Lead Business Development Manager, Advertising
About the position
Expedia Group brands power global travel for everyone, everywhere. We design cutting-edge tech to make travel smoother and more memorable, and we create groundbreaking solutions for our partners. Our diverse, vibrant, and welcoming community is essential in driving our success. We are looking for a commercially minded Senior Business Development Manager to grow Expedia Group Advertising’s North American business. This person will identify and develop new advertiser and agency relationships, manage complex sales cycles from prospecting through close, and expand strategic partnerships across the travel and non-travel ecosystem. The ideal candidate combines consultative selling, strong executive presence, disciplined pipeline management, and a deep understanding of digital advertising. They will translate advertiser objectives into compelling media solutions and collaborate closely with Marketing, Product, Operations, Insights and Planning, Legal, Finance, and Account Management to deliver sustainable partner value.
Responsibilities
- Build and manage a high-quality pipeline of direct advertisers and agency partners across North America.
- Own the end-to-end business-development cycle: territory planning, prospecting, discovery, solution development, proposal creation, negotiation, close, and handoff.
- Develop trusted relationships with senior stakeholders across marketing, media, e-commerce, partnerships, and finance organizations.
- Lead consultative conversations that connect advertiser business objectives to Expedia Group audiences, inventory, creative capabilities, measurement, and traveler insights.
- Create account and territory strategies for priority verticals, with an initial emphasis on financial services and other non-endemic advertisers.
- Partner with internal specialists to develop integrated media proposals across display, sponsored listings, audience solutions, and related advertising products.
- Prepare and deliver persuasive presentations, business cases, media plans, and executive-level recommendations.
- Maintain accurate opportunity, activity, forecast, and next-step data in Salesforce and related reporting tools.
- Collaborate with Account Management and cross-functional partners to ensure a smooth transition from closed business to activation and long-term growth.
- Monitor market trends, competitive offerings, advertiser needs, and agency dynamics to identify new growth opportunities.
- Represent Expedia Group Advertising at relevant industry events, client meetings, and executive forums.
- Share customer feedback and market insight with Product, Marketing, Insights, and leadership teams to improve our offerings and go-to-market approach.
Requirements
- Significant experience in business development, digital advertising sales, media partnerships, ad technology, agency sales, or a closely related commercial role.
- A demonstrated record of exceeding revenue or pipeline goals in a complex, consultative sales environment.
- Experience managing multi-stakeholder sales cycles with senior client and agency decision-makers.
- Strong knowledge of digital advertising, including programmatic, display, sponsored media, audience targeting, measurement, or related solutions.
- Excellent discovery, storytelling, negotiation, presentation, and written communication skills.
- Ability to turn ambiguous customer needs into clear commercial strategies and actionable proposals.
- Strong business judgment, analytical thinking, and comfort working with performance data.
- Demonstrated ability to influence without authority and collaborate effectively across functions.
- High standards for organization, follow-through, accountability, and CRM discipline.
- Willingness to travel periodically for client meetings, industry events, and team collaboration.
Nice-to-haves
- Experience selling to financial-services, fintech, insurance tech, retail, technology, travel, or other non-endemic advertisers.
- Existing relationships with major brands, media agencies, holding companies, or agency trading desks.
- Experience selling multi-channel or integrated media solutions.
- Familiarity with travel audiences, destination marketing, loyalty ecosystems, or marketplace businesses.
- Experience working with Salesforce, Tableau, or comparable sales and reporting platforms.
- Bachelor’s degree or equivalent practical experience.
Benefits
- medical, dental, and vision coverage
- paid time off
- an Employee Assistance Program
- wellness and travel reimbursement
- travel discounts
- International Airlines Travel Agent Network (IATAN) membership