[Remote] Vice President, MICE Sales

Note: The job is a remote job and is open to candidates in USA. Transcend Cruises is redefining the European cruise experience with a tech-enabled platform for private group travel. The Vice President, MICE Sales will be responsible for building and leading the Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Events segment, creating demand for customizable event venues on Europe's rivers.

Responsibilities

• Develop and execute a North American MICE sales strategy across corporate, agency, incentive, association, experiential, and event channels
• Build and maintain a qualified pipeline of full-ship charter opportunities for meetings, incentives, conferences, product launches, retreats, and brand activations
• Originate, develop, negotiate, and close multi-night charter contracts aligned with company revenue, contribution, and deposit goals
• Maintain quarterly contracted charter targets and provide clear visibility into revenue timing, probability, and risk
• Position Transcend beyond traditional cruise charter or hotel buyout alternatives, framing the ships as private, floating venues for high-impact business events
• Identify buyers whose program goals align with Transcend's exclusivity, flexibility, branding control, and experiential impact, even when they are not actively searching for a cruise solution
• Translate corporate event challenges into tailored Transcend use cases and help clients envision new formats for destination meetings, incentives, and immersive brand experiences
• Build and test new messaging, prospecting angles, partnership models, and sales plays that expand the addressable MICE market and accelerate adoption
• Build and convert a high-value database of MICE agencies, incentive houses, corporate event teams, procurement leaders, DMCs, and strategic channel partners
• Cultivate senior-level relationships across corporate meetings, incentive travel, association events, and experiential marketing
• Represent Transcend at priority MICE trade shows, hosted buyer programs, conferences, road shows, shipyard visits, FAM trips, and industry events
• Identify partnership opportunities with agencies and brands that can produce recurring charter demand
• Execute consistent weekly prospecting through targeted outreach, social selling, phone outreach, referrals, industry networking, and in-person meetings
• Manage the complete sales lifecycle from lead generation and qualification through proposal, negotiation, contract execution, and internal handoff
• Maintain CRM integrity with timely, accurate activity, opportunity, next-step, stage, and revenue data
• Track pipeline progression, conversion ratios, booking windows, forecast accuracy, outreach activity, and quarterly contracted revenue performance
• Deliver weekly written sales reports suitable for leadership, Board, and investor reporting
• Serve as a leading voice for Transcend in the MICE market, translating the charter-only river model into a compelling venue, incentive, and event solution
• Educate agencies and corporate buyers on private ship access, branding control, flexible meeting space, custom itineraries, AV/IT support, and elevated onboard hospitality
• Partner with Marketing on MICE messaging, campaigns, case studies, webinars, sales decks, hosted buyer briefings, website content, and event collateral
• Provide market feedback to Sales team members, Account Management, Shipboard Operations and Leadership on buyer needs, competitive positioning, pricing, and event feasibility
• Lead, coach, and manage the Director of MICE and Agency Sales to ensure aligned prospecting, account strategy, pipeline discipline, and revenue results
• Collaborate with COO and Head of Sales on pricing strategy, charter terms, concessions, and market positioning
• Work with Onboard and Account Management to assess event feasibility, ship usage, branding requirements, meeting layouts, logistics, and onboard service needs
• Ensure smooth internal handoff after contracting while maintaining senior-level client confidence through the planning lifecycle

Skills

• 10+ years of senior-level experience in MICE sales, incentive travel, corporate events, luxury hospitality, venue sales, cruise, or group travel
• Proven ability to originate, develop, negotiate, and close high-value B2B contracts with long and complex sales cycles
• Established relationships across North American MICE agencies, incentive houses, corporate meeting departments, event planners, procurement teams, or experiential agencies
• Demonstrated ability to sell innovative or category-defining products where buyers must be educated, inspired, and guided toward a new way of thinking
• Strong understanding of the meeting planning, incentive travel, event production, and corporate procurement ecosystem
• Highly disciplined CRM user with strong reporting, forecasting, pipeline management, and executive communication skills
• Entrepreneurial mindset with startup resilience, commercial urgency, and comfort navigating ambiguity
• Willingness to travel domestically and internationally for events, road shows, FAM trips, and site inspections (20-30%). Authorized to work in the U.S. or Canada

Benefits

• Competitive executive compensation package, including base salary and performance-based commission

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