Early Careers Talent Manager

Booking.com; Manchester; Hybrid; GBP 60,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading global travel company in Manchester is seeking an Early Careers Talent Manager to drive their early careers development strategy. The role involves leading a small team, overseeing program delivery, and enhancing stakeholder relationships to align with business needs. The ideal candidate has over 8 years of experience in talent development and a passion for creating inclusive, engaging experiences. This position offers a competitive benefits package and hybrid working options.

Benefits

Annual paid time off

Flexible working arrangements

Industry leading product discounts

Qualifications

• 8+ years of experience in early careers talent development, with both strategic and operational responsibilities.
• Proven experience designing scalable programs that align with future workforce needs.
• Strong communicator and influencer, confident working with senior stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• Lead a small team, growing delivery capacity as the program scales.
• Own and manage the full lifecycle of early careers development programs.
• Build and maintain strong relationships with HR and business leaders.

Skills

Strategic thinking

Project management

Data-driven decision making

Strong communication

Team leadership

Job description

This job is brought to you by Jobs/Redefined, the UK's leading over-50s age inclusive jobs board.

About Us:

At Booking.com, data drives our decisions. Technology is at our core. And innovation is everywhere. But our company is more than datasets, lines of code or A/B tests. We're the thrill of the first night in a new place. The excitement of the next morning. The friends you encounter. The journeys you take. The sights you see. And the memories you make. Through our products, partners and people, we make it easier for everyone to experience the world.

Role Description:

We're looking for a strategic yet hands‑on Early Careers Talent Manager to lead the evolution of our early careers development experience (excluding talent acquisition). This role is a unique opportunity to reset and future‑prove our early talent strategy, ensuring it is scalable, aligned to the skills and capabilities our business will need for the future, and delivered with operational excellence. You will drive the long‑term vision while also rolling up your sleeves to run the day‑to‑day delivery of programs, from onboarding and curriculum development to stakeholder engagement and issue resolution. This role requires someone who can think big, build for scale, and execute with precision.

Key Job Responsibilities and Duties:

Leadership and Team Management:

• Lead a small team (starting with an Early Careers Specialist), growing delivery capacity as the program scales.
• Own and manage the full lifecycle of early careers development programs; including onboarding, learning experiences, rotations, mentorship, and manager enablement.
• Deliver operational excellence by overseeing day‑to‑day execution: coordinating timelines, communications, logistics, stakeholders, and issue resolution.
• Program manage key early careers offerings (e.g., Tech & Data Graduate Programs, UK Apprenticeships), and expand to new audiences as needed.
• Ensure the Early Careers Program annual budget is effectively managed, tracked, and reported. Serve as the accountable budget holder and decision maker.

Strategic Direction:

• Reset and lead the early careers talent strategy to support future scale and evolving business needs, with a strong focus on building critical future skills and capabilities.

Stakeholder Engagement:

• Build and maintain strong relationships with HR, business leaders, and People Analytics to align programs with workforce strategy, business needs and measure impact.
• Partner cross‑functionally with COEs including Talent Acquisition, D&I, Learning, and Recruitment Marketing to ensure end‑to‑end coordination and success.

Continuous Improvement:

• Continuously evaluate and optimize early careers programs by identifying opportunities to scale, streamline, and automate processes, prioritizing impact, efficiency, and sustainability, while critically assessing what activities to stop, start, or evolve.
• Use data insights, analytics, feedback and technology advancements to track the effectiveness of the Early Careers programs.
• Monitor and report on pipeline health and program performance across short-, medium-, and long‑term horizons.
• Track diversity across early talent pipelines and design interventions to ensure inclusive outcomes.

Qualifications & Skills:

• 8+ years of experience in early careers talent development, with both strategic and operational responsibilities.
• Comfortable owning end‑to‑end program delivery, from high‑level planning to hands‑on execution.
• Proven experience designing scalable programs that align with future workforce needs.
• Excellent project management skills; able to juggle priorities and deliver on multiple deadlines.
• Strong communicator and influencer, confident working with senior stakeholders and cross‑functional teams.
• Data‑driven and metrics‑minded, with experience using insights to improve outcomes.
• Passionate about developing early career talent and creating inclusive, engaging experiences.
• Thrive in a fast‑paced, evolving environment where you have the autonomy to make things happen.

Benefits & Perks - Global Impact, Personal Relevance:

Booking.com's Total Rewards Philosophy is not only about compensation but also about benefits. We offer a competitive compensation and benefits package, as well unique‑to‑Booking.com benefits which include:

• Annual paid time off and generous paid leave scheme including: parent, grandparent, bereavement, and care leave
• Hybrid working including flexible working arrangements, and up to 20 days per year working from abroad (home country)
• Industry leading product discounts - up to 1400 per year - for yourself, including automatic Genius Level 3 status and Booking.com wallet credit

Inclusion at Booking.com:

Inclusion has been a core part of our company culture since day one. This ongoing journey starts with our very own employees, who represent over 140 nationalities and a wide range of ethnic and social backgrounds, genders and sexual orientations.

Take it from our Chief People Officer, Paulo Pisano: At Booking.com, the diversity of our people doesn't just build an outstanding workplace, it also creates a better and more inclusive travel experience for everyone. Inclusion is at the heart of everything we do. It's a place where you can make your mark and have a real impact in travel and tech.

We ensure that colleagues with disabilities are provided the adjustments and tools they need to participate in the job application and interview process, to perform crucial job functions, and to receive other benefits and privileges of employment.

Application Process:

• Let's go places together: How we Hire
• This role does not come with relocation assistance.

Booking.com is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace and is an affirmative action employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability, age, or veteran status. We strive to move well beyond traditional equal opportunity and work to create an environment that allows everyone to thrive.

Pre‑Employment Screening:

If your application is successful, your personal data may be used for a pre‑employment screening check by a third party as permitted by applicable law. Depending on the vacancy and applicable law, a pre‑employment screening may include employment history, education and other information (such as media information) that may be necessary for determining your qualifications and suitability for the position.