Strategy & Operations Director, Specialty Travel & Events

About the Role

We are seeking an exceptional Strategy & Operations leader to act as the operating right hand to the EVP of Specialty Travel and Events. This is a high-trust, high-ownership role combining Chief of Staff responsibilities with hands-on programme leadership. You will turn strategy into execution across the integration of Boompop and the development of Navan’s priority verticals.

You will create clarity across complex, ambiguous work: aligning leaders, building the operating cadence, preparing decisions, tracking commitments, surfacing risks early, and ensuring that critical initiatives move from idea to measurable outcome. You will work across Product, Technology, Operations, Commercial, Finance, People, Legal, Procurement, Marketing, and Client Services, representing the priorities of the leader you report to and holding the broader organisation accountable for delivery.

What You'll Do

Lead the Specialty Travel & Events portfolio, develop the cross-functional strategy and execution plan across six key verticals: Healthcare (HCP), High-End Professional Services, Defense Contractors, Production & Media, Energy & Marine, and Insurance.
Turn customer and market requirements into action, translating vertical-specific needs into prioritised product, operations, servicing, integration, compliance, and commercial roadmaps with clear ownership, sequencing, milestones, and success measures.
Drive market readiness, partnering with Product, Sales, Operations, and Customer teams to ensure the business can confidently sell, implement, and support solutions within each vertical. This includes customer discovery, RFP/RFI readiness, lighthouse customer programmes, enablement, implementation planning, and feedback loops.
Identify and scale cross-vertical opportunities, ensuring reusable capabilities, integrations, and operating models are leveraged across the portfolio while avoiding duplicated effort and investment.
Partner closely with the Boompop Integration Lead to align post-merger integration activities with Specialty Travel & Events priorities, customer commitments, and the long-term Navan Events strategy.
Help shape the future of Navan Events, translating integration objectives into product, service, operating model, and go-to-market priorities while ensuring decisions, trade-offs, and value capture opportunities are clearly defined.
Coordinate complex cross-functional programmes, bringing together stakeholders across Product, Technology, Operations, Commercial, Finance, People, Legal, and Communications to manage dependencies, mitigate risks, and ensure successful execution.
Prepare executive-level updates and recommendations, providing leadership with clear visibility of progress, risks, decisions, dependencies, and areas requiring escalation.
Act as Chief of Staff to the EVP, Specialty Travel & Events, designing and running the operating cadence for the organisation, including leadership meetings, portfolio reviews, steering committees, and strategic planning cycles.
Support critical business decisions by framing challenges, synthesising information, evaluating options, developing recommendations, and ensuring decisions translate into clear actions and measurable outcomes.
Own the operating system for the business, maintaining portfolio plans, KPI reporting, risk and dependency tracking, decision logs, and action trackers to drive accountability and execution excellence.
Maximise leadership effectiveness, anticipating priorities, preparing leaders for key stakeholder interactions, and creating the conditions for faster, higher-quality decision-making across the organisation.

What Success Looks Like

Boompop integration is progressing against an agreed plan, with clear owners, decision rights, customer continuity, and measurable value-capture milestones.
The six verticals have an integrated, prioritised roadmap connecting product gaps, servicing requirements, commercial opportunities, and delivery readiness.
Leadership has a reliable view of progress, risks, decisions, and trade-offs, with fewer surprises and faster resolution of blockers.
Cross-functional teams are aligned around the same priorities and operate with a consistent cadence, clear accountability, and strong execution discipline.
The business learns quickly from customers, pilots, RFPs, and launches, turning insight into repeatable playbooks and scalable operating models.

What We’re Looking For

Experience in a Chief of Staff, strategic operations, programme management, business operations, consulting, corporate development, integration, or similarly high-ownership role.
Demonstrated ability to lead complex, ambiguous, cross-functional programmes and influence senior stakeholders without relying on formal authority.
Strong commercial and strategic judgement, with the ability to connect customer needs, product strategy, operational constraints, and financial outcomes.
Exceptional written and verbal communication: able to turn complexity into clear narratives, decision papers, meeting outputs, and executive updates.
Highly organised and detail-oriented, with a bias to action and the resilience to manage multiple workstreams, changing priorities, and sensitive information.
Comfort working across technology, product, operations, finance, people, legal, procurement, sales, and client-facing teams.
Experience with post-merger integration, platform/product integration, SaaS, travel, events, regulated industries, or complex services is advantageous.
High EQ, sound judgement, discretion, and the confidence to challenge constructively while building trust.

