Graduate Trainee Product Manager - French Speaking

Job Introduction

Graduate Trainee Product Manager - French Speaking

£30,000-£35,000 per annum, dependent on experience

Permanent

Folkestone Hybrid + Overseas Travel Required

Saga Travel is growing, and we're looking for a language graduate who can speak fluent French to help us shape exciting, memorable holidays for our guests.

This is a fantastic opportunity for recent language grads or even candidates with fluent skills looking to start a career in travel. You will be passionate about all things travel, understand French-speaking destinations and want to build a career in travel product development / buying teams.

You'll use your knowledge of the language, culture, history, and customer appeal of your region to help create standout tours, hotel stays and holiday experiences that offer something genuinely different to the UK travel market.

Working as part of our expanding Product team, you'll regularly travel overseas to research destinations, meet suppliers, develop new ideas and bring unique holiday propositions to life. You'll be involved in sourcing quality hotels, building touring itineraries, negotiating commercial terms and ensuring every product delivers great value, excellent service and the trusted Saga experience our customers expect.

You don't need to know everything from day one. With the support of our experienced Director of Product and a passionate team around you, you'll develop your skills in supplier management, contract negotiation, product design and commercial decision-making within the travel industry.

If you are fluent in French, commercially curious, creative and excited by the idea of turning destination knowledge into exceptional travel experiences, this could be a brilliant start for a progressive path in the travel industry.

At Saga, we work in a hybrid way, with time split between home and our Folkestone office. When you're working in the UK, you'll be spending a minimum of 3 days a week in the office and you'll also need to be comfortable travelling overseas, sometimes at short notice.

Role Responsibility

Our Graduate Trainee Product Managers will be exposed to working alongside an array of functions at Saga such as; commercial, Operations, marketing, finance and sales. You will also represent the brand when meeting with tourist boards and other industry partners. This is not a typical Grad Scheme, truly everyday will be different. With your language skill and passion for travel, you can instantly make an impact here.

This exciting role will cover;
• Learning to deliver commercially successful travel products that meet revenue and margin targets.
• Taking ownership of supplier contracts, ensuring agreements are competitive and commercially sound.
• Helping to shape the future of Saga Holidays' product range.
• Improving Saga's relations with its suppliers and potential suppliers via effective account management.
• Maintaining high levels of product quality as measured in customer satisfaction targets, including NPS.
• Taking action to improve sales delivery to my areas of responsibility considering commercial data and market insights.
• Managing my time and priorities to ensure deadlines and business objectives are consistently met.
• Seeking out potential new suppliers and assist in managing commercial relationships with existing ones.
• Working under the guidance of the Director of Product and Senior Product Managers to develop new and innovative tour concepts and itineraries.
• Researching new destinations and seek out new potential suppliers, gradually becoming an expert in your area of responsibility through frequent resort visits.
• Conducting online and face to face meetings with our overseas hotel, coach and excursion providers, negotiating contracts in line with commercial targets.
• Working closely with colleagues in the Product and Commercial teams to ensure that product is contracted at the target rates within agreed deadlines for marketing campaigns.
• Working in conjunction with Marketing to ensure accurate product presentation.
• Developing a deep understanding of the Saga brand and how to convey the benefits of collaboration to potential partners.
• Meeting with Tourist boards in core product areas and work alongside them to develop our business.
• Delivering product briefs to Sales, Marketing and Studio.
• Providing day to day support to the Director of Product.
• Attending trade fairs, travel conferences and destination workshops, developing a wide network of contacts.

The Ideal Candidate

You will be a confident communicator in French, both verbal and written. Aswell as being able to demonstrate the following skills and attributes;
• Independent, able to represent the business when travelling solo on business.
• Be a confident communicator with the ability to build and develop relationships with our suppliers and new prospects.
• Can demonstrate a real passion for travel products and Spanish speaking destinations.
• Able to bring new ideas to the team for our destinations.
• Can demonstrate a considered approach with a high-level detail and numeracy skills.
• Has excellent written communication and presentation abilities.
• Be a proficient user across Microsoft Office (Excel, PowerPoint, Word).
• Have the flexibility to travel frequently overseas, sometimes this could be at short notice and could be 3 or 4 nights away from home in our peak buying periods.

Desirable;
• Educational qualifications in art, literature, history and culture.
• Destination knowledge arising from past travel experiences particularly relating to Europe, Latin America and Asia.
• Ability to manage multiple projects and priorities simultaneously.
• Experience & qualifications relating to the tourism sector.

Saga Values: Make it Happen, Do the Right Thing, Customer First, Excellence Every Day, Our People Make Us Special

Package Description

At Saga we recognise that our people make us special. We believe our colleagues deserve rewards for the excellence they demonstrate every single day, that's why we have put together an amazing benefits package for all colleagues.

BENEFITS AVAILABLE FOR THIS ROLE:

• 25 days holiday + bank holidays
• Option to purchase additional leave - 5 extra days
• Pension scheme matched up to 10%
• Company performance related annual bonus - Up to 5%
• Life assurance policy on joining us, 4 x salary
• Wellbeing programme
• Colleague discounts including family discounts on cruises, holidays and insurance
• Range of reductions and offers from leading retailers, travel groups and entertainment companies
• Enhanced maternity and paternity leave
• Grandparents leave
• Income protection
• Access to Saga Academy, our bespoke learning platform

About the Company

Over the past 75 years we have become the UK's specialist provider of products and services to people aged over 50 in the UK. We're the most trusted brand amongst UK consumers in this demographic, recognised for high-quality products and exceptional standards of service. Our product portfolio includes cruises, holidays, insurance, personal finance products and our Saga Magazine.

Our focus on delivering exceptional products and service empowers our colleagues to create moments that are personal and special for our customers and for each other and our values underpin our approach and help guide us to deliver our purpose.

We're committed to making sure that colleagues can be their best, be themselves and make a difference - more than anywhere else. We have done this by creating a truly inclusive culture, where all colleagues can bring their full and authentic selves to work and be treated with dignity and respect in an environment that is free from discrimination and harassment.

Thanks to our people, Saga was awarded with a Gold for Best Customer Centric Culture in 2025. This is testament to the great culture we've built together. This award belongs to all our colleagues who collectively make Saga a fantastic place to work.

We are champions of age inclusivity and signatories of the Age-Friendly Employer Pledge, we are proud of our multigenerational teams we have in place. We're also a committed Disability Confident employer and ensure that our recruitment process is inclusive and accessible. Your application will have fair consideration, and you'll receive personal communication throughout your applicant journey when you apply to join Saga.

Saga does not accept agency CVs unless specifically engaged on the role by the Talent Acquisition Team. Please do not forward CVs to our recruiters, employees or any other company location. Saga will not be responsible for any fees related to CVs received in this unsolicited manner.

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Saga Group