Head of Threat-Informed Cyber Defence & Engineering

Booking Holdings, Inc.; Amsterdam; On-site; EUR 180,000 - 260,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Paid time off

Hybrid working

Product discounts

Job summary

Booking.com is seeking a senior security leader to guide a mature cyber defence team across Amsterdam and Bucharest. You will shape the strategy, oversee detection engineering at scale, and own program validation through adversary emulation while driving measurable security outcomes.

You will lead experienced researchers and engineers, champion AI-enabled automation, and collaborate with Enterprise IT, product security, and infrastructure security.

Qualifications

• 5+ years in cybersecurity, security engineering, threat research, or detection & response.
• 2+ years directly managing and developing engineers, researchers, or other senior technical specialists.
• Breadth across threat hunting, adversary emulation and detection engineering, telemetry/SIEM/SOAR, and response automation.
• Fluency in adversary TTPs, MITRE ATT&CK, and modern detection engineering practice (detection-as-code, lifecycle management, coverage measurement).
• Track record of moving initiatives from prototype to owned, measurable production capability.
• Strong stakeholder communication — translating complex work into business impact and risk reduction.
• People-first leadership style with empathy and accountability.

Responsibilities

• Shape strategy in partnership with leadership — translate Cyber Defence strategy into a clear risk-based team plan.
• Expand coverage for high-value telemetry and detection across crown jewels, identity, cloud, and under-visibility areas.
• Establish detection & response engineering at scale with detection-as-code, CI/CD, testing and validation, and production-ready capabilities.
• Run validation as a program — adversary-emulation and control-validation to surface gaps and drive closure.
• Own the metrics — KPIs for ATT&CK-aligned coverage, detection quality, validation outcomes, automation impact.
• Use AI as a force multiplier — accelerate detections, automate workflows, and reduce manual toil.
• Lead exceptional people with a focus on visible leadership and career growth.
• Build visibility & partnerships across Enterprise IT, product security, and security operations across locations.

Skills

Cybersecurity

Security engineering

Threat research

Detection & response

Threat hunting

Adversary emulation

Stakeholder communication

Leadership

Tools

CI/CD

SOAR

Job description

Booking.com is seeking a senior security leader to guide a mature cyber defence team across Amsterdam and Bucharest. You will shape the strategy, oversee detection engineering at scale, and own program validation through adversary emulation while driving measurable security outcomes.

You will lead experienced researchers and engineers, champion AI-enabled automation, and collaborate with Enterprise IT, product security, and infrastructure security.