Head of Positive Impact
Ready to shape the future of sustainable travel? Join Jacada as Head of Positive Impact. Lead our global strategy, drive key conservation projects, and inspire real change.
About the Role
At Jacada Travel, we have a responsibility to make the travel we provide an uplifting experience for all concerned, from our travellers to the places they visit and the people they meet along the way. We believe travel has the power to be immensely positive for everyone if it’s conducted responsibly. As a proud brand within the Wilderness Group, Jacada plays a key role in promoting responsible travel with a positive impact on conservation and community.
Positive impact has been part of Jacada’s vision since our early years, which we’ve continued to strengthen and build on. We are seeking an inspiring, operationally strong Head of Positive Impact to lead our efforts, drive new projects and build on the solid foundations we already have.
Reporting directly to the Founder & MD, you will join our SLT+ Strategy & Alignment Team. This is a senior cross-functional role for an individual who is highly skilled in project execution and stakeholder management. You must be deeply strategic yet retain the humility to roll up your sleeves, working across all departments to make positive impact the most natural and rewarding path for our guests, our partners, and our internal teams.
Key Responsibilities
Your core focus will be to design, embed, measure, and communicate Jacada's Positive Impact strategy. Your day-to-day responsibilities will include:
Strengthening PI in all of our operations. This includes advising on DMC tendering frameworks, introducing positive impact to new-hires onboarding alongside L&D. You’ll also work to help educate and enable our sales teams to sell positive impact more effectively.
Client Journey & Decision Making: Facilitate high-quality, positive impact as an integral and effortless part of the decision-making process for our clients, creating meaningful connections between our travellers and the local community or conservation efforts.
Management of our current PI Projects : Scope, track, and successfully deliver quarterly and annual positive impact initiatives (e.g., hotel data auditing and guest impact initiatives) on time, to budget, and in alignment with our 2030 objectives.
Stakeholder Management: Proactively manage a complex network of internal and external relationships—with regional SLT, Regional Travel Design Heads, marketing leads, external sustainability auditors, in-country DMCs, and non-profit partners.
Partner Sourcing & Sustainability Audits: Partner with our Product and contracting teams to investigate the impact of our key accommodation partners. You will champion our hotel auditing processes (using Hotel Resilient) and oversee the creation of clear 'key positive impact' breakdowns to be displayed prominently on our website and client-facing materials.
Internal Governance & Quality Control: Safeguard the integrity of Jacada’s Positive Impact Principles across all product, partner, and operational decisions. Manage continuous improvement mechanics, including the internal PI flag review process, updating operational guidelines,
Wilderness Group Connection: Work closely with counterparts at the Wilderness Group to align, measure, and communicate Jacada's contribution to broader Wilderness projects, helping our internal teams deeply understand and feel connected to ongoing ground-level conservation work.
Industry Change & Competitor Collaboration: Represent Jacada within key networks (including the Conscious Travel Foundation and Hotel Resilient). Actively work together across the industry to share insights, accelerate supply chain data collection, and help suppliers to elevate industry impact standards.
Marketing, PR & Communications: Collaborate closely with our Marketing and Content teams to produce regular, authentic communications for our company and travellers, sharing our impact stories with absolute transparency and avoiding greenwashing.
Thought leadership and industry powerhouse for Jacada: Comfortable speaking to media, happy to be on camera and be Jacada’s face of positive impact
Skills for Success
We are looking for someone who balances deep Positive Impact expertise with robust project leadership, clear stakeholder management, and the heartfelt passion that defines Jacada's culture:
PI expertise: Minimum of 3–5 years' experience in a sustainability/impact-focused role, with clear project management and leadership experience (preferably within travel, hospitality, or the luxury sector). Deep understanding of Positive impact and sustainability issues within the travel industry.
Robust Project Management: Proven ability to manage multi-departmental projects from concept to completion, managing timelines, coordinating resources, identifying roadblocks, and bringing stakeholders along with you.
Collaborative Stakeholder Management: Exceptional interpersonal skills with a natural ability to consult, influence, and manage expectations across a diverse, global network—including remote local suppliers, internal department heads, and the Senior leadership team.
