Head of Contracting, Middle East

Emerging Travel Group is a global travel-tech company whose brands have been operating in over 220 source markets since 2010. We specialize in developing advanced online booking platforms for all types of clients — from individual tourists to travel agents and companies organizing business trips. Our solutions empower hoteliers to effortlessly showcase their accommodations, boosting visibility and attracting a broader audience.

Our mission is to create, distribute, and operate the most convenient travel products. We constantly innovate and break the rules of the highly complex travel industry to make travel more widely available for individuals, more rewarding for professionals, and simpler for everyone.

As a Head of Contracting, Middle East at ETG, you will play a key role in strengthening and maximizing the performance of our hotel portfolio.

Your main focus will be maintaining strong relationships with hotel partners, driving their performance, and identifying opportunities to unlock additional growth. The role combines commercial acumen with a solid understanding of hotel systems and effective project management.

From optimizing existing collaborations to supporting partners with best practices, you will be central to ensuring both immediate results and long-term success!

This is a vacancy open to candidates residing in Dubai, UAE.

Job Responsibilities

• Take full accountability for regional revenue and target delivery by building and executing a commercial strategy that identifies portfolio gaps and prioritizes contracting focus.
• Define target hotel segments by commercial value and lead negotiations on rates, availability, and overrides to improve competitiveness against third-party suppliers.
• Maintain deep knowledge of key destinations with a strong focus on Dubai, using market data and chain strategies to drive contracting decisions and identify white-space opportunities.
• Lead and structure the regional Business Development team by setting clear KPIs and driving accountability through decisive coaching of underperformance.
• Ensure newly contracted hotels convert to revenue within defined timeframes by monitoring production and driving joint actions such as promotions and rate reviews.
• Implement structured reporting and pipeline management to maintain clean data, forecast visibility, and alignment with the overall operating model.
• Maintain high visibility by working from the Dubai office at least three days per week and ensuring the regional team adheres to the same cadence.

• Relevant Experience. 5–7 years of successful experience in hotel contracting, travel distribution, or B2B travel sales.
• Leadership Experience. Proven experience managing a commercial team with full revenue accountability.
• Negotiation Skills. Strong negotiation capability with independent hotels and regional chains.
• Commercial Performance. Demonstrated track record of delivering consistent revenue growth against defined targets.
• Commercial Acumen. High level of commercial awareness, with the ability to interpret performance data and translate insights into strategic actions.
• Stakeholder Management. Strong ability to manage internal and external stakeholders effectively.
• Work Environment Adaptability. Experience operating in fast-paced, target-driven environments.
• Language Skills. Fluency in English is required; additional languages are an advantage.

• Ambitious and supportive team who love what they do, appreciate each other, and grow together.
• Internal programs for adaptation and training, development of soft skills, and leadership abilities.
• Partial compensation for participating in external training and conferences.
• Corporate prices on hotels and travel services.
• MyTime Day Off - an extra non-working day without loss of compensation.

Learn more about our data protection practices in our Privacy Policy: https://emergingtravel.notion.site/recruitment-privacy-notice