IFE Business Development Director

About Spafax

Spafax delivers content technology and media assets for the world’s leading airlines, including Emirates, the Lufthansa Group, Singapore Airlines and many others.

We curate a vast catalogue of global movies, TV, audio and games across every major entertainment market. We provide next‑generation passenger experiences, putting creativity and technology at the heart of everything we do.

We are headquartered in London and have offices in Germany, Dubai, Canada, LA, Beijing, Singapore and HK. Spafax is part of WPP, one of the largest marketing companies.

About The Role

This role is an opportunity to shape the future of inflight entertainment and digital passenger experiences on a global scale. You will drive growth by winning, retaining and expanding airline partnerships, combining commercial excellence with strategic insight. Working across teams, you will transform data into compelling propositions, build long‑term relationships with senior stakeholders and bring innovative products to market. As a visible industry leader, you will represent Spafax at key events, influence product direction and deliver measurable impact. This is a role for a proactive, entrepreneurial leader who thrives on creating value, driving results and turning vision into reality.

Main Duties & Responsibilities

WINNING-RETAINING-EXPANDING

Win new airline for IFE Content, Creative Services and Digital Experiential Products

• Design and enforce a data‑driven bid/no‑bid framework that scores and prioritises RFIs/RFPs and sales opportunities, sets clear go/no‑go thresholds, and aligns resources to the highest‑return deals.
• Proactively engage new and existing airline customers to position Spafax media products and services.
• Maintain and publish a monthly prioritised BD pipeline with clear stages, probabilities and next actions.
• Identify key airline customers and develop direct relationships with key executive contacts.
• Support all receiving IFE/IFC/DIGITAL/OTT RFI/RFP by providing sales‑relevant strategy and individualised inputs.
• Secure contracts with at least 3 new airlines based on research and assessment agreed with reporting lines.
• Structure complex, multi‑year agreements (rev share, MGs, hybrid models) with Finance & Legal; own business casing and approvals.
• Partner cross‑functionally with Content, Media, Engineering, Data, Ad Ops, Marketing and Legal teams to take deals from handshake to revenue.
• Co‑pitch Spafax capabilities with the Global SVP BD and regional account teams and assist in pitching for new and existing carriers, combining media with IFE business.
• Identify and develop key strategic partners for future partnership developments.
• Identify new products, services & solutions for Spafax to take to market.

Retain business

• Support regional account directors and QBR meetings with performance narratives, roadmap previews and data‑backed recommendations that translate into next‑quarter actions.
• Protect delivery and SLAs by supporting ops teams, early escalation, fast resolution and post‑mortem recommendations.
• Spot churn risk early via health scores (utilisation, revenue trajectory, NPS, incident count) and support mitigation actions.
• Champion the voice of the customer internally and support product owners to prioritise features, targeting and measurement that remove friction and increase satisfaction and revenue.
• Maintain accurate renewal dates, expansion plans and risk notes in CRM; deliver renewal forecasts with probability integrity.
• Expand business and upsell Spafax products and services to existing customers.
• Investigate and assess possible customer product/features demand and create a high‑level requirements document shared with the VP BD IFE Tech & Innovation for new product/service development.

INTERNAL EDUCATION & SALES ENABLEMENT FOR REGIONAL TEAMS

Sales Methodology & Training

• Deliver internal generic sales methodology and training sessions to regional account teams on the Spafax product & services portfolio, associated services model and monetisation opportunities.

Product & Services Sales toolkit

• Lead the creation, development and rollout of a standardised airline sales toolkit and work with product owners and marketing on marketing materials and offering catalogues.

Intelligence Reports

• Produce and publish internal reports on airline, IFE/IFC/OTT market trends, competitive benchmarks, risk/opportunity outlook and sizing, and actionable insights for leadership and regional teams.
• Maintain a forward view of airline digital trends, competitive moves and tech constraints; translate into go‑to‑market playbooks.

STRATEGIC INFLUENCE & INDUSTRY PRESENCE

Represent Spafax in aviation events, exhibitions and shows

• Represent Spafax at AIX, APEX, FTE and key customer meetings; deliver thought leadership and secure executive access to airlines and relevant partners.

About You

Qualifications

• 8+ years in IFE business development within aviation, travel media, ad‑tech, OTT or related sectors; direct airline/IFE/IFC experience strongly preferred.
• Proven track record acquiring new airlines and active network of airline contacts.
• Expanding global customer portfolio.
• Familiarity with airline commercial structures, CSPs, OEMs, IFE/IFC ops, tech constraints, data analytics and risk/opportunity management.
• Strong financial acumen: proposal creation, servicing models, forecasting and business casing.
• Excellent executive communication and negotiation skills; comfortable on stage and in boardrooms.
• 2+ years of agentic AI experience.
• Bachelor’s degree required; MBA or equivalent advantage.

Competencies

• Hunter mindset with consultative selling; pipeline discipline and forecasting rigor.
• Enablement specialist who can codify methodology and teach it.
• Analytical storyteller who turns data into strategy and action.
• Cross‑functional collaborator (content, product, ad ops, legal, finance).
• Ownership & velocity – move initiatives from idea to contract to launch.

Tools & Platforms (Nice to Have)

• CRM (Salesforce/HubSpot), pipeline analytics, pricing/yield tools.
• Familiarity with agentic AI platforms.
• Presentation design.
• Market intelligence platforms.

Travel: approximately 2540% (industry events, airline HQs, partner meetings).

In return, we offer Competitive base + performance bonus aligned to the KPI structure above.

A great team of fantastic colleagues who love what they do. The benefits of being part of WPP the wide agency network and access to central resources.

Applicants who progress through the interview process may be asked to complete an assignment.

• Spafax is an Equal Opportunities employer.

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