Senior Manager, Market Development & Strategic Partnerships

About Us

Co-operated by the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA) and Hotels Canada (HC), Green Key Global is a leading international environmental certification body providing standardized sustainability programs for the hotel and meetings industries.

Green Key Global is entering a period of rapid expansion across North America as AHLA and HC work together to scale sustainability certification across the hospitality sector.

About the Role

Green Key Global is seeking a Senior Manager, Market Development & Strategic Partnerships to play a key role in accelerating certification adoption across the hospitality ecosystem.

Reporting to the VP, Market Development, this role is responsible for driving new partnerships, new member growth and strategic market expansion across management companies, ownership groups, destination organizations, and travel ecosystem partners.

This is a sales-driven role responsible for building pipeline, closing partnerships, and delivering measurable revenue impact.

The position operates in a high-growth environment, requiring the ability to manage multiple projects while helping scale a rapidly expanding certification program.

This position works closely with Account Managers to support partner transition, adoption visibility, and consistent execution, while remaining primarily focused on sales and market development.

Key Responsibilities

Market Development & Sales Execution

• Own defined growth segments with clear revenue and new member growth targets
• Lead the full business development lifecycle including prospecting, discovery, value positioning, proposal development, negotiation, and closing partnerships
• Identify underpenetrated portfolios and develop enterprise partnership opportunities with hospitality organizations and portfolio owners.
• Build structured engagement strategies for management companies, ownership groups, and associations
• Build and maintain a qualified sales pipeline sufficient to achieve revenue and enrollment targets.

Destination & Ecosystem Partnerships

• Develop and execute partnership strategies with DMOs/CVBs that drive measurable property enrollments
• Cultivate relationships with hospitality associations, travel buyers, and ecosystem stakeholders
• Represent Green Key Global at industry conferences, trade shows, and strategic events

Partner Transition & Adoption Alignment

• Collaborate with the Account Management team to ensure smooth transition of newly established partnerships and alignment on portfolio expansion opportunities.
• Ensure structured handoffs post-close and clear accountability for adoption execution

Sales Infrastructure & CRM Discipline

• Maintain disciplined HubSpot CRM pipeline management, forecasting, and reporting
• Ensure leads generated through conferences, events, partner channels, and outbound outreach are documented, assigned, and actively worked
• Contribute to development of sales processes, partnership launch protocols, and playbooks
• Maintain accurate documentation, dashboard visibility, and reporting standards

Sustainability Value & Market Positioning

• Articulate the business case for certification using data-driven frameworks including operational efficiency, RFP competitiveness, brand positioning, and asset value
• Translate market insights into feedback that strengthens the program’s value proposition

Success Metrics

• New partnership agreements signed
• Partner-driven property enrollments
• Portfolio penetration within enterprise partners
• Pipeline coverage ratio and forecast accuracy
• Revenue contribution aligned with growth targets

Knowledge & Skills Required

• Proven experience in business development and sales in high-growth environments
• Entrepreneurial mindset with the ability to operate effectively in a small, high-growth organization where roles evolve, and priorities shift quickly.
• Strong leadership and people management capabilities
• Ability to manage multiple initiatives in a fast-paced growth-stage organization
• Excellent communication and relationship-building skills
• Strong understanding of the hospitality ecosystem including brands, ownership groups, third-party management companies, and destination organizations.
• Comfortable operating in a small, high-growth team environment where sales, strategy, CRM discipline, and internal coordination often intersect.

Requirements

• Degree in business, hospitality, or related field (or equivalent experience) preferred
• 5+ years of recent sales, business development or partnership experience, including 2+ years of hospitality industry experience
• Demonstrated success selling into hospitality ownership groups, management companies, or travel ecosystem partners
• Strong commercial acumen and executive presence
• Experience managing CRM systems (HubSpot preferred) and sales pipelines

Location & Travel

• Role has the flexibility to be based in our Washington, D.C. office within our Tuesday - Thursday Hybrid work environment or to be fully remote based on the candidates location.
• Moderate travel required (up to 60%)

Compensation

• The targeted salary for this position is $85,000 - $95,000 USD, annual bonus up to 5% based on performance

AHLA is an equal opportunity employer. We encourage you to apply even if your experience is not a 100% match with the position. We are looking for someone with relevant skills and experience, not a checklist that exactly matches the job description. We want to help you grow and in return, you help us grow into a stronger, more inclusive organization. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.