Global Travel Senior Specialist

Boston Consulting Group · Lisbon

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Who We Are

Boston Consulting Group (BCG) is a general management consulting firm, widely regarded as a global leader in business strategy consulting. The firm has built its worldwide practice on intellectual leadership and has helped change the way many corporations’ approach, and engage in, competition. Many of BCG's strategic concepts are taught at leading business schools and executive education programs around the world.

BCG is a privately owned firm with over 90 offices in 50+ countries. BCG’s Global Functions provide professional management services to the firm, including the central operations of finance, information technology, marketing, risk, legal, operations and human resources.

About the Team:
The global travel function sets the vision and overall strategic direction of the BCG global travel program, deliver the latest thinking in the areas of indirect sourcing where BCG has a substantial spend; air, hotel, and ground transport associated with internal and client travel, service operations & cutting edge travel technology while leading and driving the change required to minimize travel cost and its associated infrastructure. Our small but diverse team is highly strategic, collaborative and solutions oriented.

What You'll Do

The Travel Program Specialist plays a critical role in supporting BCG’s global travel program, with a strong focus on airline pricing, network planning, and air budget management for WWOM, PA,L&D. This will necessitate working closely with the Senior sourcing Manager, the TMC, and global stakeholders to ensure accurate contract loading, budget integrity, availability alignment, and compliance with travel guidelines.

The role requires deep hands-on experience from a TMC or airline environment, advanced proficiency in Global Distribution Systems (GDS), and the ability to translate complex airline pricing and inventory concepts into practical guidance for budget owners and meeting organizers.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Airline Pricing, Network Planning & Budget Management

• Perform detailed airline budget analysis for internal BCG programs, including Practice Area and WWOM programs.
• Run airfare projections and scenario analyses using the Global Travel Amadeus tool and/or other GDS platforms.
• Apply strong understanding of airline pricing, inventory steering, combinability, and network planning to support cost-efficient and realistic travel budgets.
• Execute planning activities in line with established objectives and specific program requirements.
• Respond to budget-related questions from meeting organizers and budget owners,providing clear explanations and alternative routing, timing, or carrier options when needed.

Contracted Fares, GDS & Dashboard Management

• Ensure accurate loading, maintenance, and quality control of negotiated air, rail, and car rental contracts in GDS and online booking environments.
• Upload and maintain negotiated airline fares and related commercial content in
  centralized dashboards to ensure transparency and usability across stakeholders.
• Conduct regular quality checks on negotiated fares and rates, ensuring accuracy, availability, and compliance.
• Partner with the senior sourcing manager to perform contract quality checks and post negotiation validation.
• Ensure the TMC adheres to strict auditing and quality assurance processes for contract application.

Stakeholder & TMC Collaboration

• Liaise with global, regional, and local stakeholders to understand evolving travel
  requirements, reporting needs, and planning constraints.
• Act as a bridge between budget owners, meeting organizers, and the TMC to resolve availability gaps and ensure booking of best available and compliant rates.
• Ensure TMC agent readiness and alignment to support meeting participants effectively and consistently.
• Share best practices across regions and teams related to destination selection, airline network planning, and fare optimization.
• Support optimized meeting destination selection by balancing connectivity, airline network strength, cost, and convenience.
• Embed safety and security risk parameters into planning platforms in alignment with the Safety & Security team, enabling informed, compliant decision-making.

Program & Team Support

• Support the Global Travel Team with additional projects, analyses, and ad-hoc initiatives as required.
• Contribute to continuous improvement of travel planning processes, tools, and reporting.

What You'll Bring

We are looking for an expert who can bring knowledge to the BCG travel function. We expect that the individual will possess both the “technical” qualifications for the role as well as other “intangible” attributes

•  Bachelor’s degree in business or a related field, or equivalent relevant experience within the travel industry.
• 3-5 years of directly related experience in the travel industry, preferably within a TMC or airline environment.
• Strong hands-on expertise in GDS platforms (Amadeus required; Sabre/Apollo a plus).
• Solid understanding of airline (and hotel) pricing principles, inventory steering, and distribution channels.
• Experience in working with network optimizing tools e.g. Convien is a plus
• Fluency in English required; additional languages are a plus.
• Advanced analytical skillset including multi-level data analysis and BI reporting
• Strong proficiency in MS Office, particularly Excel; advanced PowerPoint skills required.
• Strong analytical skills with the ability to interpret data and translate insights into practical recommendations.
• Comfortable maintaining spreadsheets, databases, dashboards, and working with complex datasets.
• Excellent communication skills with the ability to clearly explain budgets, constraints, and alternatives to diverse stakeholders.
• Strong relationship-building skills with internal teams, sourcing managers, TMC partners, and external vendors.
• Highly organized with the ability to multitask, prioritize, and manage multiple projects under tight timelines.
• Self-motivated, proactive, and solutions-oriented with a continuous improvement mindset.
• Sound judgment in interpreting rules and guidelines while aligning with BCG’s values and culture
• Receptive to feedback and motivated to quickly learn new tools, topics, and skills
• Experience working in a fast-paced, intellectually intense, global, matrixed environment
• Genuine interest in expanding knowledge of travel processes and technologies

Additional info

At BCG, our people and relationships are at the heart of everything we do. We believe that in-person collaboration plays an important role in our culture, mentorship, and professional development.

For this role, you will generally be expected to work from a BCG office or in person with clients on a regular basis (typically around 50% of working time), depending on business needs and in line with local policies and practices.

We aim to provide a dynamic and collaborative environment that fosters connection and teamwork.

• Boston Consulting Group is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, age, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity / expression, national origin, disability, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected under national, provincial, or local law, where applicable, and those with criminal histories will be considered in a manner consistent with applicable state and local laws.
• BCG is an E - Verify Employer. Click here for more information on E-Verify.

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