Chief Commercial and Customer Officer at Kenya Airways

Job Purpose:

Reporting to the Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, the Chief Commercial & Customer Officer oversees all revenue and customer-related functions – customer experience, network and schedule planning, pricing and revenue management, digital retail and distribution, and sales and distribution.

The Chief Commercial and Customer Officer is responsible for the overall revenue performance of the company, ensuring the organization works together for optimum customer experience delivery and for developing, implementing, and monitoring action against an integrated and cohesive revenue strategy for the carrier.

This is an exciting role, and to fulfill this mandate, the role holder liaises closely with key functional areas such as Operations, Finance, Communication, People, and Information Technology, amongst others. The Chief Commercial & Customer Officer is expected to play a critical role in building strategic relationships with our direct customers, corporates, travel agents, and partners. The role holder manages several external suppliers of services, including third-party service providers, solutions providers, management consultants, market research organizations, and various systems providers to deliver the mandate of the role.

As a member of the senior leadership team, the Chief Commercial & Customer Officer also contributes actively to defining the airline’s strategic direction and priorities.

Principal Accountabilities;

Strategy and Commercial leadership

• Oversee all revenue-related functions for the airline and hold ultimate responsibility for the revenue performance.
• Strategic development and execution of customer initiatives through setting strategic direction for product development (pax) and overall customer service and experience.
• Develop and manage the commercial budget of the organization.
• Partnering with the Chief Executive Officer and top leadership team shape the commercial growth strategy.
• Ensure that the airline has an integrated, cohesive, and practically implementable commercial strategy that is consistent with the overall corporate strategy in place at the carrier.
• As part of the top leadership team, contribute to the development of the overall corporate strategy and transformation plan for the organization. Participate actively in the overall leadership and management.
• Lead and/or participate in other corporate planning exercises, such as corporate strategic planning, budgeting, fleet renewal and evolution decisions, aircraft configuration studies, new business lines and products, and mergers and acquisitions.
• Recruit, deploy, and provide strong leadership and mentoring to a team of highly skilled executives, professionals, and support staff, developing high-potential individuals for succession within the commercial team or rotation to other areas.

Customer Experience

• Design and deliver leading customer experiences.
• Develop and implement all current and future customer affinity, loyalty, and retention programs.
• Monitor competitive activity with respect to products and services, including related customer offerings, so as to respond, when appropriate, through product and service changes.
• Translate the product and service attributes of the airline’s product and service portfolio into specific, actionable parameters and customer service standards for various operational departments, such as e-commerce, Sales, Customer Excellence Centre and reservations airport customer service, catering, and in-flight service.
• Drive the organization to work together for optimum customer experience delivery.
• Establish corporate metrics for defining the relationship with customers

Network Planning, Scheduling, Partnerships, and Alliances

• Contribute to the development of the annual business plan, providing direction in areas such as network development and revenue growth.
• Lead the development of the airline’s network growth strategy in a manner consistent with the overall corporate strategy in place.
• Oversee the network planning function, with a specific focus on market planning, long-range planning, mid-range planning, and scheduling.
• Identify, evaluate, recommend and implement new routes.
• Lead the evaluation, selection, and introduction of new markets and destinations and their eventual integration into the network.

Pricing and Revenue Management

• Oversee the revenue management function, including pricing and yield management.
• Optimize profitability through the deployment of progressive revenue management practices.
• Ensure the company maintains a market-responsive and customer-centric approach to pricing and yield management.
• Maintain currency on state-of-the-art and leading-edge technology, programs, and processes for improved pricing and yield management.

Digital retail

• Optimize the deployment of digital technology in support of the airline’s revenue strategies.
• Ensure that the airline makes optimal use of social media to advance its commercial strategy and initiatives.
• Ensure that the airline has a highly effective and efficient online distribution presence through its website and participation in other digital channels.
• Develop and enhance the capability of the airline’s website as an efficient and effective channel of distribution and customer relationship management.
• Materially develop and enhance the capability of the airline’s digital shops as an efficient and increasingly larger and more effective channel of distribution and customer relationship management

Sales and Distribution

• Develop, implement and oversee the airline’s overallsales programs to maximize penetration of target segments.
• Establish and negotiate aggressive but achievable annual revenue targets consistent with overall corporate goals and objectives at the airline.
• Oversee the development of clear revenue acquisition plans by market, segment, and channel of distribution, so as to deliver the airline’s total revenue target.
• Monitor revenue performance against targets on an ongoing basis and take steps, in advance, to address potential issues or shortfalls that may arise.
• Serve as a senior commercial representative externally to major customer and partner organizations. Identify customer issues and needs, and ensure that the sales organization addresses them expediently.
• Anticipate marketplace movements in volume, mix, yield, or channel emphasis, and put in place proactive action plans to address these.
• Oversee the distribution management function for the airline, ensuring that it participates appropriately in all relevant sales and distribution channels.

Experience and Qualifications

• Significant experience leading the commercial (revenue) function of a substantial international airline, or a significant subset thereof. Overall, the primary requirement of this role is for an airline commercial generalist – an individual who brings breadth to the revenue side of the organization through prior exposure to the key functions, such as network planning, pricing, revenue management, sales, distribution, e-commerce, and alliances.
• Minimum of 15 years of relevant professional experience, with at least 10 years at the Senior Management level.
• Has ideally worked within airlinejoint ventures and alliances.
• Astrong track record of profitable revenue growth in the major roles he or she has held.
• Has participated in significant transformational change programs across extended periods of time, with a solid track record of delivering results.
• Experienced in the application of modern information technology systems and tools to modernize and optimize all dimensions of an airline commercial organization.
• Ideally, but not necessarily, having worked in a similar context, featuring commercial carrier status and the need for transformational change.
• Experience across a variety of distribution channels, both traditional and online.
• Experienced on the international stage, having worked in a variety of geographic markets and handled airline commercial issues across regional, domestic, and international lines.
• Has ideally worked in different organizations over the course of his or her career, having gathered best practices from each and having adapted to different situations, and therefore not bound by any single-company mindsets or approaches.
• Has operated effectively at the C-level, making senior level presentations and working with a board of directors; has represented his/her organization at senior levels to a variety of internal and external constituent groups.
• Undergraduate degree in business, engineering, economics, finance, or another relevant area from a recognised university, ideally complemented by a graduate degree or equivalent.