Lead Adventure Planner - Custom (Travel Adventure Company)

About the Role

• Our client is a long-established, purpose-driven adventure travel company with more than two decades of experience in the region. Locally based and affiliated with a leading international adventure travel organisation, they are committed to delivering exceptional nature-based travel experiences while supporting conservation and local communities.
• We are seeking an experienced Lead Adventure Planner/Senior Safari Consultant to oversee the development, costing, and coordination of customized safari itineraries. The successful candidate will ensure each booking is commercially sound, accurately captured, and seamlessly progressed from initial proposal through to operational handover.
• This is a hands-on leadership role that combines strong East African destination knowledge, commercial awareness, attention to detail, and team leadership. The successful candidate will also coach and support the Custom team, manage workloads, maintain quality standards, and contribute to continuous improvement

Key Responsibilities

Custom Enquiries & Proposal Development

• Lead the development of tailor-made safari proposals for agents and direct clients.
• Interpret client and agent requirements and translate them into appropriate safari recommendations.
• Develop logical, appealing and operationally feasible itineraries supported by accurate costings.
• Lead complex, high-value, sensitive and priority enquiries.
• Recommend suitable alternatives where preferred properties, services or routing are unavailable or unsuitable.
• Provide proactive, accurate and commercially sound advice.

Itinerary, Costing & Commercial Accuracy

• Ensure itinerary proposals are complete, accurate, commercially sound and clearly presented.
• Verify routing, travel times, availability, rates, supplements, taxes, exchange rates, margins, payment conditions, inclusions and exclusions.
• Ensure proposals and quotation information are accurately captured in the relevant systems.
• Review amendments and ensure changes are consistently reflected across itineraries, costings, client communication and systems.
• Protect agreed profitability and seek approval for discounts or commercial commitments outside delegated authority.

Team Leadership & Operational Organisation

• Coach and support team members in managing priorities, workloads and competing demands.
• Allocate enquiries and priority tasks according to complexity, deadlines, capability and workload.
• Maintain visibility of outstanding enquiries, response deadlines and workload risks.
• Review team outputs and provide clear, practical guidance.
• Conduct regular team briefings and individual check-ins.
• Escalate material workload, service, conduct or performance concerns appropriately.

Quality Assurance

• Maintain high-quality standards across itinerary design, costing, booking coordination and client communication.
• Review team outputs to identify errors, inconsistencies and recurring quality issues.
• Provide timely feedback and coaching to improve accuracy and consistency.
• Promote a culture of ownership, attention to detail and continuous improvement.

Product & Destination Knowledge

• Maintain current practical knowledge of East African destinations, seasons, properties, services, activities, access, routing and logistics.
• Evaluate properties and services against client needs, agent expectations, operational reliability, value and sustainability considerations.
• Keep the team informed of product changes, closures, availability constraints and operational concerns.
• Participate in product training, property inspections and familiarisation travel where required.

Safari Handover & Cross-Departmental Collaboration

• Ensure confirmed custom safaris are accurately and promptly handed over to the relevant operational teams.
• Maintain accurate enquiry, proposal and booking information in approved systems.
• Ensure compliance with sales procedures, service standards and system workflows.
• Work closely with Guest Relations, Safari Operations, Finance and other departments to support seamless delivery.
• Support the resolution of changes, incidents and service issues requiring sales input.

Reporting & Continuous Improvement

• Prepare regular reports covering enquiry volumes, response times, proposal status, conversions, workload, service issues and team development.
• Identify trends, recurring errors, training needs, capacity concerns and improvement opportunities.
• Maintain awareness of travel trends and industry developments affecting clients and safari design.
• Recommend practical improvements to procedures, systems, tools and service standards.
• Provide updates and recommendations to senior management.

Candidate Requirements

• Significant experience in tailor-made safari planning, itinerary design and costing.
• Strong practical knowledge of East African destinations, properties, activities, routing, seasons and logistics.
• Proven experience working with international travel agents, destination specialists and/or high-value direct clients.
• Strong commercial awareness, including margins, rates, exchange rates, taxes, supplements and profitability.
• Experience handling complex, high-value or sensitive travel enquiries.
• Previous experience leading, coaching or supervising travel consultants or specialists.
• Ability to manage competing workloads, service standards and deadlines.
• Experience using travel reservation, quotation or CRM systems.
• Strong written and spoken English communication skills.
• A relevant qualification in Tourism Management, Travel & Tourism, Hospitality, Business, Sales or a related field is advantageous.
• Extensive practical experience in tailor-made safari sales and operations will be highly valued.

Desirable Experience

• Experience in luxury, experiential, adventure or conservation-focused travel.
• Experience with a safari operator, destination management company or spec