked with growing Collinson’s travel insurance reach and reputation on a global basis. The role holder is expected to work with the business development, compliance, actuarial and analytics teams, to evolve our products to drive profitable growth.

Always with a keen eye on the balance between financial profitability, organic revenue growth and client relationship management, you will work with the travel management team to identify and implement key operational reporting processes, develop new product ideas and ensure the client business runs within the expected limits. You will possess a strong technical background in personal lines insurance with an intimate understanding of the travel insurance market. You will develop a strong relationship with internal and external insurance partners and be responsible for working with our service delivery team to ensure smooth operations, finance, compliance and IT relationships. You will also work with the wider Collinson Group, looking for opportunities to increase convergence and introduce Group inventory to key clients.

The purpose of the role is to accelerate our organic growth by onboarding new partnerships (with both a UK and European focus) as well as increasing the value and profitability of our existing partners. This role provides a genuine opportunity to be involved in key strategic initiatives that will help shape the future of, and forge sustainable profitable propositions for, our travel product line.

Key Responsibilities

• Work with the reporting and operations team to produce monthly reports on all areas of client activity, aligning these to business plans and priorities and ensuring awareness of client KPIs against forecast.
• Work alongside the underwriting team to understand underwriting performance and the key factors driving that performance, clearly communicating the underwriting logic and delivering forecast underwriting performance to internal stakeholders and clients across multiple regions and distribution channels.
• Work with the commercial and product teams to create and enhance products with a strong focus on customer service, regulatory requirements and commercial return. Evolve products to suit multiple distribution partners, with an open and innovative approach to customer communication.
• Work closely with the claims and assistance teams to develop a continuous learning loop, using root-cause analysis to improve product and process, taking clients and their point-of-sale requirements into consideration.
• Work with subject matter experts across the insurance business to onboard and launch new travel schemes speedily and efficiently to maximize revenue and deliver high levels of client and customer service
• Be the first line of defence through adherence and ongoing development of Collinson governance and oversight processes, continuous review and improvement of customer processes and products, as well as responsibility for supporting any regulatory reporting
• Support the Finance Team by providing regular customer insight on client budgeting and forecasts
• Work closely with senior managers within the Insurance division as well as external suppliers and underwriters, to produce appropriate customer feedback, KPI’s and dashboards.

Knowledge, skills and experience required

Experience

• Minimum of 10 years sales and/or account management experience, with at least 5 years within the travel insurance/assistance sector.
• A genuine interest in insurance account management across multiple global regions
• Experience in juggling different tasks/projects and priorities within an organisation with multiple stakeholders.
• Excellent project oversight experience and ability to coordinate delivery within a growing business
• Experience at delivering profitable organic growth across a travel portfolio in a fast-paced and developing environment.

Skills

• Excellent interpersonal, analytical and organisational skills
• Successful influencer (internal & external stakeholders) and effective relationship builder
• Good business acumen, the ability to balance creativity with strong commercial delivery.
• Knowledge and experience of the regulatory environment and its impact on day-to-day servicing
• Solution-provider and challenge-thriver – a desire to achieve and grow
• Completer/finisher who adheres to deadlines
• Excellent attention to detail, analytically focused, data experience
• Word, Excel and PowerPoint skills (intermediate/advanced)

Person Specification

This is a highly accountable, commercially important role, with a focus on helping Collinson grow travel on an increasingly global scale. You will need to gain the respect and working trust of multiple stakeholders and be able to negotiate, rationalise and prioritise demands and resources across multiple areas of expertise to achieve their goals.

An energized professional, you must demonstrate your knowledge of insurance and the travel industry, possess a passion for excellence and customer delivery, along with analytical interpretation, stakeholder management and product delivery & implementation. You will require substantial insurance industry experience along with a track record of delivering profitable growth through external partners and internal stakeholders.

The role will demand a degree of UK and potentially European travel but this will be subject to the pace of growth set by the Travel management team. This is a great opportunity to be involved in the Collinson Insurance strategy for delivering beyond expectations in an industry that has significant global growth potential.

The successful candidate must have the right to live and work in the UK.