Director, Concessions & Partnerships

Director, Concessions & Partnerships

Let Your Career Take Flight!

We're committed to being a global aviation leader driving innovation, regional growth and prosperity by investing in our employees, customers, airlines, and partners

Pittsburgh International Airport operates a dynamic retail and dining environment serving millions of passengers each year. With concession agreements structured to regularly refresh the offer, the airport maintains a continuous pipeline of new brands, concepts, and commercial partnerships.

As Director, Concessions & Partnerships, you will shape the commercial strategy for the airport's retail, dining, and passenger services portfolio while leading major brand partnerships and overseeing the performance of the concessions program. Working with national brands, emerging operators, and distinctive regional concepts, you will ensure the airport's commercial environment remains fresh, compelling, and commercially successful. Leading a multidisciplinary team responsible for business development, performance management, and commercial analytics, this role combines commercial strategy, brand engagement, and complex contract negotiation with strong stakeholder leadership.

This position is ideal for a commercially driven leader who thrives on building partnerships, influencing across large organizations, and delivering strong commercial results in a high-traffic consumer environment.

Here is how the Director, Concessions & Partnerships will help:

• Own the revenue performance of parking and ground transportation programs, including forecasting, pricing strategies, demand management, and yield optimization.
• Define and lead the long-term commercial strategy for PIT's retail, dining, and passenger services portfolio.
• Protect and grow the airport's non-aeronautical revenue base through strategic contract negotiation, commercial initiatives, and the introduction of innovative concepts that improve margin and Revenue per Passenger (RPP).
• Personally lead the development and negotiation of major commercial partnerships, including national brands, anchor operators, and high-profile regional concepts.
• Oversee the concessions contract lifecycle including tender strategy, proposal evaluation, negotiation, and contract award, providing commercial leadership on major agreements.
• Provide strategic direction to the Business Development & Product Manager to maintain a strong pipeline of prospective operators and innovative concepts aligned with the airport's commercial strategy.
• Accountable for the commercial performance of the concessions portfolio, holding concession partners responsible for sales performance, service standards, and brand execution.
• Provide leadership to the Performance & Logistics Manager to ensure concession partners are supported and challenged to maximize trading performance and operational alignment with passenger flows.
• Ensure the Commercial Insights function delivers high-quality analytics, forecasting, and reporting to support strategic decision-making and performance improvement.
• Ensure the concessions function is engaged early in airport development and operational projects that may impact commercial performance, advocating for commercial requirements to be embedded within project scope, design, and funding.
• Act as a strong internal advocate for the airport's commercial business, influencing teams across Finance, Legal, Operations, Marketing, Brand & Communications, IT, and Planning to ensure concessions considerations are integrated into decisions affecting passenger flow, access, sightlines, and commercial performance.
• Guide the design and activation of commercial spaces and oversee concession development projects and operator fit-outs.
• Lead and develop the concessions team, fostering a culture of accountability, collaboration, and continuous improvement

EXPERIENCE & CAPABILITIES

• Significant experience in retail, food & beverage, hospitality, or commercial real estate within high-volume consumer environments.
• Proven track record of identifying and delivering new business opportunities and driving commercial revenue growth.
• Strong experience negotiating complex commercial partnerships and contracts with third-party operators.
• Experience identifying, engaging, and securing new brands or operators within competitive commercial environments.
• Strong commercial acumen supported by analytical capability and strategic thinking.
• Excellent interpersonal, networking, and stakeholder management skills with the ability to influence at senior levels across large organizations.
• Demonstrated leadership experience building and developing high-performing teams.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office including Word, Excel, and PowerPoint; CRM tools such as Salesforce preferred.
• Ability to travel 5%.

SUCCESS MEASURES FOR THE ROLE

Success in this role will be demonstrated through:

• Growth in non-aeronautical revenue and Revenue per Passenger (RPP)
• Attraction and successful launch of high-quality new brands and concepts
• Strong commercial performance across the concessions portfolio
• Positive passenger experience and strong concession partner relationships

The successful candidate for the role of Director, Concessions & Partnerships will demonstrate the following key competencies needed in our culture:

• Communication – Able to clearly articulate short-term vision, department goals and objectives; Collaborate effectively with peers; Able to communicate policy and strategy to team members.
• Strategic Thinking – Able to determine short-term outcomes and give guidance on how to meet goals; Able to direct and deliver plans to achieve efficient, on-time results.
• Team Builder – Able to direct and implement project objectives through "one team" approach; Focused on developing team; direct work of team through leadership and accountability; Makes informed decisions.
• Customer Centricity– Leads team to identify and improve customer experience; Directs and implements improvements that positively impacts most stakeholders.

Qualifications

The following requirements list the minimum education/training/experience required to qualify for this job. An equivalent combination of education and/or experience may be accepted.

Requirements to apply for the role of Director, Concessions & Partnerships are:

• Bachelor's degree in Business, Retail Management, Marketing, Finance, Economics, Hospitality Management, or a related field.
• Significant leadership experience within retail, food & beverage, hospitality, commercial real estate, or other high-traffic consumer environments.
• Demonstrated experience driving revenue growth through commercial partnerships, brand development, and negotiation of agreements with third-party operators.
• Proven ability to manage commercial performance within a multi-unit or portfolio business environment, delivering against revenue or financial targets.
• Possess or obtain prior to employment a valid Pennsylvania Class C driver's license. Note: license must be maintained throughout employment.

PREFERRED

• Master's degree in Business Administration or a related field.
• Experience managing relationships and growing product lines in a complex commercial environment.

We also expect that candidates will demonstrate the following knowledge, skills, and abilities in most cases:

• Extensive knowledge of commercial development revenue growth strategies.
• Strong communication and organizational skills, with attention to detail.
• Tech-savvy, with proficiency in Microsoft Office suites, and other modern productivity tools such as Teams, Asana, SharePoint, etc.
• Ability to deal professionally with internal and external partners at all levels.
• Self-motivated; able to work with little or no guidance and make sound decisions under pressure.
• Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, ambiguous, and innovative environment.
• Ability to travel occasionally.
• Flexibility to be available after hours/on weekends as needed.

Don't meet every requirement?

Studies have shown that women and people of color are less likely to apply to jobs if they don't meet every single qualification. As a Smarter Airport, we recognize that talent is not always related job history and skills come from valuable experiences that aren't always shown on a resume. If you are excited to make a positive change for our region, but your experience doesn't align perfectly, we encourage you to apply. You may be the right candidate for our organization, whether it be this role or another.

Caring For Our Crew

At ACAA, we've got you covered. That applies to how we equip, empower, and enable our people to do their jobs. It also applies to our benefits, which are broader and more valuable than what many other employers offer:

• We offer two plan options for healthcare coverage from high-quality insurance carriers, as well as an ACAA-funded Health Reimbursement Account (HRA) that will help offset the cost of many medical expenses.
• ACAA employees pay almost $1,200 less per year in healthcare Concessions & Partnerships contributions than the average employee in other companies, according to market surveys.
• When HRA funding is included, the health-plan deductibles paid by ACAA employees are about $