Cool Job: UK Hiring “Director Of Royal Travel”

Well this has to be one of the more interesting job openings we’ve seen in the travel industry in a while.

The Royal Family in the UK has a job opening for “Director of Royal Travel.” As it’s described:

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This role is critical to ensuring that the Royal Household operates and purchases safe, efficient, cost effective and appropriate travel services for the official duties of Members of the Royal Family and their Households.

As Director of Royal Travel, you will have overall responsibility for organising air travel and overseeing the operations of The Queen’s Helicopter Flight and usage of scheduled train services and the Royal Train. You will also liaise with the relevant authorities to provide advice and recommendations on travel, taking into account security, safety and environmental considerations.

You will be required to ensure planning and procedures are highly effective, researching and negotiating value for money contracts and options for travel, while understanding and recommending best industry practice in risk and safety management.

The role will entail 37.5 hours of work per week, and will pay up to £85,000 per year.

Here’s how they describe the perfect candidate for the role:

• Experience of operations and financial management of travel and logistics in an environment where safety and high standards are of paramount importance.
• Good understanding of Safety Management Systems, Aviation Safety Auditing and Quality Assurance.
• Proven leadership and management skills.
• Good communication (oral and written) and interpersonal skills.
• Negotiating skills.
• Ability to forge good partnerships with stakeholders while delivering results.
• Ability to resolve conflicting demands and to withstand pressures whilst maintaining good working relations.
• Planning skills to ensure that complex air movements are well prepared and delivered on time consistent with security needs.
• Ability to analyse complex situations and provide soundly based advice.

The emphasis with this new role seems to be on purchasing “efficient, cost effective and appropriate travel services.”

Earlier this year there was some backlash as Prince Harry and Meghan Markle had used private jets for six out of 10 flights since getting married, despite Harry’s claim that he flies commercial 99% of the time. So it sure seems like the priority will be on ensuring that commercial travel is booked whenever possible. 😉

This sure would be an interesting job, eh? I guess to really maximize Royal Travel we’d need to know more about what credit cards they’re using to maximize their rewards!