Director of Business Development📣 Job Ad

About the Role

Al Manakha Rotana is seeking a Director of Business Development to lead the property’s sales team and drive its commercial growth agenda. This full-time position, based in Medina, requires a commercially astute leader who can set strategic direction, build a robust sales pipeline, and ensure rigorous performance standards.

Strategic Leadership and Commercial Growth

• Lead and manage the property’s sales team, setting clear goals and targets, ensuring individual accountability, and rigorously evaluating performance.
• Drive the commercial growth agenda by developing and implementing effective sales strategies.
• Identify where resources are genuinely needed and deploy them accordingly, including focused efforts in key feeder and source markets.
• Build a secondary base of local corporate and social-event business to balance seasonality and reduce dependence on pilgrim volume.
• Plan commercial strategy around the peak and trough patterns of the religious calendar, adapting to seasonality and demand volatility.

Market Expertise and Relationship Management

• Demonstrate a deep understanding of the religious tourism (Umrah/Hajj) ecosystem, including booking cycles, seasonality peaks, and business contracting methods.
• Possess an established network with Umrah/Hajj operators, DMCs, and travel agents, including top Saudi, Gulf, South Asian, and international wholesalers.
• Secure and manage business with government and institutional accounts, such as Saudi ministries, quasi-government entities, and religious authorities.
• Manage high-volume, high-ADR group contracts profitably.
• Maintain working knowledge of the Nusuk platform and Ministry of Hajj & Umrah regulations concerning allotments and group registration.
• Exercise sound judgment on financial and credit-risk awareness with agents, including credit terms, deposit structures, and payment risk.

Revenue Optimization and Operational Excellence

• Apply commercial and revenue acumen to understand how business-mix decisions impact RevPAR and profitability, working closely with revenue management.
• Utilize data and CRM/booking systems to track performance, forecast pace accurately, and report pipeline visibility.
• Demonstrate strong command of channel distribution, staying informed on evolving trends for the pilgrim market across OTAs, wholesale, direct, GDS, and emerging platforms.
• Consistently benchmark against the competitive set and adjust strategy proactively.
• Make full use of all systems, CRM, and commercial tools to drive productivity and decision-making.

Qualifications and Experience

• A minimum of 5 to 10 years of experience in a commercial leadership role, preferably within the hospitality or religious tourism sector.
• Proven ability to lead sales teams and drive commercial growth.
• Demonstrated expertise in managing group and series business profitably.
• Strong understanding of revenue management principles and their application.

Work Type and Location

This is a full-time position located in Medina.