Director of Travel Agency Partnerships: Upgrade

Director of Travel Agency Partnerships: Upgrade

Start Date09/22/2026

Full-Time

The Director of Travel Agency Partnerships role at Upgrade leads the Flex Pay Agent Program from partnership growth through day-to-day management. Upgrade's Toronto role works remotely from the United States or Canada. Upgrade assigns the director responsibility for business development, operating improvements, agent training, and the team that supports the program.

Upgrade requires at least 10 years of travel agency experience across strategy, technology, training, and business development. The role's travel agency partnerships work includes booking-system knowledge, strong presentation and communication skills, and direct-report management. Frequent travel, partner meetings, weekend work, and off-hours support can be part of the schedule. The role works with Product, Marketing, Compliance, Legal, Commercial, Customer Service, and Fraud Operations.

• Role: Director of Travel Agency Partnerships
• Employer: Upgrade
• Location: Toronto, Ontario, with remote work across the United States or Canada
• Pay: Competitive salary and stock option plan

Candidates applying for the role should present a clear record of travel agency strategy, technology, training, and business development work. The application should also make team leadership, booking-system knowledge, analytical work, and communication experience easy to verify.

Upgrade's position connects financial technology with the operating needs of travel agencies . The director works with partner businesses that guide travelers through booking and payment decisions, while the Flex Pay Agent Program supplies the commercial and operational structure behind those relationships.

Flex Pay Agent Program Leadership

The director leads the full life cycle of the Flex Pay Agent Program. Partnership growth, relationship management, business development, and operational improvement sit within the same remit, so the role connects commercial planning with the work that partners experience after an agreement begins. The position also develops agent training and the materials that help partner teams use the program.

Program leadership includes coordination with Product, Marketing, Compliance, Legal, Commercial, Customer Service, and Fraud Operations. Each group contributes a different control point: product teams shape the service, marketing supports awareness, compliance and legal manage boundaries, and customer-facing and fraud teams protect the operating process. The director also leads, develops, and retains the agent program team.

Travel agencies depend on accurate booking and payment workflows. The director's role therefore requires close attention to booking systems, partner communication, training delivery, and the handoff between business development and ongoing account management. These are the same operating areas that shape related travel agent work across the industry.

Travel Agency Experience And Qualifications

Upgrade asks for 10 or more years of experience in travel agency strategy, technology, training, and business development. The role requires knowledge of travel agency booking systems, experience creating and delivering training materials, and the ability to analyze information and present decisions clearly. Direct-report management, team development, budget oversight, organization, and independent problem-solving complete the leadership profile.

• 10 or more years in travel agency work across strategy, technology, training, and business development
• Knowledge of travel agency booking systems
• Experience creating and delivering training materials
• Strong analytical, presentation, written, and verbal communication skills
• Experience managing direct reports, developing teams, and overseeing budgets
• Ability to manage competing priorities and solve problems methodically
• English fluency, with French or Spanish as a preferred additional language

Daily travel-booking work includes arranging transportation, lodging, tours, insurance details, payment records, and itinerary information. Those tasks overlap with the Workable travel agent duties reference, including resolving booking problems, maintaining client files, and staying current with travel products and regulations. Those operating facts explain why this director needs both agency knowledge and the ability to translate systems into usable training.

Remote Work And Partner Meetings

The position is remote for a base in the United States or Canada, with Toronto named as the job location. Upgrade also expects attendance at partner meetings when needed. Frequent travel can include weekends and off-hours support, so the role combines home-based work with direct contact with agency partners.

Remote employees maintain a secure and productive workspace with reliable internet. The work includes extended computer use and sustained working posture. Meetings and program work take place across an indoor office, contact-center, or home setting, depending on the task and the team involved.

Professional conduct remains part of the partner-facing work. The director's partner-facing work requires professionalism and ethics, the focus of ASTA professional standards , while Upgrade's role adds compliance, legal, customer service, and fraud-operations coordination to the director's working relationships.

Upgrade's Scale And Travel Program

Upgrade began in 2017 and has served more than 7.5 million customers. Customers have accessed more than $42 billion in consumer credit, and the company reports a $7.3 billion most recent valuation. Those figures place the agent program inside a financial-services company with a large consumer base rather than inside a traditional travel agency.

The director's work touches a program that must function for travel agencies, advisors, and the customers who use their services. A reliable booking-system connection, clear training material, and controlled partner operations reduce confusion when an agency works through payment-related travel services. The role also keeps commercial decisions connected to customer service, compliance, and fraud controls.

Travel advising has its own professional development routes. CTA certification requirements from The Travel Institute include one year of industry experience or an 80% TAP exam score for enrollment, completion of the curriculum, and a proctored exam score of at least 70%. The credential's curriculum covers client relationships, communication, consultative selling, travel planning, payment processing, risk management, and ethical business practices.

Upgrade's selection process may use artificial intelligence to screen, assess, or select applicants, while final hiring decisions remain with the hiring team. Selected candidates move forward to interviews, and the position includes accommodation under the Ontario Human Rights Code and the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act.

The director's first priorities center on the agent program's commercial direction, partner relationships, training structure, and operating controls. Experience that connects travel agency technology with team leadership gives the role a direct basis for managing those priorities across a remote, multi-department workplace that includes travel roles .