Global Business Development Manager

About this role

About Tripadvisor

The Tripadvisor Group connects people to experiences worth sharing, and aims to be the world’s most trusted source for travel and experiences. We leverage our brands, technology, and capabilities to connect our global audience with partners through rich content, travel guidance, and two-sided marketplaces for experiences, accommodations, restaurants, and other travel categories. The subsidiaries of Tripadvisor, Inc. (Nasdaq: TRIP), include a portfolio of travel brands and businesses, including Tripadvisor, Viator, Cruise Critic and TheFork.

Cruise Critic is the world's largest cruise reviews and information platform, with millions of engaged travellers at every stage of their cruise journey. This role represents a significant opportunity to shape an entirely new commercial chapter — building ancillary and non-endemic revenue streams that complement the core business, add genuine value to users, and create lasting partnerships with some of travel's most exciting brands.

For the right candidate, this is a rare chance to build something new within an established, trusted brand — with the mandate, the audience, and the cross-functional support to make it happen

Cruise Critic is looking for a driven, entrepreneurial Manager of Partnerships & Business Development to lead the identification, pursuit, and activation of high-value commercial relationships outside of the core cruise

endemic category.

This is a hunter role — built for someone who thrives on opening doors, building pipelines from scratch, and closing partnerships that create real, measurable value. You will be the primary driver of new revenue from ancillary travel categories and emerging verticals, bringing net-new partners into the Cruise Critic ecosystem and helping establish the commercial models to grow them over time.

You will sit within the Growth Partnerships Pod, working in close collaboration with the Pod's activation, product, and strategy leads to move opportunities from first conversation to live partnership. This is not an account management or renewal role — it is about finding and winning new business.

Location: US- Florida or Remote

What You'll Do

New Business Development & Pipeline Building

• Proactively identify, target, and pursue partnership opportunities across ancillary travel verticals — including travel insurance, shore excursions, hotels, airport transfers, parking, luggage logistics, eSIM/connectivity, and port experiences.

• Build and manage a robust, structured pipeline of prospective partners across non-endemic and emerging commercial categories relevant to the cruiser journey.

• Lead all stages of the business development cycle: outreach, qualification, pitching, negotiation, and deal closure.

• Develop and own a prospecting framework and prioritization approach to maintain focus on highest-value opportunities.

• Represent Cruise Critic at industry events, trade shows, and networking opportunities to generate leads and raise brand profile in new verticals.

Commercial Strategy & Opportunity Evaluation

• Assess commercial viability and strategic fit of new partnership opportunities, including revenue potential, user value, and operational complexity.

• Develop pricing models, revenue-share structures, and commercial terms that are competitive, sustainable, and scalable.

• Work with internal stakeholders to build compelling, data-informed business cases for new opportunities.

• Maintain a clear view of the competitive landscape and emerging monetization models across travel and adjacent industries.

• Provide accurate forecasting and pipeline reporting to senior leadership on a regular cadence.

Partner Relationships & Stakeholder Management

• Serve as the senior external face for Cruise Critic in new partner conversations, building trusted relationships with key decision-makers.

• Collaborate with the Growth Partnerships Pod to ensure smooth handoff from deal close to partner activation.

• Act as a key liaison between new partners and internal teams — ensuring early-stage partner needs are understood and translated into actionable briefs.

• Support expansion opportunities where new partners evolve into deeper, multi-faceted commercial relationships.

Cross Functional Collaboration

• Work closely with Product, Editorial, Marketing, CRM, and AdOps to shape partnership structures that can be realistically activated onsite.

• Partner with the Pod's product and activation leads to define clear, lightweight launch paths for new commercial opportunities.

• Provide commercial intelligence and market insight to inform broader business strategy and portfolio prioritisation decisions.

• Contribute to the development of scalable processes, pitch materials, and commercial frameworks that support the wider Growth Partnerships Pod.

Skills & Experience

• 5-10 years of experience in business development, partnerships, or commercial roles — ideally within travel, media, e-commerce, or a marketplace business.

• Demonstrable track record of hunting and closing net-new commercial partnerships, not just managing existing accounts.

• Demonstrated ability to use AI tools to improve efficiency, quality, and decision-making in day-to-day work.

• Proven ability to operate effectively with a global-first mindset

• Experience building partnerships across ancillary travel categories, affiliate or rev-share models, or consumer marketplaces is strongly preferred.

• Familiarity with digital media commercial models including sponsorship, content partnerships, and performance-based structures.

• Experience with Salesforce or equivalent CRM for pipeline management and forecasting.

Key Skills

• Proven hunter mentality — proactive, relentless in lead generation, and motivated by opening new doors.

• Strong commercial acumen and ability to develop and evaluate pricing and revenue-share models.

• Exceptional ability to build rapport quickly and influence senior decision-makers externall

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