Exp - 8-12Years
Location - Lucknow
Travel & Expense Manager / Lead – Roles & Responsibilities
Operations Management
- Manage end-to-end Travel & Expense (T&E) operations for assigned processes, ensuring accuracy, compliance, and SLA adherence
- Oversee daily operational delivery and continuous process improvement initiatives
- Ensure policy-aligned processing across Travel, Non-Travel, and Card-based expense workflows
Team Leadership
- Manage and lead a team of 4–5 FTEs
- Drive performance management, training, coaching, and capability development
- Conduct periodic appraisals and support career progression planning
- Ensure operational coverage, including second-shift availability if required
Stakeholder & Business Engagement
- Manage relationships with internal stakeholders across HR, Finance, Payroll, Audit, and Business Units
- Support cross-functional coordination for issue resolution and process optimization
- Act as Level-2 escalation point for operational and policy-related exceptions
Systems & Automation
- Lead SAP Concur implementation, enhancements, and stabilization initiatives in coordination with IT teams
- Drive internal tool automation initiatives to improve productivity and control environment
- Monitor automation performance and identify optimization opportunities
Audit & Compliance Governance
- Manage internal and external audit requirements related to T&E operations
- Ensure compliance with company policies, regulatory expectations, and documentation standards
- Support closure of audit observations and strengthen preventive controls
Corporate Card Program Management
- Manage corporate credit card lifecycle operations
- Support card issuance, controls, reconciliations, and exception handling
- Coordinate implementation and enhancements within Concur and internal travel request systems
Reporting & Analytics
- Manage MIS reporting and analytics using Cognos and operational dashboards
- Monitor KPIs, SLA adherence, exception trends, and recovery tracking
- Provide actionable insights for leadership decision-making
Policy Governance
- Support policy review, harmonization, and change implementation
- Coordinate with stakeholders on rollout of policy updates and system changes
- Ensure alignment with global and GEO-specific reimbursement frameworks
Travel Operations Knowledge
- Maintain working knowledge of:
- Visa processing
- Air ticketing
- Hotel bookings
- Ground transportation
- Travel vendor coordination
Escalation & Risk Handling
- Manage operational escalations and exception approvals within governance limits
- Act as Level-2 escalation owner
- Drive resolution of high-risk or high-impact issues
Communication & Collaboration
- Demonstrate strong written and verbal communication skills
- Maintain effective peer collaboration across operations, IT, HR, Payroll, and Finance teams
Qualifications & Competencies
- Minimum qualification: B.Com
- MBA preferred
- Strong understanding of T&E platforms (preferably SAP Concur)
- Self-starter with strong problem-solving mindset
- Ability to manage ambiguity and drive structured execution
Value-Add:
- Lead global rollout / GEO expansion support for T&E processes
- Manage vendor governance (travel agency / card partner / audit partners like PwC)
- Drive fraud analytics / duplicate detection / policy violation tracking
- Support BOT / RPA deployment initiatives
- Lead card delinquency recovery governance
- Manage employee experience improvements in expense lifecycle
- Own UAT coordination for system upgrades
- Support data-driven compliance dashboards
