Hostelling International
Commercial Director
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Commercial Director
Hostelling International | 100% remote (must be UK-based with permission to work in the UK) | Permanent | 28-35 hours per week (80-100% FTE), Mon-Fri | Salary: Competitive, dependent on experience | Expected start: October 2026
CLOSING DATE: 4 September 2026. Apply via LinkedIn. Please include a cover letter with your application. HI reserves the right to extend the closing date.
WHO WE ARE
Hostelling International (HI) is the international umbrella charity for 57 Youth Hostel Associations that together form the International Youth Hostel Federation, representing over 2,000 youth hostels in 74 destinations. HI is a non-profit, membership organisation, with a mission, philosophy, and proud history. Our mission is to promote cultural education, peace, and international understanding through travel - offering affordable, safe, quality accommodation to everyone without discrimination.
The role will be employed by either International Youth Hostel Federation (Hostelling International) or its trading subsidiary, with the employing entity to be confirmed during the recruitment process.
We operate a 100% virtual office, meaning this position is totally remote. The candidate must have a suitable working space and must be living in the UK, with permission to work in the UK. Some members of the team are elsewhere in Europe.
ROLE PURPOSE
The Commercial Director is responsible for the strategic and commercial leadership and performance of HI's customer-facing digital products and services, including accountability for the associated P&L. These cover business-to-business services provided to Member Associations, and the consumer propositions delivered through hihostels.com, including booking and membership.
Reporting to the CEO, with commercial performance reported directly into HI's Digital Committee and Board, this role will be accountable for:
- Setting the commercial strategy, priorities, and performance expectations for HI's customer-facing activity
- Owning HI's customer-facing digital propositions, products, and services and ensuring commercial effectiveness, prioritised investment, financial performance, operational efficiency, and alignment with HI's priorities, risk appetite and brand
- Leading and developing the wider commercial function, including line management of the Digital Marketing & Analytics Lead
HI Charity owns and governs the HI brand. Within that framework, this role holds the commercial application of the brand and provides creative leadership at the strategic level for HI's customer-facing commercial activity:
- Setting the direction for major campaigns
- Using agencies to develop and work up creative concepts and outputs in partnership with the internal team
The role requires strong cross-functional leadership, ensuring alignment across HI and its Member Associations, as well as managing external agency and supplier partnerships. Technology infrastructure, systems management, security, and IT supplier relationships sit outside this role.
The role is expected to apply AI extensively across commercial strategy, customer insight, proposition development, forecasting, reporting, workflow automation, and operational efficiency - using AI to improve speed, quality, consistency, and decision-making while maintaining strong governance, brand standards, and data privacy.
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KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
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Strategic and commercial leadership
- Set annual commercial priorities across HI's digital products, services, and customer propositions.
- Approve the commercial plan and annual marketing budget.
- Hold accountability for the contracting, marketing and commercial P&L, including revenue, margin, forecasting, and return on investment.
- Represent HI in senior governance forums and establish clear priorities, success measures, and governance for the commercial function.
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Commercial application of the brand, communications, and market positioning
- Apply HI's brand framework, values, and tone of voice across customer-facing commercial activity.
- Set the strategic creative direction for key campaigns, with agencies developing and refining concepts and execution.
- Review and approve key creative outputs, and enhance HI's brand perception through campaigns, partnerships, communications, and events.
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Customer propositions, products and services, and growth
- Own the commercial direction, contracting and performance of HI's customer-facing propositions and the growth opportunities across them.
- Identify opportunities to improve customer value, conversion, pricing, and promotional activity.
- Develop business cases, financial models, and feasibility assessments for new opportunities, using customer, market, and performance data to inform decisions.
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Team and supplier leadership
- Lead, coach, and develop a high-performing commercial team, including the Digital Marketing & Analytics Lead.
- Oversee key supplier and partnership agreements, negotiate commercially competitive contracts, and ensure agencies are briefed clearly and used effectively.
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Performance tracking and continuous improvement
- Define and review senior-level KPIs for customer awareness, engagement, commercial performance, and proposition profitability.
- Use data-driven insights and post-campaign learnings to inform strategy and investment priorities.
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AI-enabled commercial delivery and innovation
- Embed AI into commercial strategy, customer insight, proposition development, forecasting, reporting, and workflow automation.
- Establish safe and effective AI practices, design repeatable AI-enabled workflows for the commercial team, and keep abreast of developments in AI, marketing technology, and analytics.
PERSON SPECIFICATION
Essential experience:
- Proven track record of leading commercial strategy, revenue growth, or customer-facing operations in a complex organisation.
- Experience managing a marketing or e-commerce P&L, including budgeting, forecasting, and long-term financial planning, and developing financial models and feasibility studies.
- Strategic planning and commercial leadership across multi-disciplinary customer interaction functions.
- Experience working in an international or decentralised organisational structure, including governance participation at national or senior cross-functional level.
- Demonstrated success in leading high-performing teams, including recruitment, organisational design, performance management, and succession planning.
- Experience operating at leadership level, influencing strategic decision-making across commercial, digital, and operational functions.
- Strong track record of managing external partners such as media, creative, and digital agencies.
- Demonstrated experience applying AI tools and workflows extensively across commercial analysis, customer insight, content, operations, or planning.
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Essential knowledge and skills:
- Exceptional communication and influencing skills, with the ability to operate confidently at executive and board level.
- Strong leadership presence with the ability to inspire and align multi-disciplinary teams across disciplines and geographies.
- High degree of commercial awareness and financial literacy, including the ability to evaluate and optimise pricing, monetisation, and profitability strategies.
- Proficient in performance reporting and using data to inform decision-making and strategic direction.
- Strong negotiation skills to manage supplier and customer contracts and digital service agreements.
- Practical working knowledge of current AI tools and their application to commercial analysis, reporting, and workflow automation, with sound judgement about their limits.
Desirable:
- Postgraduate qualification (such as an MBA)
- Experience in committee-led governance
- Deep understanding of media effectiveness, brand measurement, and digital performance methodologies
- Background in travel or analogous environments
- Exposure to agile or hybrid operating models
- Experience presenting to senior international stakeholders
- Experience introducing new tools, automation, or AI-enabled workflows
We are also looking for someone collaborative, proactive, and solution-oriented; comfortable working with ambiguity; curious and innovative; and able to work with discretion and respect for commercial sensitivity, data, and governance.
WHAT WE CAN OFFER YOU
- 23 days annual leave pro rata + UK bank holidays
- Pension contributions and private health insurance
- Flexible working hours and 100% remote working
- Necessary IT equipment to perform the job
- At least one face-to-face staff meeting per year
- Being part of a friendly, international team operating all over the world
- Working for a global charity enabling young people to travel and discover the world
- Membership to Hostelling International, giving you access to member rates in all hostels in our network
We welcome applications from suitably qualified candidates from all backgrounds. Please let us know if you require a reasonable adjustment during the recruitment process.
HOW TO APPLY
Apply via LinkedIn by 4 September 2026. Please include a cover letter with your application.
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