Navan uses AI-assisted Automated Employment Decision Tool (Metaview) to assist with evaluating resumes against job qualifications for this role. All final decisions are made by human recruiters and hiring managers.

Human oversight: Metaview does not automatically reject candidates or make final hiring decisions. Our recruiters and hiring managers review all outputs and make the final hiring decision regarding every application.

Your rights: If you prefer to have your application reviewed without AI assistance, you may request a human evaluation by entering your email here. Your decision to do so will not affect how your candidacy is evaluated.

Please refer to our Candidate Privacy Notice for more information about our processing of personal data, and your rights.

About Navan

Navan (Nasdaq: NAVN) is the global AI-powered business travel and expense platform that makes travel easy for frequent travelers. From finding flights and hotels, to automating expense reconciliation, with 24/7 support along the way, Navan delivers an intuitive experience travelers love and finance teams rely on. See how Navan customers benefit and learn more at navan.com.

Culture of Excellence

Our team is our competitive edge — a high-performance group of smart, driven people committed to winning together. This dedication to excellence is why we’ve been recognized as a Best Place to Work by Built In (2023–2026), a G2 Best Global Software Company (2025–2026), Forbes Cloud 100 (2022–2025), and CNBC Disruptor 50 (2022–2025). At Navan, we provide an environment where top talent excels, offering the autonomy and fast-paced trajectory needed to build a defining career and do the best work of your life.

Our Benefits

Navan offers a comprehensive benefits program designed to support your well-being, financial security, and life outside of work. Our benefits, thoughtfully tailored by country to meet local needs, include healthcare coverage, insurance offerings, and wellness resources for you and your family.

We support long-term financial growth through retirement savings programs and opportunities to participate in our equity plans, so you can share in Navan’s success. To promote balance, we offer flexible time off, country-specific holidays, and paid parental leave for all new parents. Additional benefits include connectivity and commuting support*, mental health resources, and exclusive travel-related perks. Wherever you’re based, our benefits evolve with you.

Workplace Policy

Navan believes in the value of in-person connections, whether that’s sitting down to have lunch with one another, taking a walking 1:1, or collaborating in a room together. The connections forged through face-to-face interactions improve company culture and drive business results. Navan invests in global office spaces — in the U.S., Europe, and Asia, among others — that feel welcoming. In-office perks such as company-provided lunches and happy hours create a strong team environment to help you do your best work. Our employees work from the office four days a week. Please expect this policy for all roles that are tied to an office.

Equal Opportunity

Navan is an equal opportunity employer. We make all employment decisions based solely on merit. We provide equal employment opportunity to all applicants and employees without discrimination on the bases of race, religion, color, national origin, gender (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability, or other applicable legally protected characteristics. We prohibit any such discrimination or harassment. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including hiring.

Accommodations

Navan complies with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), as amended by the ADA Amendments Act, and all applicable state or local law. Navan will reasonably accommodate qualified individuals with a disability in connection with applications for employment as required by law.

If you need any assistance or accommodations due to a disability, you are welcome to email us at talent-accommodations@navan.com.

Candidate Privacy Notice and Use of AI

As part of the recruitment process, certain personal data may be processed using automated tools, including tools that use AI. For details on how Navan collects and uses your personal data, please review Navan's Candidate Privacy Notice here.

Job Search Best Practices

We have been made aware of recruitment scams involving fraudulent attempts to lure job seekers into sending money or personal information in return for fake job offers or coerce them into purchasing equipment by electronic funds transfer (Zelle, Venmo, etc.) Legitimate Navan recruiters will never ask for money in any recruitment or onboarding activities. All available job openings at Navan will be posted on Navan’s website and all Navan recruiters will be reachable through an email address ending in “@navan.com” or “@navan.tech” or "@talent.navan.com".

*Applies to select locations.