Travel & Expense Manager

Description

Scale AI is looking to hire a highly motivated and enthusiastic Global Travel & Expenses Manager to join its Corporate Accounting team. This crucial role will play an integral part in building its global travel and expense operations in a fast-paced environment. This role will be responsible for managing the strategic Travel program and expenses cycle and supporting the month-end close process. You must have strategic thinking, strong analytical skills and an eagerness to learn, as well as be a collaborative team player. You’ll need to not be afraid to roll up your sleeves and pivot between high-level vendor negotiations and hands-on system troubleshooting and also doing tactical work. What you’ll be doing: - Design and execute the global travel category strategy , leading end-to-end supplier selection (RFP), onboarding, and lifecycle management for airlines, hotels, and ground transportation. - Architect high-leverage negotiation strategies to secure preferential rates and corporate benefits, ensuring maximum ROI on the company’s annual travel spend. - Champion "Preferred Supplier" adoption through creating policies, data-driven influence and internal marketing, optimizing corporate leverage and volume-based discounts. - Govern the global Travel & Expense (T&E) ecosystem , overseeing corporate credit card programs and employee reimbursements to ensure 100% alignment with fiscal policy and tax compliance. - Execute rigorous internal controls and audits , identifying leakage or non-compliant spending patterns and implementing corrective action plans. - Pioneer process optimization by auditing existing workflows and designing automated, scalable solutions that reduce friction for the traveler while increasing back-office efficiency. - Serve as the Functional Product Owner for travel-related technologies (e.g., Navan, Brex, etc), managing system integrations, troubleshooting technical hurdles, and leading future-state implementations. - Synthesize T&E data into actionable insights , delivering ad-hoc analysis and executive reporting that informs budgetary decisions and policy shifts. What we’re looking for: - Minimum 4 years of Travel, AP and/or accounting experience. - Experience with OBT software (Navan, Spotnana, Egencia, etc). - Experience with employee expenses systems: Netsuite, Coupa, Brex or other major systems. - Bachelor’s degree in Accounting/Finance, or related degree. - Strong understanding of full global travel industry. - Excellent organizational skills and ability to handle multiple priorities within deadlines. - Excellent AI, problem-solving skills and high level of attention to detail. - Excellent verbal and written communication skills in English. - Proficient knowledge of Microsoft Excel. - Remote based in México. - 15% travel, primarily to the USA but potentially also to worldwide Scale travel locations Nice-to-haves: - Experience with S2P software (Brex, Zip, LevelPath and/or Navan). - Prior experience at a fast growing start-up or public company. - Passion for the AI industry. </ul&