Title: Senior Manager, Travel Services
Employee Working Location: Partially Virtual / Hybrid (Canada)
Employment Status: Permanent Full-time

The Canadian Red Cross (CRC) – an inspirational not for profit organization, helps people and communities in Canada and around the world in times of need and supports them in strengthening their resilience. As a Canada’s Best Employers 2024, we are committed to having an accessible, diverse, inclusive, and barrier-free work environment.

The Senior Manager, Travel Services is responsible for leading and managing multiple teams and professionals in service operations to ensure efficient and effective delivery of customer service and support. They build and nurture positive team dynamics, allocating resources, addressing operational challenges, and implementing process improvements to optimize efficiency and productivity. They collaborate across teams to support effective solutions, continuous improvement, and adoption of new ways of working. They are responsible for monitoring performance, developing talent, ensuring compliance with organization policies, and fostering a collaborative and positive team environment.

In this role, you will

• Lead and manage multiple service team operations and projects to deliver on-time and within budget, ensuring alignment with organizational goals and objectives.

• Develop and implement strategies to enhance the quality of customer service and support, including process improvement initiatives, training programs, and technology solutions.

• Monitor and analyze data and performance metrics to identify trends, areas for improvement, and opportunities for operational efficiency.

• Manage resources to ensure operations can operate efficiently and effectively.

• Build and maintain collaborative partnerships with internal and external stakeholders and vendors to support effective operations.

• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to resolve escalated customer issues and provide timely and accurate resolution.

• Develop and maintain reports and dashboards to track performance, generate insights, and provide recommendations for improvement to senior leadership.

• Stay abreast of industry trends, emerging technologies, and best practices in service management, customer service, and support.

• Ensure that the service operates in compliance with relevant regulations and industry standards, particularly if it deals with sensitive data or regulated industries.

• Manage service planning, implementation, and evaluation in collaboration with key stakeholders, ensuring alignment with organizational strategies and goals.

• Contribute to service assessments, research, and analysis to inform service design and decision-making, and ensure service activities and approaches are evidence-based and contextually relevant.

• Monitor and evaluate service impact and effectiveness, including data collection, analysis, and reporting, and use findings for service improvement and learning.

• Identify, assess, and mitigate risks to service success, safeguarding service quality and stakeholder trust.

• Set team performance and development objectives, establish workplans, monitor performance, resolve conflict and provide coaching and feedback.

• Contribute to unit operational, budget and workforce planning and support ongoing monitoring and reporting.

• Identify, plan, design and adjust service standards, methods and processes to continuously improve and respond to current and future needs.

• Communicate and influence work methods, processes, service delivery, and change amongst team and with stakeholders within own department and other departments/service lines.

• Participate in workforce planning, talent acquisition, and succession planning initiatives to ensure a robust pipeline of talent.

• Ensure compliance with policies, procedures, and regulatory requirements, and manage risks within their area of responsibility.

• May work with vendors and/or partners, ensuring expectations are met and outcomes are achieved to budget and on time.

What we are looking for:

• Qualifications include a minimum of 6-9 years of experience and a 3-year college diploma or university degree in business administration, management, or Travel and/or an equivalent combination of education and experience. is an asset.

• Bilingual proficiency in English and French is considered a strong asset.

• Leadership and team management skills with the ability to resolve conflicts and inspire, motivate, and engage teams to achieve program objectives.

• Strong knowledge of relevant service operations and the ability to develop and implement customer service principles and best practices, strategies and plans, and monitor and report on performance.

• Knowledge of service delivery models, performance metrics, and impact evaluation.

• Proficiency in Microsoft Office applications (Word, Outlook, Excel, PowerPoint) and SharePoint and sector-relevant technologies is required.

• Ability to identify complex problems, conduct deep analysis in unfamiliar areas, predict outcomes, and develop innovative,
  collaborative solutions by balancing technical inputs with strategic objectives using advanced skills and independent judgment to predict outcomes, with escalation for alignment with business unit goals.

• Communication and influencing skills to synthesize diverse and sometimes conflicting perspectives and find mutually beneficial solutions, often in sensitive or complex situations.

• Ability to work under pressure, manage competing priorities, and adapt to changing circumstances in a fast-paced and dynamic environment.

Working Conditions:

• No unusual physical effort required.

• Requires significant attention to detail and concentration and ability to mentally process large amounts of information.

• The work pace is often unpredictable with significant time pressures.

• Ability to adapt to frequent and often urgent changes in priorities, make decisions under pressure, and work at an unpredictable pace.

• The role includes fieldwork, deployment to emergency operations, and office-based work during non-deployment periods.

• Some domestic or international travel to generally safe locations; exposure to moderate adverse conditions requiring attention to personal safety.

• Work requires the ability to work to multiple, conflicting deadlines.

• In a large-scale emergency, where staff numbers are compromised or additional resources are required, provide disaster relief and/or emergency field operational support.

• Will be required to work extended hours and outside traditional buisness days/hours on rotation during peak periods on short notice.

• This role requires participation in a rotating on-call schedule to manage operations and issues outside of regular business hours.

• As we work with and support people (managers, colleagues, clients/customers, volunteers, donors and external partners) and communities in Canada and around the world, applicants whose first language is not English may be required to perform the responsibilities of the role in English.

• Eligibility to work in Canada. At this time, we welcome applications from candidates eligible to work in Canada. If you are not a citizen or permanent resident of Canada, we encourage you to carefully review your visa to find out whether you are eligible to work in the job you are considering applying for. Refer to our FAQ for more information.

• If you are selected for this role, you will be required to complete a successful pre-employment screening process which includes a satisfactory Enhanced Police Information Check (E-PIC).