Director of Groups & Events

About the Role

We're looking for a Director of Groups & Events to lead our Groups Contracts and Groups Bookings teams. This is a hands-on leadership role for someone who thrives in the details as much as in the strategy — someone who doesn't just oversee the work but genuinely understands it, can step into it, and uses that proximity to make the team and the customer experience meaningfully better every day.

You'll own the end-to-end support experience for group travel, from contract management through booking execution, and you'll bring the rare combination of operational depth, people leadership, and strategic clarity that this function requires. You know the workflows. You know where the friction lives. And you build the systems, the culture, and the team capability to eliminate it.

At Engine, we don't aim to meet industry benchmarks — we aim to make the industry benchmark against us. This role is for someone who holds themselves and their team to that standard.

What You'll Do

Lead and develop the Groups Contracts and Groups Bookings teams. You own performance, culture, and day-to-day operations across both teams. You develop your managers and leads with directness and intention — giving real feedback, building real capability, and creating the conditions for people to do the best work of their careers. The leaders who come up under you go on to run their own functions.

Be a player/coach and power user. You don't manage from a distance. You maintain deep, current working knowledge of end-to-end group handling — from initial inquiry and contract execution through booking confirmation and post-travel support. You can pull up a contract, work a complex case, navigate the systems your team uses every day, and identify exactly where the experience breaks down. Your proximity to the work is not occasional — it's how you lead. When a high-stakes situation arises, you're in it, not watching from the sidelines.

Drive continuous improvement relentlessly. You use data and direct observation to find problems before customers report them. You build feedback loops — from QA audits to coaching sessions to SOP rewrites to retraining cycles — and you close them. You don't flag issues and wait for someone else to fix them. You identify the root cause, build the solution, and measure whether it worked. Process improvement isn't a project for you — it's an operating mode.

Own the operational metrics. Establish baselines, track performance, and hold the team accountable to clear and measurable outcomes — booking conversion rate, L90 median timing, QA scores, SLA performance, and client satisfaction. You know which numbers matter, what's driving them, and what it takes to move them.

Manage BPO vendor performance. You have experience running BPO partnerships and you bring that discipline to the Groups function. You hold external partners to Engine's quality standards — not theirs — and you know the difference between a vendor that needs coaching and a vendor that needs accountability. You manage performance cadences, escalate when the bar isn't being met, and work with the OpEx Vendor Manager on contracts and transitions. You've been on the ground with a BPO partner and you know what good looks like at the agent level, not just the reporting level.

Be the senior escalation point. For complex group contracts, high-stakes client situations, and cross-functional issues that require experienced judgment — you're the person who gets the call. You resolve with speed and confidence, you document what happened and why, and you use every escalation as an input into making the system better.

Partner cross-functionally. Work closely with Sales, Account Management, and Finance to ensure group programs are set up for success and clients are supported throughout the lifecycle. You're not a handoff point — you're a genuine partner who brings operational insight into commercial conversations and vice versa.

Contribute to the broader Member Support strategy. Bring a groups-specific lens to decisions that affect the wider organization. You're a peer on the leadership team, not just a functional operator — and you use that seat to make Client Ops better across the board.

What We're Looking For

You are customer obsessed — operationally, not rhetorically. You read case transcripts. You sit with agents. You've called a hotel on behalf of a client to understand what the experience actually feels like on the other end. You treat friction in the customer journey as a personal problem to solve, and you build teams that feel the same way. For you, customer obsession isn't a value on a wall — it's visible in every process decision you make.

You are a true player/coach. You lead by modeling. You're not above rolling up your sleeves, working a complex group contract, or jumping on a call with a client when it matters. You set the standard by demonstrating it — and your team follows because they've seen you do the work, not just talk about it. At the same time, you know when to zoom out, when to delegate, and how to build the management layer that scales without you.

You have deep contact center and BPO management experience. You've run operations with BPO partners at meaningful scale — vendor selection, performance management, commercial negotiations, quality calibration, and transitions. You know how to get the best out of a BPO relationship and when to escalate. You've managed 24/7 or extended-hours operations and built the shift structures, coverage models, and escalation protocols that keep them running.

You are a continuous improvement practitioner. You've implemented process improvement frameworks — Lean, Six Sigma, or equivalent — and you've seen them produce real, measurable outcomes. You don't accept "that's how we've always done it." You build feedback loops that actually close.

You develop people intentionally. Your direct reports get better under you. You give clear, direct feedback, invest in development, and build teams that are both high-performing and resilient. You're known for producing managers and leaders, not just executing tasks.

You set standards, you don't chase them. Industry benchmarks are a starting point, not a destination. You have strong opinions about what great looks like in group travel support, you build toward it with urgency, and you hold the line when the pressure is to cut corners.

Experience & Qualifications

• 12+ years in travel operations, group travel support, or a closely related field — with at least 5 years in a director-level or senior leadership role
• Hands-on expertise with group travel bookings and contract management — you understand the operational complexity because you've lived it
• Proven BPO management experience — vendor performance management, quality standards enforcement, commercial negotiations, and operational transitions
• A track record of driving measurable improvement in team performance, process efficiency, and customer satisfaction
• Strong people leadership — you develop talent, give direct feedback, and build teams that are both high-performing and resilient
• Experience operating at multiple altitudes — from reviewing a contract detail to presenting a quarterly operational review to senior leadership
• Strong cross-functional communication skills with experience partnering with Sales, Account Management, and Finance
• High attention to detail and strong operational instincts — you notice what's broken before it becomes a problem
• Experience in a fast-paced, high-growth environment where the playbook is still being written

Bonus Points

• Experience with GDS platforms (Travelport, Sabre, or similar) in a groups or corporate travel context
• Background in building or scaling a groups support function from the ground up
• Familiarity with RFP management, room block logistics, or hotel commission tracking
• Experience designing or operating a premium or tiered support model
• Lean Six Sigma certification or equivalent process improvement credential

We're building something genuinely different in the travel industry — and the Groups function is one of the most visible and commercially meaningful ways we deliver on that. This role has real scope, real visibility, and a genuine opportunity to shape how Engine supports one of the more complex and high-touch parts of our business. You'll inherit a team that's already executing well — and have the mandate, the resources, and the executive support to take it to the next level. If you want to lead a function, build the standard, and make something meaningfully better — this is the role.