Senior Partnerships Manager

ABOUT US Hostelworld group Plc is a groundbreaking social network powered Online Travel Agent focused on the hostelling category, with a unique Mission to help travellers find people to hang out with.
Our Mission statement is founded on the insight that the vast majority of travellers go hostelling as a means to meet other people, which we facilitate through a series of Social features embedded within our mobile native Apps that connect our travellers in hostels and cities based on their booking data and interests.
To date, the strategy has been extraordinarily successful, generating significant word of mouth from our customers, strong endorsements from our hostel partners and delivering consistent profitable growth in market share for our investors. Further details of our results and corporate communications can be found on our corporate website here and here. Looking further ahead, we also believe that our social network powered OTA platform has significant potential to grow beyond hostelling into a broader solo travel platform across all age groups, particularly for those solo travellers who use their vacations as a means to meet other people. For more details, please see this video. Founded in 1999, Hostelworld is a well-known and trusted brand with 250 employees across 11 countries, hostel partners in 170 countries, and a strong commitment to building a better world in all that we do. Our focus in the last few years has also been to develop and execute a progressive Environmental, Social and Governance agenda to highlight the inherent sustainability advantages of hostelling-based travel and create a flexible and inclusive workplace for our employees. To that end, we have been working very closely with the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC) to develop a purpose-built sustainability framework for the hostelling category, and with Bureau Veritas to establish emissions benchmarks for the hostelling industry. We also achieved climate neutral status in 2021 and 2022, and became a signatory to Global Optimism/Amazon's Climate Neutral pledge in 2023, with a goal to reach net-zero carbon by 2040.
Finally, we were also delighted to see our overall progress as a company recognised with the "Tech plc of the Year" award at the LSE plc of the year awards in 2022 – and we were shortlisted for two Sustainability Business Impact awards by Chambers Ireland in 2023. Hostelworld is listed on the London Stock Exchange, Dublin Euronext and is an Investors in Diversity accredited employer.
OUR CULTURE Over the last three years, we have invested heavily in our people policies and practices and refined our teamwork "rituals"; recognising that our success as a Company is driven by our people, and the need to adapt to different employee needs in a post-pandemic era.
We operate very progressive location and work-life balance people policies to give team members the freedom to flex their working location and hours to best meet their life needs, and we also offer other benefits including incentives to stay in Hostels, tailored development courses and time off for significant life events.
In parallel, we have also taken steps to align individual level policies with company-wide desired employee behaviours and working practices, so all our team members can enjoy a consistent culture/work experience no matter their role or their location. For example:
We have defined what we expect of ourselves and of others at Hostelworld through the definition of five core employee behaviours (Master It, Grow Others, Adapt, Collaborate and Deliver). We use these behaviour definitions with a state-of-the-art employee assessment and feedback platform to ensure we provide an environment where we can do our best work with people we enjoy working alongside. We operate our business through five standardised operations reviews held virtually each week. These create the consistent executional drumbeat for our business – especially with our teams dialling in from different locations – so that all employees can "plug into" the business with ease. These weekly operating reviews are supplemented with quarterly in-person all hands meetings, where we hold quarterly roadmap planning processes, retrospectives and company-wide social events. Many functions also meet more regularly throughout the quarter in one of our offices across Dublin, London, Porto or Shanghai, as desired/needed. Finally, we seek to maintain our open and transparent culture through regular Townhalls and opportunities to connect socially; and our employee engagement surveys enable us to identify what we are doing well, what people value, and what areas we can improve on, to continue to build our unique and distinctive culture. Collectively, these people policies and working practices serve to deliver our ultimate goal: creating a diverse, engaging and transparent environment where our teams can work on interesting and stretching problems with people they like and admire!


LOCATIONThis role is based in Portugal. We have an office hub in Porto available for those who prefer a hybrid model where you can spend time with colleagues in-person. You will need to be able to commute to our office hub as required from time to time.

