Loyalty Partnerships Specialist – Skywards

As Loyalty Partnerships Specialist, you are responsible for driving the performance of Skywards financial co-brand and points conversion partners and products, aligned with strategic, commercial, and operational objectives. You will be responsible for the day-to-day management and administration of Skywards financial partnerships, including the development and execution, of business improvement activities, coordinating the tactical partnership marketing plan and addressing partnership operational needs to continuously improve member penetration and engagement per product and partner and extract maximum value from the partnership.

In this role, you will:  

• Support the Partnerships Manager with the sourcing and implementation of new loyalty partnership agreements according to the Financial Partnerships strategy and process, ensuring that all internal Emirates and Skywards stakeholders involved with implementation of such programs are accurately briefed and project-delivery focused according to the Skywards Department PMO process.
• Actively participate in contracting including negotiations and contract renewals with new and existing financial partners and provide input to the development of loyalty partnership contracts.
• Work with partners and Emirates Finance teams to ensure that all contractual payments are received according to payment terms throughout the duration of the partnership agreements. Manage any billing discrepancies, security/fraud concerns and cases, and partner queries in collaboration with the Skywards Partnerships support teams.
• Review partner performance against set targets to extract opportunities to drive growth. This will include helping the Partnership Manager build an annual joint calendar of activities per partner and managing milestones. Monitor the monthly and annual budget for all existing partners, identifying tactical, product, operation, process, and system support enhancement opportunities to increase revenue and to address negative forecast gaps.
• Work with the Partnerships Activations team to manage tactical marketing/communications needs for partnerships within the assigned portfolio. This includes working with the partner to develop partnership promotions and providing relevant input for partner channel communications, newsletters, email, and app communications, emirates.com banner placements, and research surveys.
• Manage partnerships at an operational level to ensure the smooth running of all partner agreements. This will include following up on all service failures, contract SLAs, accounting and reconciliation issues, fraudulent activities, problem-solving and liaising with relevant departments within Emirates and within the partner organization to swiftly resolve all operational and customer service problems which relate to the partners.
• Work with Skywards Data Analytics team to provide accurate and regular reporting on Partner performance and campaign success for business updates to Partnerships team and Skywards Senior Leadership Team.
• Support in the design, development and implementation of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) to enhance operational efficiency, ensure compliance with Emirates Skywards standards, and align with organizational goals. Involving cross-functional teams to ensure all stakeholders are informed and adhering to established protocols, while also monitoring and updating SOPs to adapt to evolving operational needs and risks.