(Senior) Business Development Manager, Travel - US (m/f/d)

ABOUT PLIANT

Pliant is a European fintech specializing in B2B payment solutions. With our modular, API-first platform, we empower businesses to streamline spending, enhance cash flows, and seamlessly integrate payments into their financial workflows. Our solutions are particularly valuable for industries with complex payment needs, such as travel and fleet, helping companies achieve greater efficiency, control, and profitability.

We focus on two primary customer segments:

• Companies that want to optimize payment processes through our intuitive Apps and powerful APIs, gaining greater control, operational efficiency, and cash flow flexibility through extended credit lines.
• Businesses such as financial software companies, ERP providers or banks aiming to launch or enhance their credit card offerings, using our embedded finance or white-label solutions. This enables partners to strengthen customer engagement and diversify revenue streams effectively.

Founded in 2020 and headquartered in Berlin, Pliant supports over 4,000 businesses and more than 20 partners globally. As a licensed e-money institution (EMI), we issue Visa-powered credit cards in 11 currencies across 30+ countries, ensuring that payments become simpler, smarter, and more efficient worldwide.

Learn more at www.getpliant.com

ABOUT THE ROLE

We are looking for a (Senior) Business Development Manager, Travel - U.S.  (m/f/d) to accelerate our expansion in one of Pliant’s most strategic verticals: travel. You’ll be focused on identifying, engaging, and converting travel-focused businesses that can benefit from flexible credit, virtual cards, and automated spend controls.

You’ll work closely with our commercial and product teams to tailor messaging and solution design for OTAs, TMCs, consolidators, air ticket resellers, and B2B travel marketplaces. This is a high-impact, mid-level sales role with plenty of ownership and growth potential.

This role is remote-friendly, ideally based in the US, with occasional travel to client meetings, industry events (e.g., GBTA, Phocuswright), and Berlin for onboarding or team sessions.

WHAT YOU'LL DO

• Travel Industry Acquisition: Source and qualify new prospects across the B2B travel space, including OTAs, TMCs, and ticketing consolidators.
• Lead Pipeline Ownership: Manage outbound and inbound leads through the full sales cycle—from discovery to demo, negotiation, and close.
• Industry Messaging & Positioning: Tailor your outreach and conversations to address travel-specific pain points (e.g., payment delays, reconciliation, fraud risk, chargebacks).
• Collaboration with Product & Sales: Share feedback from the field to shape segment-specific collateral, integrations, and feature enhancements.
• CRM & Reporting: Maintain accurate records in HubSpot or Salesforce and ensure strong sales hygiene and forecast visibility.
• Market Research: Stay up to date on trends in the U.S. travel market—emerging players, policy shifts, and competitive developments.
• Partner with Marketing: Support go-to-market campaigns targeting the travel industry and contribute to event presence, case study generation, and co-marketing.

WHAT YOU'LL BRING

• 3–5 years of B2B sales experience, ideally with clients in the travel industry or adjacent verticals (e.g., hospitality tech, payments, B2B platforms).
• Knowledge of the U.S. travel ecosystem—especially the commercial workflows and credit requirements of travel intermediaries.
• Proven ability to run structured sales cycles and manage multiple stakeholders (Finance, Ops, Product, C-level).
• Familiarity with CRMs (HubSpot, Salesforce) and sales methodologies such as SPIN, MEDDIC, or Challenger.
• Experience selling fintech, payments, or expense solutions is a strong plus.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Fluent English required; additional languages a plus.

WHAT WE OFFER

• Unlimited PTO: A flexible time-off policy designed to support a healthy work-life balance and personal well-being.
• Medical & Healthcare: Choice of PPO, HDHP, or regional HMO plans, with 85% / 75% of the premium covered for you / your dependents respectively.
• Health Navigation: Unlimited 24/7 access to Rightway, a personal health guide service to help you find in-network specialists and manage care plans.
• Retirement: 401(k) plan through Betterment, with 4% matching from Pliant.
• Dental & Vision: Premium coverage through Guardian.
• Financial Protection: Employer-paid Life and AD&D insurance. Voluntary short-term and long-term disability options are also available.
• Family & Life: Parental leave and an Employee Assistance Program (EAP) for confidential mental health, legal, and financial coaching.
• Tax-Advantaged Accounts: Support for HSA, Healthcare/Dependent Care FSA, and pre-tax Commuter benefits.
• Culture: Regular company-sponsored events and off-sites, including a company-wide holiday party in Berlin.
  

At Pliant, we believe diversity and inclusion are essential to building not only an innovative product but also an exceptional experience for both our customers and our team. This commitment begins with our hiring process—we welcome individuals of all racial and ethnic backgrounds, religions, national origins, gender identities or expressions, sexual orientations, ages, marital statuses, and abilities. If you require accommodations or accessibility support during the interview process, please let us know in your application so we can make sure your experience is seamless.