Job Summary
Certares Homecoming is seeking to add a Vice President, Product Development & Operations to our team. This position adds value to the AHI Travel and Gohagan & Company brands by extending our tradition of excellence… overseeing the development of unique, culturally and educationally focused ocean cruises, river cruises and land tours for our clients and travelers and ensuring smooth coordination of trip operations to deliver a seamless and positive travel experience from start to finish.
The position will manage Director and Manager-level teammates who oversee Product or Operations for AHI Travel or Gohagan & Company brands. Product Development designs, prepares and implements all components of the programs in collaboration with partners and suppliers around the world. Operations implements the program components and ensures all logistical elements are executed effectively to support a seamless travel experience. In addition to day-to-day management, the Vice President will be responsible for reporting to Executive leadership on a regular basis, managing annual program (cruise and tour lineups), owning individual program P&Ls, handling escalated on-site issues and keeping the teams organized in such a way that ensures accuracy, efficiency and impact. The Vice President will consistently drive the teams forward across multiple years of development and operations and ensure that all programs are developed and executed according to the company’s established product standards and USPs (Unique Selling Points).
Essential Job Functions:
•Develop and lead the strategic vision for AHI and Gohagan & Company’s annual program lineups, ensuring a compelling mix of destinations, product types, and styles that are aligned with our customer demand, USPs, and company growth objectives.
•Oversee the full lifecycle of tour products from concept to execution, ensuring consistent delivery of high-quality travel experiences.
•Translate business objectives into actionable strategies for the Product Development & Operations teams, clearly communicating goals to foster alignment, accountability, and continuous performance improvement.
•Serve as the owner of day-to-day operations, ensuring timely execution, cross-functional coordination, and operational excellence across all programs.
•Cultivate and maintain high-value partnerships with global suppliers, including cruise lines, hotels, DMCs, and other key vendors, to ensure exceptional service delivery and innovative product development.
•Monitor traveler experience across all programs to ensure consistency and excellence; identify areas of improvement using data from post-tour surveys, Net Promoter Score (NPS), and customer and alumni partner feedback.
•Lead the development and execution of key Product Development & Operations milestones, maintaining forward momentum on strategic initiatives and product timelines.
•Facilitate weekly team meetings, providing guidance, support, and problem-solving for day-to-day challenges while maintaining progress toward long-term goals.
•Ensure cross-departmental collaboration with Sales, Marketing, Customer Service and other stakeholders to guarantee the timely and accurate flow of information for both promotional and operational purposes.
•Support the delivery of accurate and appropriate information internally to support promotional and operational activities.
•Assist with supplier contract negotiations, ensuring favorable terms that align with program goals, financial targets, and brand values.
•Own the product P&Ls at the program and departure level, ensuring accurate costings, financial forecasting, and profitability optimization.
•Proactively identify and evaluate growth opportunities; new destinations, new travel trends, new partnerships, and develop strategic plans for expansion and innovation.
•Serve as a key liaison to the Executive Leadership Team, providing regular reporting, insights, and recommendations to guide business strategy and decision-making.
What you bring:
•Bachelor's degree (B.A.) from a four-year college or university; three to five years related experience and/or training; or equivalent combination of education and experience.
•10+ years of experience planning cruise, land and/or other international travel programs.
•3+ years of people management experience.
•To perform this job successfully, an individual should have worked with and have experience in Microsoft Office programs, specifically Excel, Word, and PowerPoint.
•Excellent negotiating and communication skills.
•Excellent general knowledge of destinations and geography for US travelers.
•Management of large-scale projects across multiple years simultaneously.
•A customer-centric mindset, able to use inputs from association clients and individual travelers to continuously improve and provide informed, high-level, decisions on a consistent basis.
•Ability to develop partnerships and work cohesively across departments, including Sales, Marketing, Customer Service and others.
•Ability and desire to travel overseas and such travel may provide little or no advance warning and may occur over weekends and/or holidays.
•Ability to communicate clearly across cultures and languages via email, phone, video call and in person.
•This position is located in our Chicago Headquarters office.
Special Requirements:
•Must maintain a valid passport.
•Willingness to travel (domestically and/or internationally) for trade shows, product contracting, planning and destination familiarization and/or group operation.
What you can expect:
•Work with talented and diverse individuals who are passionate about world travel, geography, history, and culture.
•Join a purpose-driven company committed to creating lifelong bucket-list tour experiences for our travelers.
•Work-life balance is important to us, and we want our associates to have balanced lives, so we offer remote working and/or hybrid work arrangements for positions that can be effectively performed remotely.
Personal Characteristics:
•A self-starter, confident in your abilities, self-motivated and able to work effectively with little supervision.
•A high-energy, results-oriented individual who can make a difference; an individual who takes the initiative, makes things happen, accepts accountability, and has a "can do" attitude; has a sense of urgency.
•Solid business acumen with qualitative and quantitative analytical skills.
•Creative and flexible in attitude and style to adapt to new situations in a rapidly changing, dynamic environment.
•Desire to work for a growing company.
•A strong value system, unquestioned integrity, and good listening skills.
•Ability to thrive in a team environment.
Benefits:
Our Company works hard to embrace diversity and inclusion and encourages everyone to bring their authentic selves to work every day. We offer a variety of benefits to our associates:
•Retirement Plan with Company Match
•Medical, Dental, and Vision Coverage
•Ancillary Benefits (Disability, Accident, Critical Illness, Hospital Indemnity, etc.)
•Life Insurance
•Paid Time Off and Sick Leave
•Career growth and development
•Eligible associates will be offered an exploratory business trip during their first year of employment to experience the Company product.
•Family and Friends discount - have those close to you experience the unique and exciting bucket-list company tours.
Compensation:
The salary for our roles depends on circumstances, including an applicant's skills and qualifications, certain degrees and certifications, prior job experience, market data, and other relevant factors. Additional compensation may include a bonus, incentives, or commission.
Being you at Certares Homecoming:
Certares Homecoming is an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer. The Company’s policy is not to discriminate against any applicant or employee based on race, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, national origin, age (40 and over), disability, military status, including protected veteran status, genetic information or any other basis protected by applicable federal, state, or local laws. Certares Homecoming also prohibits harassment of applicants or employees based on any of these protected categories. It is also our Company’s policy to comply with all applicable federal, state and local laws respecting consideration of unemployment status in making hiring decisions.
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