Associate Commercial Partnerships Manager - Flights

About the role

KAYAK is seeking an Associate Commercial Partnerships Manager to help build and maintain relationships with airline and online travel agency partners in North America. The role involves maximizing existing relationships, identifying and addressing gaps in content, driving content optimization, analyzing and monitoring partnership performance, and developing strategies to close any identified gaps.

Responsibilities

• Build, negotiate, and maintain relationships with partners in the flights business, including airlines and online travel agencies.
• Act as a primary point of contact for day-to-day needs and account development.
• Maximize existing relationships in terms of revenue generation and form new partnerships to benefit KAYAK's product and users.
• Identify and address gaps in content within the search results and drive content optimization across KAYAK's metasearch platform to improve partner visibility, competitiveness, and conversion.
• Analyze and monitor the performance of content on KAYAK and of partnerships with third parties, using business and user metrics, leveraging tools such as Salesforce and reporting/BI tools to surface trends, risks, and opportunities.
• Develop strong relationships and work cross-functionally with the KAYAK Commercial, Product, and Engineering teams to support integrations, troubleshoot issues, and prioritize improvements.
• Maintain awareness of the competitive landscape of travel search sites, identify KAYAK weaknesses, and formulate and execute a plan to close the gap.

Requirements

• At least 4 years of meaningful commercial partnerships, account management, business development, or related experience.
• A background in the airline or travel industry is a plus.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with comfort working in Excel/Google Sheets and using data to inform decisions and recommendations.
• Experience managing multiple projects of varying size and scope simultaneously, while prioritizing appropriately.
• Ability to handle complex, multi-faceted relationships and collaborate effectively with both internal technical teams and senior commercial stakeholders.
• Clear and confident verbal and written communication skills, including experience presenting findings or recommendations.
• Ability to effectively liaise with both internal technical teams and senior members of the KAYAK commercial team.
• Familiarity with metasearch, e-marketplace, or price comparison platforms.
• Experience with CRM or reporting tools (e.g., Salesforce, Looker or similar).
• Prior experience contributing to business reviews, commercial reporting, or partner-facing performance discussions.

Qualifications

• Experience working in a fast-paced, dynamic environment.
• Proven ability to manage multiple tasks and priorities.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills.
• Strong organizational and project management skills.
• Ability to work independently and as part of a team.

Skills

• Data analysis and interpretation.
• Project management and coordination.
• Business acumen and strategic thinking.
• Collaboration and teamwork.
• Effective communication and presentation skills.

Benefits and Perks

• Work from (almost) anywhere for up to 20 days per year.
• Focus on mental health and well-being: Company-paid therapy sessions through SpringHealth, company-paid subscription to HeadSpace, company-wide week off a year - the whole team fully recharges (and returns without a pile-up of work!)
• No meeting Fridays.
• Paid parental leave.
• Generous paid vacation + time off for your birthday.
• Paid volunteer time.
• Competitive retirement and health plans.
• Free lunch 2 days per week.
• Fun quarterly events such as boat trips, arcades, ski trips, Thursday happy hours, and more.