WHO YOU'LL WORK WITHReporting to the Head of Content and Creative, you will be responsible for identifying, negotiating, and managing strategic commercial relationships with third-party consumer brands. These partnerships will enable Hostelworld to leverage its customer base and create revenue opportunities by offering brands access to our global community of travellers. The successful candidate will possess a strong commercial acumen, proven experience in forming high-value partnerships, and a passion for driving growth through innovative collaborations.
WHAT YOU'LL DO Partnership Strategy: Develop the framework in which to assess and execute the partnerships for Hostelworld's long-term goals and business objectives. Business Development: Identify and approach key third-party consumer brands that align with Hostelworld's target audience and brand values, focusing on driving revenue opportunities through mutually beneficial partnerships. Contract Negotiation: Lead the team responsible for negotiations with potential partners, ensuring favourable terms that enhance value for Hostelworld while protecting the brand's interests. Partnership Management: Manage ongoing relationships with key partners, ensuring successful delivery of partnership goals and optimising collaborations for mutual growth. Cross-Functional Collaboration: Work closely with the product organisation, finance, and legal teams to ensure partnerships are fully integrated and operationally smooth. Revenue Generation: Work with the Head of Content to develop performance metrics and monitor the success of partnerships, ensuring these align with the company's revenue and profitability targets. Innovation and Market Insight: Stay abreast of market trends, competitor activities, and emerging partnership opportunities to continuously enhance Hostelworld's partnerships strategy. Brand Alignment: Ensure all partnerships reflect Hostelworld's brand values and resonate with its global community of travellers . WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR Proven Track Record: 5 years of experience in partnerships, business development, or sales, preferably within a tech, travel, or consumer-oriented industry. Contract Negotiation Expertise: Experience negotiating partnership agreements with high-profile brands or organisations. Commercial Acumen: Strong understanding of revenue models and the ability to create strategies that balance growth with profitability. Stakeholder Management: Experience managing relationships with internal stakeholders and external partners, including senior executives. Data-Driven Approach: Strong analytical skills with a track record of using data to drive decision-making and improve partnership performance. Global Market Understanding: Experience working with global brands and understanding international markets, particularly in the travel or hospitality sectors. Industry Knowledge: Familiarity with the travel industry, particularly within the hostel, backpacking, or budget accommodation sector, is a plus Culture fit: Will be suited to working in a growth company and the associated change, pace, and dynamism. Will be a charismatic, energetic, decisive, and supportive leader. Will be entrepreneurial, bold, passionate, and ambitious, as well as high-integrity, low-ego, collaborative, personable, and constructive. Ability to travel: The successful candidate for this role would be expected to be able to travel domestically and internationally as required (up to 20% depending on location). WHAT WE OFFER Competitive salary & benefits Enhanced annual leave plus 3 Wellbeing Days per year Paid family leave (maternity, paternity, surrogacy & adoption) Agile working (plus a Working from Abroad Policy!) Support for your ongoing growth & development Inclusive people policies (sickness, menopause, compassionate and fertility leave) A chance to give back to your local community with 5 paid volunteering days OUR BEHAVIOURS Grow others- We fundamentally believe that investing in growing others benefits everyone, whether it's helping them develop hard or soft skills. We want learning and growing to be part of our DNA to help makes us a better team, together. Master it - We are obsessed with our area of expertise and enjoy developing our skills. We rarely take things at face value; we investigate, interrogate, and always look for 'the why,' and wherever possible, we use data to find the best solution. Collaborate - We are in it together, for the tough stuff and the celebrations too. To achieve the best results, we need expertise from all areas of the organisation, and we wholeheartedly welcome diverse thinking. Adapt - We work fluidly, adapting to new information and the evolving environment while staying committed to our goals. Innovation and experimentation fuel our projects and we're never afraid to pivot. Deliver - Our focus is always on the end result; we value outcomes over activity. We collaborate to deliver work at speed without dropping any of our other behaviours. We believe in talented and diverse teams that reflect the diversity of our customers and the communities in which we operate. Everyone brings different perspectives and experiences. We lay out the above requirements to guide applicants to the experiences that we believe will allow you to be successful in the role. If you don't meet them all, please consider applying if you think you can still perform the role as described.

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