Senior Program Manager - CBO

Booking.com; Amsterdam; Hybrid; EUR 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid working including flexible work

Industry leading travel discounts

Travel/days abroad up to 20 per year

Job summary

Booking.com is seeking a Senior Program Manager in the CBO Office to drive Priority Programs with cross-functional teams and senior leadership alignment. You will translate strategy into effective execution, guiding program governance, and delivering impact across the organization.

You will lead initiatives spanning AI adoption, platform modernization and new revenue models, partnering with VP/SVP level stakeholders and senior leaders to ensure measurable outcomes.

Qualifications

• Experience leading multiple company-wide programs in global commercial organizations.
• Able to collaborate with senior leadership and stakeholders across departments.
• Strong program management methodology experience and ability to drive adoption.

Responsibilities

• Lead delivery of Priority Programs, including planning, governance and execution.
• Manage stakeholder relationships with executive sponsors and business owners.
• Promote effective ways of working and contribute to the PPM community.

Skills

Program Management

Stakeholder Management

Communication

Collaboration

Problem Solving

Proactive

Leadership

Tools

Jira

Confluence

Atlassian Suite

Job description

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!

The Team

The Chief Business Officer (CBO) Office is responsible for leading business planning and operations, program management and change management for Booking.com. The CBO Office reports to Booking’s Chief Business Officer and works directly with the most senior leadership across the organization, including Department LTs and corporate functions (HR/People, Finance, Legal, and Global Strategy & Development), to enable Booking.com to achieve its strategic and operational goals.

The Role

The Senior Program Manager, CBO Office will report to the Director, CBO Program Management and is one of the few Program Managers accountable to lead (one of) Booking’s Priority Programs. The objective of these programs is to deliver against our Company Priorities, ensuring strategy is translated into effective and efficient execution across the organization. Priority Programs deliver the highest level of impact for our customers and business, are cross-departmental and multi-year in scope, and require close and frequent collaboration with a broad set of stakeholders - including our most senior leaders (VPs and SVPs). Current Priority Programs include accelerating the adoption of AI, modernizing our technical platform, developing new revenue models, and growing our market share in specific markets.

Key Job Responsibilities and Duties

• Lead the delivery of Priority Programs (80%)
  • Program Planning & Delivery: You are responsible for the successful planning and delivery of all phases of the program, following the Booking.com Program Standards. This includes the design, setup and a flawless execution of the program governance.
  • Stakeholder Management: Together with the program’s executive sponsor and business owner(s), you are accountable for the program delivering on its objectives. You successfully manage relationships with all stakeholders at all levels and you are a true trusted advisor and guide for the program steering committee.
  • Ways of Working: Implement and proactively display behaviors in the program that make the cross-departments program team more effective, alongside our values and mindsets (Protagonist, Learner, One Team).
• Thought leadership on Program Management (20%)
  • Program Excellence: You set the gold standard for how we run programs at Booking. You lead the way and are committed to raising the bar.
  • Continuous Improvement: You ensure insights and learnings from each program are used to improve our program fundamentals (including the Booking.com Program Standards).
• Community: You actively contribute to the development and elevation of the Project & Program Management (PPM) community at Booking by sharing insights and best practices and providing mentorship.

Role Qualifications and Requirements

The ideal candidate is a consistent high performer with very strong, in-depth experience leading multiple strategic and transformational programs in global commercial organization(s). Having done this at multiple companies in an international environment will make you the perfect candidate.

• Program Management
  • Programs: You have successfully led multiple company-wide programs in global commercial organization(s) of 10K+ employees. The scope of the programs is more important than the number of programs and number of years, but we are looking for someone who has done this more than once and likely brings at least 5-10 years of experience at this level.
  • Expertise: You have led programs which focused on one of these areas:
    • Transformation (large scale business transformation);
    • Innovation (technology, integration and adoption of AI);
    • Regulatory & Compliance;
    • Business Development (building new businesses, leading growth initiatives);
    • Product Development (building connected products and services).
  • Methodologies: You have experience leveraging project/program management methodologies and are able and willing to lead the way, including driving adoption of methodologies by your peers.
  • Systems: You have experience using project/program management systems, ideally the Atlassian Suite (Jira, Confluence, Oboard).
• Stakeholder Management
  • Collaboration: You have experience with and is committed to achieving results by collaborating closely with stakeholders and peers across the organization.
  • Relationships: You bring extensive experience building strong, productive relationships with leadership (Director-level and above) and you are able to successfully guide, advise and challenge these stakeholders.
  • C-level: You have the seniority and experience to comfortably work closely with senior leadership (VP/SVPs), including company leadership (C-level).
• Personality
  • Customer Centric: You think customer first, always. And you encourage and enable others to do the same (displaying a customer centric-mindset and behaviors).
  • Attitude: You have a positive attitude and a desire and commitment to make things happen.
  • Accountable: You take ownership of doing what’s needed and accountability for delivering impact.
  • Proactive: You are comfortable handling (significant) ambiguity and able to proactively craft a path forward, aligned with business needs.
  • Pragmatic: You are forward-looking, focused on achieving progress and moving things forward, taking a pragmatic approach.
  • Feedback: You pro-actively provide constructive feedback to drive improvements.
  • Collaborative: You enjoy collaborating closely with others, across all departments, roles and levels of the organization. Your focus is to bring people together to achieve a common goal.
  • Communication: You are a very effective communicator (written and spoken), ensuring clear, timely and impactful communication is created, tailored to the needs of varying audiences. You are comfortable presenting to (senior) leadership.
  • Problem solving: You are able to timely recognize challenges and opportunities and to define an end-to-end plan to address them (from analysis to solution to implementation to adoption), including acquiring buy-in/support from stakeholders.

Location

The candidate for this role has to be based in The Netherlands (or be willing to relocate). This is a hybrid role with an expectation of being (at least) 40% of your time in-office in Amsterdam. Minimal travel (<5% of your time) may be required occasionally.

Benefits & Perks - Global Impact, Personal Relevance

• 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.

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.