Business Development Officer - Travel Channel

The Business Development Officer – Travel Channel is responsible for driving profitable growth of travel insurance through travel agencies, tour operators, airlines, online travel platforms, visa and education consultants, corporate travel accounts, brokers, agents, bancassurance partners, and other approved distribution channels. The role focuses on developing strong partner relationships, growing the sales pipeline, increasing policy conversions, and achieving premium and profitability targets.

In addition, the position supports customer service, policy issuance, claims-related enquiries, partner training, compliance, and market development. The officer will work closely with internal teams including Underwriting, Claims, Operations, Finance, Marketing, Risk, Compliance, and Product teams to deliver excellent customer and partner experiences while maintaining strong governance and regulatory standards.

Key Responsibilities

• Deliver approved gross written premium, policy-count, and profitability targets for the Travel Channel.

• Build and maintain a qualified pipeline of travel agencies, tour operators, airlines, online travel platforms, visa and education consultants, corporate travel accounts, and other approved partners.

  

• Drive quote-to-policy conversion, average premium, renewals, and cross-selling across leisure, business, student, and group travel products.

• Monitor channel loss ratios and campaign returns and take corrective action where performance is below target.

• Maintain accurate sales forecasts, CRM records, and monthly performance reports.

• Identify, onboard, and activate priority travel partners.

• Complete partner due diligence and agree measurable activation plans.

• Manage partner relationships through regular contact, business reviews, renewal calendars, and service-level follow-up.

• Train partner staff on approved products, sales processes, and customer disclosure requirements.

• Design seasonal campaigns and identify opportunities for product, pricing, market, and digital-journey improvements.

• Monitor partner productivity, active-partner ratios, campaign performance, and partner retention.

• Coordinate quotations, policy issuance, amendments, cancellations, and documentation within agreed service levels.

• Act as the first escalation point for partner and customer enquiries.

• Coordinate the resolution of customer and partner issues with Underwriting, Operations, Finance, and Customer Experience teams.

• Monitor service turnaround times, policy-document delivery, complaints, and recurring service issues.

• Guide customers and partners on claims notification requirements and escalate urgent travel-assistance cases through approved channels.

• Provide accurate information about travel insurance benefits, exclusions, limits, emergency assistance, and claims procedures.

• Ensure insurance distribution is conducted through approved arrangements and in accordance with product terms, company policies, and applicable requirements.

• Support proper customer-needs assessment, disclosures, documentation, data protection, and complaint escalation.

• Maintain an audit-ready partner register, due-diligence records, agreements, training records, and activity reports.

• Escalate underwriting, pricing, claims, compliance, data-privacy, and partner-conduct exceptions within the required timelines.

• Maintain an annual development plan covering travel insurance, consultative selling, partner management, CRM, data analytics, conduct risk, and regulatory developments.

• Complete mandatory training and apply new knowledge to improve channel performance and audit readiness.

• Share market intelligence, lessons learned, and effective practices with Distribution, Product, and Operations teams.

Key Stakeholders

The position works closely with:

• Head of Sales and other channel teams.

• Underwriting, Product, and Actuarial/Pricing teams.

• Claims, Customer Experience, and Operations teams.

• Marketing, Digital/IT, and Data teams.

• Finance, Legal, Risk, and Compliance teams.

• In-house Travel Sales Agents.

• Travel agencies and travel-management companies.

• Tour operators, airlines, and online travel platforms.

• Visa, immigration, and education consultants.

• Corporate travel accounts and approved affinity partners.

• Emergency-assistance and other approved service providers.

• Industry associations and approved insurance intermediaries.

Decision-Making Responsibilities

The Business Development Officer will be responsible for:

• Prioritising prospects, partner visits, campaigns, and pipeline activities within the approved channel plan.

• Recommending partner onboarding, activation, renewal, and remediation based on due diligence and performance information.

• Coordinating quotations and service recovery within approved product, pricing, and service parameters.

• Escalating underwriting, pricing, claims, complaints, compliance, data-privacy, and partner-conduct exceptions to the appropriate authorised function.

• Monitoring approved travel-channel campaign and activation expenditure.

• Preparing variance reports and obtaining the required approvals before expenditure commitments.

The position does not have authority to vary policy terms, approve claims, commit unapproved expenditure, or bind the company outside documented delegated authority.

Work Cycle and Performance Focus

• Weekly: Manage the sales pipeline, quotations, conversions, policy issuance, partner follow-up, and urgent service or claims escalations.

• Monthly: Monitor premiums, policy numbers, average premiums, conversion rates, partner productivity, campaign returns, service levels, and complaints.

• Quarterly: Conduct partner business reviews, assess renewal prospects, review channel profitability and loss-ratio trends, and develop improvement plans.

• Annually: Contribute to channel strategy, budget preparation, partner portfolio planning, campaign calendars, and staff capability development.

Qualifications and Requirements

Applicants should have:

• A Bachelor’s degree in Insurance, Business, Marketing, Tourism, Travel Management, or a related discipline from a recognised institution.

• A professional insurance qualification such as CII, ACII, or AIIK, which is mandatory.

• Sound knowledge of general insurance.

• Practical understanding of travel insurance benefits, exclusions, policy wording, emergency assistance, claims notification, and distribution controls.

• Proficiency in CRM systems, Microsoft Office, and relevant data-analysis and reporting tools.

• At least five years of relevant experience in insurance or financial services.

• At least three years of experience in business development, account management, or channel sales.

• Demonstrated experience in developing partnerships and achieving measurable business growth.

• Experience in travel insurance, travel trade, airlines, tourism, student travel, or digital distribution is an added advantage.

• Experience using sales analytics and market intelligence to improve conversion, retention, partner productivity, and campaign performance.

• Experience working with Underwriting, Product, Claims, Operations, Marketing, Risk, Compliance, and external business partners.

• Strong relationship-management, communication, negotiation, analytical, and business-development skills.

• Ability to work within approved policies, regulatory requirements, and delegated authority.

How to Apply

Interested candidates should apply through the official recruitment channel specified by NCBA for the Business Development Officer – Travel Channel position. Applicants should ensure that their CV clearly demonstrates the required insurance qualification, relevant experience, business-development achievements, partnership-management experience, and knowledge of travel insurance.

Final Thought

The Business Development Officer – Travel Channel is a commercially focused insurance role that combines sales growth, partner management, customer service, market development, and regulatory compliance. The strongest candidates will be professionals with substantial insurance or financial-services experience, a mandatory professional insurance qualification, proven business-development results, and the ability to build productive relationships across the travel and insurance ecosystem.

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