Director Commercial - UK and Ireland

Hotel: 1 - Corp Windsor, Windsor One, Arthur Road, IHG Hotels & Resorts, SL4 1RS

This is a high-impact leadership role at the heart of our UK & Ireland business, responsible for setting the commercial direction and ensuring consistent, high-quality execution across a diverse portfolio of leased, managed and franchised hotels. You will lead the commercial agenda end-to-end - shaping strategy, driving performance, and enabling our hotel, cluster and regional teams to deliver sustainable revenue growth, strengthen brand presence, and maximise enterprise contribution.

Success in this role will rely heavily on your ability to build credibility, influence at pace, and engage a broad and often complex stakeholder group. From Regional GMs and owners to global functional teams, your ability to align priorities, challenge constructively, and bring others with you will be critical.

Role and Impact

You will operate as the commercial voice for UK & Ireland, connecting strategy to execution and ensuring that commercial performance is both ambitious and sustainable. This role requires a balance of strategic thinking and hands on leadership, with a strong focus on translating insight into action.

Key Accountabilities

• Set the commercial direction for the UK&I portfolio, aligned to regional strategy and market dynamics
• Translate strategic priorities into clear, actionable plans across hotels, clusters and functions
• Partner closely with Regional GMs, Revenue Management, Sales and Marketing to deliver RGI, revenue performance and enterprise contribution
• Lead robust performance governance, identifying risks and opportunities and ensuring disciplined follow through
• Optimise contribution across digital, loyalty, sales and distribution channels through effective use of tools, systems and insight
• Balance topline growth with sustainable profitability for both owners and the wider business

Owner, Franchisee & Stakeholder Engagement

• Build and maintain strong, trust based relationships with owners and franchise partners, acting as a credible and influential commercial lead
• Lead clear, insight driven performance conversations that demonstrate value and support decision making
• Represent and advocate the commercial agenda across senior internal forums and external stakeholder groups, shaping alignment and outcomes
• Deliver regional and cluster strategies in a way that reflects brand priorities, owner expectations and local market dynamics
• Drive targeted commercial initiatives in key cities and clusters to unlock scale, accelerate growth and strengthen competitive positioning
• Support new hotel openings and transitions, ensuring strong commercial foundations and rapid performance stabilisation
• Activate regional and global initiatives within the UK&I market, ensuring relevance, pace and measurable impact
• Partner with brand teams to ensure campaigns and initiatives are effectively translated into market
• Enable hotels to execute impactful, brand aligned sales and marketing activity that drives demand and strengthens positioning

Talent & Capability Development

• Build commercial capability across the region through coaching, development and adoption of best in class practices within the Commercial team.
• Foster a culture of accountability, collaboration and high performance across all commercial functions

What Will Set You Apart

This role goes beyond technical commercial expertise. It requires a leader who can operate effectively in a matrix environment, where influence, alignment and engagement are essential to delivering results.

You will bring:

• Proven strategic sales, revenue management or commercial experience within the hospitality industry, or a related industry sector
• A proven track record of influencing and impacting senior stakeholders, both internally and externally, with the ability to shape commercial decisions, align priorities and drive outcomes
• Strong leadership experience, including leading, developing and inspiring high performing teams across multiple locations or functions
• Exceptional stakeholder management and engagement skills, building credibility and trust across a broad and complex network
• Experience of being able to navigate complexity, align diverse perspectives and deliver through others in a matrix environment
• A collaborative, partnership led approach, thinking regionally while acting locally

Working Pattern & Travel

This role operates on a hybrid model, with an expectation of approximately three days per week in Windsor.

In addition, the role requires circa 30% travel, largely across the UK & Ireland. This reflects the importance of in person engagement with hotels, owners, and stakeholders, and is a core part of successfully delivering the role.