Vice President Business Development

Our property portfolio is as important as ever as, without it, we wouldn’t be able to send our guests on amazing holidays. Due to internal progression, we’re looking for a new team member to join us as part of our Senior Management Team, taking Business Development responsibility for our Novasol brand in Northern Europe. If you’re a strategic leader with a passion for travel, this could be just what you’re looking for.

About Novasol – part of the Awaze Group

Awaze is Europe’s largest manager of holiday rental properties, with over 100,000 properties under management in over 600 destinations and many countries across Europe. Our purpose is simple – to delight owners and guests. The business operates multiple consumer brands with the largest being Cottages.com, Novasol and Hoseasons.

The Novasol brand is the main brand in Continental and Northern Europe. This role includes responsibility for Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Germany and Poland where we manage more than 11,000 properties, offering something for all holidaymakers – great sights, outdoor sports and fantastic coastlines.

The Role

Reporting to our Chief Operations Officer, this role is highly visible in the business and, at its crux, is about working with and supporting the owners of our properties as, without them, we’re unable to send our guests on holiday! Your team will be one of the first contact points with Novasol, the face of the business and first impressions count. They need to be not only the local expert able to advise someone new to holiday letting but also deal with investors who are thinking of entering the market, the relationships they build secure our collaboration, so they are pivotal in our business model.

In addition, you will work closely with your peers across our Retention and Operational Service functions to ensure that the ‘service’ that starts with your team continues to be nurtured throughout the owner lifecycle showing that service may move between teams but that the business leadership has a shared goal of success.

You’ll have a broad remit, taking responsibility for strategic initiatives that deliver exceptional service to homeowners, with the overall aim of maximising their lifetime value and reducing attrition.

You’ll lead by example, ensuring that all team members – in all countries – are highly focused and commercially aware, and that they offer an exceptional, personalised service that sets us apart from our competitors. It’s key that you’re a highly effective and strategic senior leader as, put simply, it will be your role to ensure that we retain our position as number one in our industry through excellent service.

In order to succeed in this role you need to have an analytical mindset and be comfortable using multiple data sources to build your strategy and measure its subsequent success. Being happy to trial and be agile to test initiatives before role out is a key skill to have.

The role is based in Denmark and ideally will be based from either our office in Virum or Aarhus. The role requires significant travel across the region to be close to the team and to the homeowners themselves.

What you’ll be doing

We know it’s been said before, but this is genuinely a varied role in which no two days will be the same.

Some of your key responsibilities will include:

• Delivering first class service to new owners and minimising year one churn by delivering a smooth and seamless onboarding experience
• Driving and improving the performance of the Novasol portfolio through sustainable property growth
• Continually reviewing the portfolio and looking for opportunities for growth
• Constantly review, monitor and report on competitor activity.
• Working with our Pricing Teams and their Leadership to ensure owners are presented at the optimum price point throughout the season
• Developing new product /market opportunities for Novasol to grow into, reviewing customer and developer trends and ensuring we are at the forefront of new ideas and developments
• Deliver agreed targets for minimum levels of portfolio growth.
• Working hand in hand with your peers in Retention and Operational Service to constantly improve the owner lifecycle
• You will manage a team of 4 Regional Managers and subsequently a team of approx. 50 Business Development Managers across Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Germany and Poland. The success of this team sits with you – this will include strategic initiatives, coaching, development, performance management and the development of tools to aid the team success.

Financial performance

• You’ll hold accountability for your budget, ensuring we’re tracking to forecast and making sure we deliver or exceed on our annual budget
• Tracking inventory to identify low value owners and evaluating how best to navigate these relationships, ensuring minimal new entries to this’pot’ happen per year.
• Identifying opportunities to deliver additional value for owners and additional revenue generation

Product Development

• Our aim is to improve lifetime value and retain our owners, so you’ll identify, develop and test new products that could enhance our offering, ensuring we remain a relevant and attractive proposition to existing owners, and enticing to new ones!

Key skills to succeed

We’re a team full of energy and with a passion for what we do, so it’s key that you’re enthusiastic, driven and keen to be part of a team. What else do you need in order to succeed in this role?

• You have demonstrable experience of managing and motivating a large, multisite (ideally multi national) team
• You’re data-driven and financially astute, with a focus on enhancing commercial results
• You’ve worked in a fast-paced environment at a senior level, where you’ve driven improvements and change
• You’re passionate about travel (and, in particular, Northern Europe)
• Ideally, you’ll have had some experience of working within leisure/travel
• You can speak Danish both verbally and in writing and are fluent in English.

What we’ll give you

• This is an opportunity for you to join us at a pivotal point in time as we invest in our future
• You’ll be joining a team of genuine, passionate people
• You’ll have the freedom to choose the best way of working to get the job done. We work cross-functionally, so you’ll be given opportunities to develop skills outside of your core skillset.
• You’ll be an integral part of a team which will deliver growth, and who doesn’t want that?

We offer a great salary and fantastic benefits; we’re all about holidays, so we practice what we preach and offer some great travel discounts.

What else do you need to know?

We want to make the application process as stress-free as possible, so typically we’ll have an informal chat with you on the phone, followed by a comprehensive interview face to face, where you’ll have a chance to find out a bit more about the exciting things we’re doing (and maybe tell us what we’re doing wrong). We want to hear about your favourite (and least favourite) projects, what makes you tick and why. After that it is likely that we will have at least 1 virtual interview with a member of the Awaze Executive team.

We are an equal opportunity employer and we value diversity and inclusion. We do not discriminate on the basis of gender, race, age, sexual orientation, colour, religion, disability status or marital status.

Applications Close Date: 08 Jun 2025