Head of Sales, Travel - US (m/f/d)

ABOUT PLIANT

Pliant is a European fintech specializing in B2B payment solutions. With our modular, API-first platform, we empower businesses to streamline spending, enhance cash flows, and seamlessly integrate payments into their financial workflows. Our solutions are particularly valuable for industries with complex payment needs, such as travel and fleet, helping companies achieve greater efficiency, control, and profitability.

We focus on two primary customer segments:

• Companies that want to optimize payment processes through our intuitive Apps and powerful APIs, gaining greater control, operational efficiency, and cash flow flexibility through extended credit lines.
• Businesses such as financial software companies, ERP providers or banks aiming to launch or enhance their credit card offerings, using our embedded finance or white-label solutions. This enables partners to strengthen customer engagement and diversify revenue streams effectively.

Founded in 2020 and headquartered in Berlin, Pliant supports over 3,500 businesses and more than 20 partners globally. As a licensed e-money institution (EMI), we issue Visa-powered credit cards in 11 currencies across 30+ countries, ensuring that payments become simpler, smarter, and more efficient worldwide.

Learn more at
www.getpliant.com

ABOUT THE ROLE

We are looking for a Head of Sales, Travel - US (m/f/d) to lead Pliant’s commercial growth in one of our most strategically important markets: travel. You will play a key role in accelerating adoption of our modern B2B credit and spend management solutions among OTAs, TMCs, consolidators, air ticket wholesalers, and large travel platforms.

You’ll be responsible for developing our go-to-market strategy in the U.S. travel space, building a team, and closing high-value accounts that benefit from real-time liquidity, flexible credit, and seamless integration with financial operations.

This role offers significant autonomy and visibility, reporting directly into global GTM leadership and working in close partnership with product and marketing to shape the offering for the travel segment.

This role is remote-friendly, ideally based in the U.S., with occasional travel to Berlin and industry events.

WHAT YOU'LL DO

• Travel-Specific GTM Strategy: Build and own the U.S. sales strategy for the travel vertical. Prioritize sub-segments such as OTAs, TMCs, and consolidators based on opportunity size and product fit.
• Enterprise Sales Leadership: Lead high-touch sales cycles with strategic travel accounts. Identify key stakeholders in finance, operations, and IT, and tailor the pitch to address their pain points.
• Team Building: Recruit, train, and coach a high-performing team of AEs and BDRs focused on the travel segment. Establish sales motion playbooks aligned to travel buyer journeys.
• Revenue & Pipeline Ownership: Own forecast and delivery of revenue targets from U.S. travel clients. Track and optimize conversion across the full funnel from prospecting to closing.
• Industry Engagement: Represent Pliant at major travel industry events and forums. Build a strong network with C-level decision-makers and partners across the travel ecosystem.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Work closely with Marketing, Product, and Risk to evolve pricing, underwriting, messaging, and feature sets tailored to travel businesses.
• Customer Feedback Loop: Translate field learnings into actionable insights that improve product-market fit, refine ICP, and shape expansion plans.

WHAT YOU'LL BRING

• 8+ years of experience in B2B sales, with 3+ years in leadership roles targeting the travel industry.
• Deep understanding of travel business models, payment cycles, working capital constraints, and fraud/risk challenges.
• Strong network across OTAs, consolidators, TMCs, and/or air ticketing partners in the U.S. market.
• Experience managing long, consultative sales cycles with multiple stakeholders (Finance, Operations, Tech).
• Strong grasp of enterprise sales methodology (MEDDIC, SPIN, Challenger, etc.).
• Ability to translate travel industry trends into GTM strategy and product feedback.
• Familiarity with sales tech stack (CRM) and pipeline management tools.
• Entrepreneurial mindset with comfort in ambiguity and a bias for action.
• Business fluency in English (written and spoken) is required.

WHAT WE OFFER

• Competitive salary and performance-based incentives
• An influential role shaping U.S. market growth at an international fintech
• Opportunities for professional growth and ownership from day one
• A remote-friendly environment with support for work-life flexibility
• Health, wellness, and retirement benefits
• Access to a diverse and ambitious team driven by impact, innovation, and transparency