Travel Program Manager

Consumers Energy is Michigan’s largest energy provider, providing natural gas and/or electricity to 6.8 million of the state’s 10 million residents in all 68 Lower Peninsula counties. Consumers Energy knows job number one is to keep the lights on for customers. We are committed to delivering reliable, clean, and affordable energy to our customers 24/7.  

Location

This is a hybrid (virtual/onsite) position with required onsite days on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday assigned to One Energy Plaza located in Jackson, MI.  The selected candidate must be within a commutable distance or willing to relocate (relocation package is available for those that qualify).  

General Summary of Job Responsibilities

The Corporate Travel Manager is responsible for developing, implementing, and maintaining the company's corporate travel and corporate card policies and procedures. Key duties include establishing travel budgets, negotiating rates and contracts, managing all travel activities, overseeing technology platforms, maintaining vendor relationships, reconciling expenses, and ensuring overall program compliance.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Managing daily travel tasks, including booking tickets for employees at all levels, and arranging and monitoring all travel for the CEO and company officers.
• Developing, implementing, and regularly updating corporate travel and corporate card policies and procedures, utilizing market research, benchmarking, and current regulations.
• Addressing technical issues related to SAP, Sabre, GetThere, and banking files by coordinating with the IT department and working collaboratively to resolve open tickets. Monitoring daily bank file feeds to ensure accuracy, overseeing the default account cost center, and performing necessary journal entries.
• Maintaining strong relationships with travel service providers and vendors associated with both travel and card programs.
• Negotiating rates, travel deals, and contracts for travel and card programs, including hotels, airlines, rental cars, booking tools, travel agencies, travel security, and banking institutions.
• Providing guidance to employees on travel documents, insurance, travel regulations, and card purchases. Serving as the primary contact for program-related inquiries and policy questions. Processing new card applications and handling changes to existing cards, as well as updating purchasing card coordinators. Addressing fraud issues and running spending reports as requested by business partners. Assisting with compliance reviews and potential fraud investigations.
• Documenting travel activities to ensure compliance with company travel policies, and monitoring charge activity to confirm all transactions are conducted and reconciled according to established procedures.
• Develop training materials and lead training sessions for new Purchasing Card Coordinators to ensure they fully understand the requirements of their roles.
• Establishing and organizing monthly or annual travel budgets and tracking and reconciling travel expenses.
• Performing other duties as assigned or required.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• Thorough understanding of accounting principles.
• Comprehensive knowledge of travel management processes.
• Strong leadership abilities demonstrated success in collaborating with diverse service providers and team members.
• Effective negotiation skills.
• Advanced problem-solving capabilities.
• Expertise in financial management.
• Proficient in Microsoft Office Suite applications.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.

Education and Experience

• Bachelor's degree in tourism, travel, hospitality or related field with a minimum of two (2) years of experience working as a corporate travel manager.
• (OR) Associate’s degree in tourism, travel, hospitality or related field with a minimum of four (4) years of experience working as a corporate travel manager.
• (OR) High school diploma with a minimum of six (6) years of experience working as a corporate travel manager.

#LI-JH1

Why should you join our team?

At Consumers Energy, we offer more than just a place to work. We foster a culture that supports career development, growth, and stability, and we take pride in offering our co-workers excellent benefits and compensation packages. We are deliberately creating an inclusive culture that makes our diverse team of co-workers feel valued, supported, and empowered every day. We're a company made up of thousands of people, all with different stories to share and work to do, but we stand united in our company purpose: world class performance delivering hometown service.

What we offer:

• Competitive compensation packages
• Medical, Dental and Vision
• 401k with company match
• Paid parental leave
• Up to 13 paid Holidays
• Paid time off
• Educational Assistance Program

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion: 

We, at CMS Energy, value Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion. It is part of our DNA. We treat our employees with respect, we treat each other fairly and we value the opinions of others. We are passionate about building and nurturing an environment where everyone feels included. We don’t discriminate. We seek to learn about each other and better understand our unique differences. Our uniqueness makes us authentic. We create safe spaces where everyone can be who they truly are. We invite difficult conversations and uncomfortable topics. We value diverse perspectives; this is what makes us great together. We harbor an inclusive environment where employees feel empowered to share their backgrounds, experiences, and ideas. Our Employee Resource Groups, Women in Energy (WE), Minority Advisory Panel (MAP), Pride Alliance of Consumers Energy (PACE), GENERGY, capABLE, Interfaith and Veterans Advisory Panel (VAP) are key enablers to living the values of our company culture: Caring, Empowered, Deliberate, Agility, and Ownership.

All qualified applicants will not be discriminated against and will receive consideration for employment without regard to protected veteran status, disability, race, color, religion, sex, age, sexual orientation, gender identity or national origin.