Some travellers stand at the water's edge, look out into the distance over the expansive ocean and wonder: “How far away is that point on the horizon? How long will it take for me to get there?”

And then there are those of us who, upon gazing at a far-distant vista, ask instead: “But what’s beyond that point on the horizon? What’s out there that I cannot see? That’s where I really want to go.”

Today, we carry the spirit of the great explorers, we Go Bold, we Go Together and Go for New. Polar travel is Quark Expeditions, and all of us at Quark Expeditions are committed to creating and delivering life-changing experiences for our clients. We draw on our unparalleled polar expertise to profoundly transform people’s sense of themselves — and of the world around them. AND TO ALWAYS, ALWAYS GO BEYOND.

This position is responsible for managing and exponentially growing the sales through the travel channels within Northern California and surrounding states of Nevada, Utah, Wyoming and Colorado. Whilst this role can be located anywhere within this territory,  there is a strong preference for it to be based in the San Francisco Bay area . 

In conjunction with the Regional Sales Director of North America, this position establishes the strategy and tactics to grow sales in the travel channels through market-share growth and profitable yield management in their specific territory.

The successful candidate must be able to demonstrate a strong ability to build relationships and understand opportunities for future revenue growth in the indirect channels, including chains and consortiums.

• Lead the development of tactical and long-term strategic objectives within territory specifically designed to grow sales in retail travel channels, in alignment with Quark’s long term strategic plan.
• Experience within the luxury travel sector ( land or sea based). Strong professional experience in the San Francisco Bay area is a prerequisite for success.  
• Build and maintain relationships with existing and emerging strategic retail travel partners, maximizing the value and growth potential through effective account management
• Based on established strategies, and sourcing/research, conduct cold calls on travel agencies looking for opportunities to develop sales from existing and new customers.
• Collaborate with Marketing, Sales and Product to contribute to regular trade communications including monthly newsletters, trade-specific tactical messaging, sales tools, USP’s, competitive differentiation
• Creates engaging, compelling and educational presentations to use onsite, at trade shows or via agent-focused webinars

In order to be successful in this role, you will show demonstrable success over many years in a similar role, ideally within the cruise industry. Experience of working with travel consortiums like Virtuoso, AAA, Expedia and Signature would be advantageous. You will demonstrate finely tuned business, commercial and strategic acumen including business planning and contract management. We seek a candidate who is grounded, a mature self starter with a passion for exceeding goals and a laser like attention to detail.