Director, Engineering - Partnerships

OpenTable; Greater London; On-site; GBP 150,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid work model

Company-paid therapy sessions

Headspace subscription

Pension plan contributions

Bike2Work

Season ticket loan

Job summary

OpenTable is seeking a Director of Engineering to lead the Global Partnerships engineering organization across Solutions Engineering, Integrations, and API Platform. This leader will combine product judgment, technical depth and operating discipline to scale our partnership ecosystem.

You will guide partner integrations and API platform capabilities, collaborating with Product, Partnerships, RSS, Support, Security and Legal to translate partner needs into durable platform capabilities.

Qualifications

• Significant experience leading engineering organizations with multiple teams and managers.
• Experience with APIs, distributed systems, platform engineering, developer experience, or another technically complex B2B ecosystem.
• Proven success creating prioritization, escalation and operating mechanisms in a high-demand environment.
• Strong product judgment to distinguish a one-off request from a repeatable product or platform opportunity.
• Strong written and verbal communication, including with executives, engineers, partners, and non-technical stakeholders.
• Track record of hiring, coaching, and developing managers and senior engineers.

Responsibilities

• Set the strategy and portfolio for partner integrations, APIs, developer experience and Solutions Engineering with clear trade-offs across value, commitments, reliability and capacity.
• Build a scalable Solutions Engineering model with disciplined intake, prioritization, escalation, SLAs and cross-functional collaboration.
• Lead the technical direction for API Platform and Integrations, improving developer experience for internal and external developers.
• Turn recurring partner problems into durable product, process and documentation improvements.
• Foster trusted relationships across Partnerships, RSS, Product, Support, Security, Legal and Engineering, and communicate outcomes clearly.
• Develop managers and senior leaders, strengthening delegation and succession.

Skills

Engineering leadership

APIs & distributed systems

Product judgment

Executive communication

Hiring & mentoring

Strategic planning

Job description

With millions of diners, 70,000+ restaurant partners and 25+ years of experience, OpenTable, part of Booking Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: BKNG), is an industry leader with a passion for helping restaurants thrive. Our world-class technology empowers restaurants to focus on what matters most - their team, their guests, and their bottom line - while enabling diners to discover and book the perfect restaurant for every occasion.

Every employee at OpenTable has a tangible impact on what we do and how we do it. You'll also be part of a global team and its portfolio of metasearch brands. Hospitality is all about taking care of others, and it defines our culture.

About the Job

We are looking for a Director of Engineering to lead the Global Partnerships engineering organization across Solutions Engineering, Integrations, and API Platform. This leader will combine product engineering judgment, technical depth, customer empathy, and operating discipline to make our partnership ecosystem easier to build on and easier to scale.

You will lead the Solutions Engineering and the engineering teams responsible for partner integrations and API platform capabilities. You will work closely with Product, Partnerships, RSS, Support, Security, Legal, and other engineering leaders to turn partner and business needs into durable platform capabilities.

This role is ideal for a leader who can move comfortably between strategy and execution: setting direction, simplifying an operating model, making hard prioritization calls, guiding architecture, handling high-severity escalations, and developing managers and senior technical leaders.

Responsibilities

• Set the strategy and portfolio for partner integrations, APIs, developer experience and Solutions Engineering making clear trade-offs across business value, partner commitments, reliability, and capacity.
• Build a scalable Solutions Engineering model with disciplined intake, prioritization, escalation, SLAs, and communication. Identify opportunities to build a better operating model by collaborating with support, RSS and other cross-functional teams and stakeholders.
• Lead the technical direction for API Platform and Integrations, and how agentic development can transform the developer experience both internally as well as for external developers using our platform.
• Turn recurring partner’s identified problems and gaps into durable improvements in product, process and documentation.
• Build trusted relationships across Partnerships, RSS, Product, Support, Security, Legal and Engineering. Make timely decisions when priorities conflict and communicate outcomes, risks, and trade-offs clearly.
• Lead and develop managers and senior technical leaders, strengthen delegation and succession, and earn the opportunity to expand the organization’s scope through demonstrated results.

Minimum Qualifications

• Significant experience leading engineering organizations that include multiple teams and managers.
• Experience with APIs, distributed systems, platform engineering, developer experience, integrations, or another technically complex B2B ecosystem.
• Demonstrated success creating prioritization, escalation and operating mechanisms in a high-demand environment.
• Strong product judgment, the ability to distinguish a one-off request from a repeatable product or platform opportunity.
• Strong written and verbal communication, including the ability to communicate clearly with executives, engineers, partners, and non-technical stakeholders.
• A track record of hiring, coaching, and developing managers and senior engineers.
• Enough technical depth to review architecture, ask incisive questions, assess risk, and make sound trade-offs without needing to be the primary implementer.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in a marketplace, B2B SaaS, platform, developer products, payments, hospitality, commerce, or integration-heavy business.
• Experience leading or partnering closely with Solutions Engineering, Professional Services, Customer Engineering, Technical Account Management, or a similar function.
• Experience moving a high-touch onboarding or support model toward self-service, automation, AI-assisted support, or risk-based engagement.
• Experience driving productivity, innovation, and operational improvements using AI development tooling.
• Experience working with external partners, enterprise customers, sales, business development, security, legal, or revenue operations.
• Strong background in data-driven decision making, metrics definition, and performance optimization for high-scale enterprise platforms.
• Experience with API lifecycle management, OAuth/SSO, developer portals, certification, SDKs, event-driven systems, observability, or partner data access.
• Experience operating across globally distributed teams and time zones.

Benefits and Perks

• Work from (almost) anywhere for up to 20 days per year
• Focus on mental health and well-being:
• Company-paid therapy sessions through SpringHealth
• Company-paid subscription to Headspace
• Annual company-wide week off a year - the whole team fully recharges (and returns without a pile-up of work!)
• Paid parental leave
• Time off for your birthday
• Focus on your career growth:
• Access to thousands of on-demand e-learnings
• Travel Discounts
• Employee Resource Groups
• Income protection and life assurance
• Employee Assistance Program - including 24/7 GP & free legal advice
• Pension plan contributions
• Discounted gym membership
• Bike2Work
• Season ticket loan
• Social events & Thursday happy hours
• Free lunch 2 days per week

The best connections happen face-to-face, whether you're sitting down to dinner or having coffee with a coworker. That's why OpenTable has adopted a hybrid workplace model. This role aligns with that approach, with an expectation of coming into the office two days a week - giving employees the best of both worlds: in-person collaboration and flexibility.

Inclusion

We're committed to creating a workplace where everyone feels they belong and can thrive. We know the best ideas come when we bring different voices to the table, so we're building a team as dynamic as the diners and restaurants we serve- and fostering a culture where everyone feels welcome to be themselves.

If you need any reasonable adjustments during the application/interview process, or on the job, we're here to support you. Please reach out to your recruiter to request any accommodations.

#LI-[London: Hybrid]