A 'Big Picture' Mindset: An appreciation of your position within Jacada and the broader Wilderness Group—viewing our business as a collective of different teams working together towards shared goals. Finding ways for impact and commercial success to feed each other.
Driven to Lead & Innovate and creativity: Strong work ethic and passion for responsible travel, with the determination to push boundaries, inspire others, and bring fresh, creative ideas to the table to ensure we remain leaders in our industry, in line with our core value Be Passionately Curious
Communication & Trust: Excellent written and verbal communication skills. You operate in a fair, honest, and open manner with colleagues, press, and suppliers. You should be comfortable giving interviews and being a more public face of PI at Jacada.
Empathy & Self-Awareness: The ability to actively listen, show genuine empathy, and operate with humility, welcoming feedback and leaving ego at the door. Align with our company values, which drive all the work we do.
Hands-on Flexibility: A readiness to adapt and embrace change; a willingness to roll up your sleeves to support colleagues and handle the operational details alongside high-level strategy.
Timeline & Logistics
Recruitment Process
1st Stage: A formal virtual interview hosted by the Founder & Managing Director, and a member of our Senior Leadership Team.
2nd Stage: A task stage with more information to follow.
Key Information
Reporting to: Founder & Managing Director (Alex Malcolm)
Location: London (Hybrid - typically 3 days in office, 2 days WFH)
Salary: £58,000
Start Date: September (Exact date TBC)
Closing Date: 10th July 2026 (subject to application volume)
- Remote status
- Hybrid
Colleagues
Jacada Travel
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Agile Hours
⏳ It's important to us that everyone at Jacada leads a healthy work-life balance. Have a gym class to attend? Have a course you're working on outside of work? Whatever it might be, we're here to support your life ambitions and offer agile hours to help you achieve this.
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Mental Wellbeing Support
🧠 Promoting mental well-being is a core focus here at Jacada. We ensure that all our employees have access to resources such as our mental health first-aiders, and dedicated Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs). Additionally, for those based in the UK we also offer access to Bupa Mental Health support. We also conduct Monday meditation sessions for all, to help start the week in a positive way.
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Learning and Development
📖 Here at Jacada, we place a strong emphasis on training and career development. We are committed to providing all our employees with opportunities for growth and the chance to continually nurture their growth mindset. In your initial three weeks, you will receive a comprehensive training program, but the journey of learning doesn't stop there. Our dedicated Learning and Development Manager works to ensure that every member of our team receives the necessary training throughout their time with us and is well-informed about their career progression opportunities.
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Bank holidays
🌴 We provide 25 days of paid annual leave in addition to bank holidays. At Jacada we celebrate diversity and this means understanding that each of us has our own beliefs, culture, and identity. So we allow our team to work bank holidays which can then be taken whenever they want throughout the year!
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Socials
🎊 We’re a social bunch and enjoy spending time together, but this is optional so no pressure socials if this isn't your vibe! Each quarter teams organise socials together, whether we are remote or in person we love any excuse to get together. Some recent social activities have included shuffleboard, BBQ boat outings, and virtual cooking classes. Additionally, we arrange annual summer and winter soirées that include both in-office and remote team members.
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Casual Dress Code
👟 We feel that it’s important for everyone to feel comfortable at work. After all the best work doesn’t depend on whether you’re wearing a suit!
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🏥 Private Medical Care
At Jacada, we care about the mental and physical wellbeing of everyone working here. That's why we've introduced private medical care for our employees living in the UK.
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Dog Friendly Office
🐶 We operate a dog-friendly office and are always happy to see more furry work buddies!
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🚲 Cycle to Work Scheme (UK)
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🚆 Season Ticket Policy (UK)
Workplace & culture
We've created an environment that allows people to be their authentic selves. A place where individuals can grow and build strong connections with like-minded others. We strive to ensure everyone feels like they have a purpose and are having fun whilst doing it!
Our team is based all over the globe, no matter where you are, or what time zone you're in, we vouch to try our best, learn from our mistakes and grow a strong and progressive culture together.
About Jacada Travel
We are a luxury travel company offering completely personalised, private trips all over the world. We strive to be that well-travelled friend our clients can come to for advice and inspiration and to really get under the skin of the places they visit and experience things that don’t always make it into the guidebooks.