Head DMC Operations

Job Description:

About Eagle Crest Holidays - 

Eagle Crest Holidays is a leading B2B destination management specialist delivering curated FIT and group travel solutions to travel partners. With a strong focus on service reliability, supplier excellence, and seamless on-ground execution, we enable our partners to scale their holiday business with confidence.

Role Overview

The Head of DMC Operations will lead and own the entire operations function across destinations, ensuring scalable, efficient, and high-quality delivery of all B2B holiday services. This role goes beyond execution — it requires strategic leadership in process excellence, supplier ecosystem development, team building, and service innovation. The incumbent will be responsible for driving operational efficiency, improving partner experience, optimizing costs, and building a future-ready operations framework to support business growth

Key Responsibilities

1. Strategic Leadership & Operations Ownership

• Own end-to-end DMC operations across FIT, GIT, and series departures globally.

• Define and execute the operations strategy aligned with business growth targets.

• Build scalable systems and processes to support multi-destination expansion.

• Act as the central decision-maker for all operational escalations and risk management.

2. Team Leadership & Capability Building

• Lead, structure, and scale the operations team across geographies and destinations.

• Hire, mentor, and develop second-line leadership (team leads, assistant managers).

• Drive a high-performance, accountability-driven culture with clear KPIs.

• Ensure continuous training on destinations, systems, and service excellence.

3. Service Excellence & Customer Experience

• Define service standards and ensure consistent delivery across all bookings.

• Own key B2B partner experience and satisfaction metrics (CSAT, repeat business).

• Oversee handling of high-impact escalations and critical live tour issues.

• Build proactive service recovery frameworks to enhance partner trust.

4. Supplier Strategy & Ecosystem Management

• Develop and strengthen strategic relationships with global DMC partners, hotels, transporters, and ground handlers.

• Collaborate with contracting/product teams to optimize rates, allocations, and availability.

• Establish supplier performance frameworks, SLAs, and quality benchmarks.

• Drive cost optimization without compromising service quality.

5. Process Excellence, Automation & SOP Governance

• Design, implement, and continuously improve SOPs across the operations lifecycle.

• Drive automation and digitization through CRM, B2B platforms, and workflow tools.

• Reduce manual errors, improve turnaround times, and enhance operational efficiency.

• Standardize operations across destinations for consistency and scalability.

6. Commercial & Financial Oversight

• Partner with finance and product teams on margins, cost controls, and profitability.

• Oversee dispute resolution related to cancellations, refunds, and supplier claims.

• Monitor operational costs, leakages, and inefficiencies.

• Contribute to pricing strategy through operational insights.

7. Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Work closely with B2B sales to improve conversion through operational confidence.

• Align with product and contracting teams on destination readiness and supply gaps.

• Support business expansion into new destinations with operational feasibility inputs.

8. MIS, Analytics & Governance

• Drive data-led decision-making through detailed MIS and dashboards.

• Monitor KPIs such as TAT, booking accuracy, issue rates, cost per booking, and partner satisfaction.

• Identify trends, risks, and improvement opportunities proactively.

• Present periodic reviews to leadership with actionable insights.

Qualifications & Experience

• Graduate in Tourism, Hospitality, or related field (MBA preferred)

• 8–15 years of experience in DMC / tour operations

• Minimum 3–5 years in a leadership role managing large operations teams

• Strong experience in B2B outbound/inbound operations with Indian travel agents

• Proven track record of scaling operations and improving service metrics

Skills & Competencies

• Strong leadership with strategic and execution balance

• Deep understanding of global DMC operations and supplier ecosystems

• Excellent problem-solving and crisis management ability

• Commercial acumen with cost and margin awareness

• High process orientation with a focus on scalability and automation

• Strong stakeholder management across internal and external teams