She had the grades for university - but a desire to get a foot on the career ladder drove Rachael Spowart into full-time employment aged 18. First came a customer service job at Royal Bank of Scotland, followed by a communications supervisor role at The Spa at Gleneagles in Scotland.

Aside from ushering celebrity guests from Shakira to John Travolta into the spa, there was a more serious side to the role, delivering brand strategy and managing the operational team.

She discovered a flair for marketing when she worked with the sales and marketing team to create offers and packages. Before long, she was looking to stretch herself professionally: “As a Leading Hotel of the World, Gleneagles was a protected brand, so there were limitations to what you could do with it. I outgrew the opportunity,” she says.

A contact helped her secure an affiliate marketing role at DigitasLBi. Within eight months, she’d risen to account manager. “It was the fastest promotion from junior to account manager the company had seen then.”

She looked after the affiliate marketing campaigns for clients including Radisson Blu/Park Inn and Etihad Airways. She often travelled to Etihad’s Abu Dhabi headquarters to present to the vice-president of marketing. “It made me ill for days before”, she jokes, before admitting the airline account was a “game changer in my career”.

Manchester move

Rachael had never been to Manchester before her interview with Manchester Airports Group - but that didn’t stop her applying for the role of digital partnerships manager last year. “It was a random pick on the map,” she admits. “But I fancied a change, liked the look of the job and knew that MAG was a massive company.”

After five months in the role, she was approached by her boss - Matt Etchells, who nominated her for TTG’s 30 Under 30 - to transition to the group’s car parks and ancillaries commercial department, where she holds a business development role.

Now she’s on a mission to change perceptions of airport parking at Manchester, Stansted, East Midlands and Bournemouth airports.

“We face the stigma that airport parking is the most expensive option [available to consumers] but we use our relationships with new and existing partners and affiliate channels to ensure customers get the best deals to park in a safe, convenient environment.”

A series of big projects have helped her stamp her authority on the role. In July she launched an affiliate programme across the group, giving the airports access to new customers via affiliate websites such as Quidco and Vouchercodes.

Since then she has also launched turn-up fast-track security and premium valet services in Manchester. These projects have taken her into customer-facing areas of the terminal.

“I need to have confidence in the quality of the product so I was on site every day, seeing the service in action, listening to feedback and making changes.”

Her 30 Under 30 nomination is bringing her fresh opportunities in a year where she has started challenging herself “really seriously.” She attended the Tomorrow’s Travel Leaders Conference last month.

“Paul Ludlow, Princess Cruises’ UK and European managing director, spoke about the three-year-cycle - learn it, improve it, master it. I can relate to that. I have spent three years in each of my roles.”

In the future she thinks her experience would naturally fit with an airline, and the dream is a New York posting after “falling in love with it this summer”.

But the focus of her attention now is MAG, so did the gamble pay off? “Definitely,” she says. “Edinburgh will always be home. But Manchester is a brilliant city. You have to put yourself out there when you move away - but it’s made me grow up faster. And now it feels like a home from home.”