Head of Industry, Travel

About the role

You will own the strategic direction and execution of Viant's Travel industry practice, defining the long-term vision and positioning for the category. You will own the end-to-end growth of brand-direct demand while simultaneously elevating the success of agency partners within the travel and hospitality vertical. This role requires you to build and evangelize a world-class go-to-market motion that embeds Viant into every major travel marketing budget. You will be accountable for hiring, mentoring, and scaling a high-performing sales team that can deliver against ambitious revenue targets. You will act as the primary architect of Viant's travel identity, aligning product, data, and measurement capabilities with evolving client needs. You will represent Viant at the highest levels of the industry, shaping conversations and setting the standard for programmatic excellence in travel.

Key facts

What you'll do

Scale Viant's already-successful Travel business by expanding direct brand relationships in travel and hospitality while deepening penetration across key hospitality sub-segments.

Establish Viant as the definitive programmatic solution for travel by consistently evangelizing our travel targeting, measurement, and identity solutions to both internal and external stakeholders.

Drive greater industry awareness through strategic thought leadership, active conference participation, and high-impact client education initiatives that showcase Viant's category mastery.

Own and grow brand-direct demand generation while providing strategic support to the core sales team to accelerate agency adoption across the entire Travel category.

Develop and execute a brand-first go-to-market strategy that ensures Viant is embedded in every major travel and hospitality marketing budget and annual planning cycle.

Partner with agency teams to navigate the evolving Travel programmatic landscape, positioning Viant as the platform of choice through education and demonstrable outcomes.

Hire, train, and scale a specialized team of Travel-focused sellers, recruiters, and account managers to support aggressive adoption goals.

Define and own critical success metrics, managing performance rigorously to ensure Viant continues to outpace the market in Travel programmatic growth and retention.

Serve as the executive face of Viant's Travel business, representing the company at premier industry events and in high-stakes client negotiations and partnerships.

Work closely with Product and Engineering teams to co-develop new innovative Travel ad products, enhancing Viant's travel targeting, identity resolution, and measurement capabilities.

Collaborate with Business Development to identify and secure key data, measurement, and supply partnerships that materially strengthen Viant's Travel offering and competitive moat.

Ensure Viant's measurement and analytics solutions are precisely aligned with travel marketing objectives, helping clients demonstrate clear and defensible ROI.

Champion the adoption of best practices in data privacy, transparency, and fraud prevention specific to the travel media ecosystem.

Act as a strategic advisor to internal stakeholders, translating complex market dynamics into actionable plans for the Travel practice.

Requirements

You bring a minimum of 15+ years of comprehensive advertising experience, with at least 7+ years dedicated specifically to Travel marketing, whether on the brand-direct, agency, or vendor side.

Your expertise spans travel and hospitality marketing, with a demonstrated ability to develop and execute strategies that drive measurable business outcomes.

You possess a deep understanding of programmatic advertising ecosystems, including CTV, Streaming Audio, Online Video, Display, DOOH, and Mobile as they apply to Travel brand objectives.

You have a proven track record of building and scaling brand-direct relationships while simultaneously influencing and supporting agency-based media strategies.

You have hands-on experience hiring, leading, and developing high-performing teams within adtech, programmatic, or digital media environments.

You are highly adept at navigating complex enterprise environments, collaborating effectively with cross-functional partners including sales, product, business development, and marketing.

You apply strong analytical and strategic thinking to deconstruct industry challenges and architect sophisticated advertising solutions for Travel clients.

You communicate with exceptional clarity and confidence, capable of evangelizing Viant's leadership vision and technical capabilities to sophisticated travel marketers.

You are comfortable managing multiple priorities in a fast-paced, deadline-driven environment while maintaining a high standard of execution.

You demonstrate intellectual curiosity, a commitment to continuous learning, and the ability to rapidly assimilate new technologies and market insights.

You exhibit strong judgment, integrity, and professionalism when engaging with C-level stakeholders and industry influencers.

You are willing to travel domestically for industry events, client meetings, and team engagements across the United States as required.

You thrive in collaborative settings, balancing independent ownership with the ability to contribute effectively within cross-functional project teams.

You are passionate about building an inclusive and high-performance culture within your growing organization.

Nice to have

Experience with travel supply chain dynamics, including rates, inventory, and audience segmentation specific to hospitality and tourism.

Familiarity with data clean rooms and privacy-compliant identity strategies as they apply to cross-channel travel marketing.

Knowledge of emerging formats in audio and streaming video within the travel media landscape.

Understanding of conversion optimization and post-campaign measurement methodologies for brand and performance mix.

Experience with martech and ad server ecosystems relevant to managing complex travel media programs.

Practical notes

This is a full-time position based primarily in Chicago, Illinois, with the option to work from Los Angeles, California, or New York, United States.

Compensation includes a base salary range of $225,000 to $250,000, with final offers dependent on experience and education.

In accordance with NYS law, the range provided is Viant's reasonable estimate of the compensation for this role. Final title and compensation for the position will be based on several factors including work experience and education.

The role requires domestic travel to industry events and client meetings as necessary.

Candidates must be authorized to work in the United States without sponsorship for this position.