Travel & Expense Manager

Scale AI is looking to hire a highly motivated and enthusiastic Global Travel & Expenses Manager to join its Corporate Accounting team. This crucial role will play an integral part in building its global travel and expense operations in a fast-paced environment. This role will be responsible for managing the strategic Travel program and expenses cycle and supporting the month-end close process. You must have strategic thinking, strong analytical skills and an eagerness to learn, as well as be a collaborative team player.  You’ll need to not be afraid to roll up your sleeves and pivot between high-level vendor negotiations and hands-on system troubleshooting and also doing tactical work. 

What you’ll be doing:

• Design and execute the global travel category strategy, leading end-to-end supplier selection (RFP), onboarding, and lifecycle management for airlines, hotels, and ground transportation.
• Architect high-leverage negotiation strategies to secure preferential rates and corporate benefits, ensuring maximum ROI on the company’s annual travel spend.
• Champion "Preferred Supplier" adoption through creating policies, data-driven influence and internal marketing, optimizing corporate leverage and volume-based discounts.

• Govern the global Travel & Expense (T&E) ecosystem, overseeing corporate credit card programs and employee reimbursements to ensure 100% alignment with fiscal policy and tax compliance.
• Execute rigorous internal controls and audits, identifying leakage or non-compliant spending patterns and implementing corrective action plans.

• Pioneer process optimization by auditing existing workflows and designing automated, scalable solutions that reduce friction for the traveler while increasing back-office efficiency.
• Serve as the Functional Product Owner for travel-related technologies (e.g., Navan, Brex, etc), managing system integrations, troubleshooting technical hurdles, and leading future-state implementations.
• Synthesize T&E data into actionable insights, delivering ad-hoc analysis and executive reporting that informs budgetary decisions and policy shifts.

What we’re looking for:

• Minimum 4 years of Travel, AP and/or accounting experience.
• Experience with OBT software (Navan, Spotnana, Egencia, etc).
• Experience with employee expenses systems: Netsuite, Coupa, Brex or other major systems.
• Bachelor’s degree in Accounting/Finance, or related degree.
• Strong understanding of full global travel industry.
• Excellent organizational skills and ability to handle multiple priorities within deadlines.
• Excellent AI, problem-solving skills and high level of attention to detail.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills in English.
• Proficient knowledge of Microsoft Excel.
• Remote based in México.
• 15% travel, primarily to the USA but potentially also to worldwide Scale travel locations

Nice-to-haves:

• Experience with S2P software (Brex, Zip, LevelPath and/or Navan).
• Prior experience at a fast growing start-up or public company.
• Passion for the AI industry.