U.S. Travel Association

ABOUT THE ROLE

The Director, Global Travel Trade Engagement will help shape the future of international inbound travel to the U.S. by leading travel trade engagement and buyer recruitment for IPW—America's premier international inbound travel trade show. The successful candidate will help identify, qualify, and engage the world's most influential travel buyers to ensure our exhibitors connect with the right partners across global distribution channels.

This role requires strong expertise in travel distribution and an understanding of how travel products move from suppliers to market through various channels. This position will also support aspects of the delivery of U.S. Travel’s international inbound segment agenda in addition to the core responsibilities outlined below.

WHAT YOU'LL DO

• Own the full buyer recruitment lifecycle from planning to execution with a focus on maximizing qualified IPW attendance from both mature and emerging international markets.
• Develop year-round recruitment roadmaps and manage international agencies, vendors, committee partnerships, and associated budgets.
• Benchmark IPW against top global trade shows (WTM, ITB, ILTM, etc.) and implement best practices.
• Collaborate with the Communications team to ensure alignment on IPW media recruitment process and cycle.
• Oversee buyer qualification and classification in partnership with International Advisory Committees (IACs)—comprised of international industry leaders from hotels, airlines, U.S. suppliers, and trade experts—who assist in identifying, screening, and approving inbound travel delegates; this role holds final approval authority for all attendees.
• Ensure strategic mix of buyer types (OTAs, wholesalers, tour operators) aligned to exhibitor needs.
• Track industry evolution and emerging distribution channels to keep portfolio current.
• Regularly review recruitment numbers for each market and segment to align with strategic goals.
• Collaborate with the events team to execute marketing plans and manage registration pacing. 
• Serve as primary liaison to international rep agencies, buyers, and advisory committees to drive shared goals.
• Collaborate with events and marketing teams to provide tools, communications, and support to activate these groups in recruitment efforts.
• Engage high-impact buyers through personalized outreach and targeted communications.
• Set KPIs for recruitment and engagement; report progress and recommendations to leadership.
• Test new recruitment, retention, and promotion concepts and optimize based on data and market feedback.
• Support cross-functional improvements to show format and buyer experience.

WHAT YOU BRING

• Experience (5-10+ years) in travel product distribution, travel trade strategic partnerships, travel trade channel partnerships, or similar—such as working with or for tour operators, OTAs, receptive operators, hotels/resorts, attractions, airlines, or destination marketing organizations (DMOs).
• Proven success in building relationships with international buyers.
• Deep understanding of how U.S. travel products are sold in international markets.
• Experience with CRM systems, segmentation strategies, and trade shows.
• Proven ability to build and manage vendors and lead disparate groups to drive business results.
• Operational self-sufficiency – comfortable managing own scheduling, CRM reporting, and community communications with minimal administrative support.

Key Strengths

• Distribution expertise – Understands B2B travel value chains and buyer business models.
• Commercial mindset – Connects recruitment strategy to exhibitor ROI.
• Strategic execution – Balances long-term planning with tactical agility.
• Community building – Excels at stakeholder engagement and cross-cultural communication.

OTHER

• Position based in Washington, D.C. U.S. Travel staff work in the office Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays with the option to work remotely on Mondays and Fridays.
• Salary: 110-130K.
• Ability to travel is required.
• Other Duties: Please note this job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Duties, responsibilities and activities may change at any time with or without notice.