Commercial Manager - Global Load Control, dnata

dnata is more than a global air and travel services provider. We connect people with possibilities and opportunities across 130+ airports in 34 countries through ground handling, cargo, travel, and catering & retail services. Our purpose is clear: to deliver on the promises our customers make. We are powered by a bold vision to be the world’s most admired air and travel services provider, which guides our strategy, culture, and every role across our teams. Our core values fuel everything we do: we are safe, we play to win, we respect everyone and work together as a team, and we are future thinking. At dnata, we foster diversity, nurture ambition, and celebrate achievement. If you're inspired by purpose and motivated to be part of a global team shaping the future of aviation and travel, we’d love to have you onboard.

As Commercial Manager – Global Load Control, you will plan and manage the commercial relationship, sales pipeline and contracts cycle with existing and new customers ensuring all operational, commercial, legal and financial requirements are well defined. You will act as the primary and dedicated point of contact for our customers and leverage the relationship to drive an increase of core and ancillary revenues while improving our customers advocacy. You will deliver global tender and network opportunities, contract health checks and customer account management through various research studies, data analysis and market studies.

You will contribute to the development and enhancement of products and services, working with operational and commercial stakeholders to ensure the offering remains competitive, scalable and aligned with customer needs and will support the Account Management function by providing commercial leadership, enabling effective “farming” of existing customers through structured pricing, contract optimisation and identification of growth opportunities.

The role is based full-time in our Dubai office.

In this role, you will:

• Support in developing and implementing a commercial strategy, sales and marketing strategy and customer profitability analysis for the assigned region or global travel partnerships.
• Review and address the customer’s commercial and operational performance, identify any issue to be solved and implement an action plan in cooperation with the stakeholders.
• Support the development of product and service offerings through analysis of customer requirements, market trends and operational capabilities, ensuring alignment with the overall commercial strategy.
• Manage and negotiate commercial requests for new and existing customers by acting as the point of contact, identify and propose a unique selling proposition maximising the benefits, be accountable for a smooth operational and commercial implementation.
• Develop financial business models, cases, and recommendations for each negotiation, establishing the detailed cost of operations at product/service level, and ensure costs are validated on a regular basis.
• Negotiate the Service Level Agreement in line with the commercial strategy to protect the company’s interests through a collaborative approach with both customer airlines and dnata business units.
• Actively leverage and drive the customer relationship to upsell and cross sell our services by promoting our products portfolio to meet financial targets and in line with the agreed strategy.
• Manage internally the NPS/Customer survey communication, partner with internal stakeholders in order to maximize effectiveness of customer feedback, analyse the results and establish an action plan in cooperation with the operations to maintain customer’s advocacy.
• Provide market analysis on customers, airports, airlines, volumes, revenues, yields, potential, etc. in new markets; to better understand and contribute to the identification and targeting of new business.
• Drive the development and continuous improvement of product and service offerings, working closely with operations to ensure they are commercially viable, operationally deliverable and aligned with customer needs.
• Support Account Managers in the management of existing customer relationships by providing commercial guidance, pricing support and contract expertise, enabling effective retention, growth and optimisation of existing accounts.
• Lead the application and negotiation of annual price adjustments (including CPI or contractual indexation), ensuring alignment with contractual terms, market conditions and overall commercial strategy.
• Update and maintain Salesforce CRM with all relevant information pertaining to the customers, including sales pipeline and contracts cycle.
• Negotiate with customers on the contracts and agreements to ensure optimum price with the best quality in line with dnata standards.
• Ensure all price adjustments, contract updates and commercial changes are accurately captured within Salesforce and reflected in financial and operational reporting.

To be considered for the role, you must meet the below requirements:

• Bachelor's degree or Honours in relevant discipline.
• Relevant industry experience preferably with a ground handling, airport operations, Load Control engineering or ancillary revenue orientated organisation, of which should be leading teams or handling cross functional relationships.
• Sales or account management experience ideally with contract negotiation exposure in a large organisation.
• Financial management skills.
• Strong business acumen and the ability to establish effective long-term relationships.
• Business strategy and planning.
• Technical skills (Ground Handling, Load Control related).

You will have an edge, if you have:

• Experience working in a highly targeted and KPI driven commercial environment, ideally with airlines.
• Fluency in other languages would be a distinct advantage.

At dnata, part of Emirates Group, we’re committed to providing our employees with opportunities to grow and develop in their careers. So if you’re looking for a challenging and rewarding opportunity, apply today and join our team!

Recruitment Process and Timeline

dnata, part of Emirates Group, is an international organisation with employees from over 170 nationalities, we encourage applications from across the globe. Your application journey begins by applying via our Careers website. Please ensure your CV is up to date for our talent acquisition team to review your profile. If you meet the criteria of the role, you will then be invited to complete a HireVue video interview, to share more about your experience and your career aspirations. If you are shortlisted you will then be invited to interview with our hiring managers. If you are successful, your recruiter will reach out to you with an offer and then our Onboarding team will ensure a smooth transition to your new role.