• The company continues to add talent to consolidate its leadership in the country, with key profiles in financial analysis, human resources, growth and revenue management

• Barcelona has been a second home of Kiwi.com’s technical and business operations site since 2018, recognising the city’s large talent pool, and thriving business culture

 

Barcelona: Founded in the Czech Republic in 2012, the leading travel technology company that brought tech disruption to the travel industry due to its ability to build unique money saving flight itineraries, opened its first international office in Barcelona back in 2018, ​​where an ever-expanding team of 80 people currently work.

 

Located in Eixample, the Spanish office has become a fundamental pillar of Kiwi.com’s global growth, largely due to the variety of professional profiles involved, ranging from engineering and product development to finance, talent acquisition and the company’s commercial area. It is a transversal and multidisciplinary team focused on Kiwi.com’s goal to remove the anxieties faced by travelers when searching and booking air travel through investment in industry-leading initiatives to improve price transparency for consumers and bring about major improvements to the consumer experience.

 

The experts leading Kiwi.com from Spain

 

Kiwi.com’s latest addition in Barcelona is José Luis Sánchez Gallardo, Vice President of Financial Planning and Analysis. Sánchez has more than 15 years of experience in globally recognized companies such as PwC, GetYourGuide, BASF and eyeo, the company behind Adblock. He has a long track record in financial planning and analysis, HR strategy and operations, combined with undisputed leadership in managing financial teams in multiple regions.

 

The Barcelona office also includes other key leadership roles essential for the company’s growth. Among them, Aparna Ballakur, Chief Human Resources Officer, who stands out for her solid leadership in the acquisition and management of talent, both strategic and operational. Before joining Kiwi.com, she held senior HR positions in several global technology organizations such as SumUp, PayU, Yahoo!, and Adobe Systems. Ballakur brings a strategic approach to all HR matters at Kiwi.com, including developing talent acquisition plans and driving corporate culture, among others.

 

Another clear example of Kiwi.com’s strong commitment to Spain is reflected in the signing of Mario Gavira, Vice President of Growth, who joined Kiwi.com in 2021 with a career spanning more than twenty years in the travel industry. After spending the beginning of his career at Opodo, he rose to the position of General Manager of Edreams Odigeo in France and, more recently, General Manager of the leading multimodal metasearch engine in France, Liligo.com.

 

Meanwhile, Juan Manuel Plaza Ortega, Vice President of Revenue Management and Business Insights, plays an essential role in coordinating pricing strategy, business performance monitoring, inventory analysis, business insights and revenue forecasting. He is in charge of setting up business analytics, aligning with the sales, commercial and product teams, and collaborating with all departments.

 

The Barcelona-based management team is completed by the valuable expertise of Albert Vellve Olivares, Product Director; Manuel Granado Galván, Director of Inventory and Pricing Analytics; Miz Cree, Director Talent Acquisition; Sergi López Rey, Director Commercial Analytics; Alejandro Diaz-Delgado Bragado, Head of Financial Planning; Amandine Le Doze, Head of Customer Experience; Diana Gabriela Escobar Figueroa, Head of Business Analytics and Insights; and Jelena Aleksić, Head of Data Science.

 

As part of its growth plan in Spain, the company continues to expand its team and is currently looking for talent in Business Intelligence and Analytics, Finance, Software Engineering, Data Science, and Product Management.

 

Globally, Kiwi.com employs professionals of 57 nationalities in 8 locations, with around 800 employees worldwide.