About Booking.com
Established in 1996 in Amsterdam, Booking.com has grown from a small Dutch start-up to one of the largest ecommerce companies in the world. Booking.com is the largest business within Booking Holdings (NASDAQ: BKNG) and accounts for the vast majority of Booking Holdings' total revenue. Booking Holdings is a leading Fortune 500 e-commerce conglomerate with a market cap of roughly $127.36 Billion (2024). Booking.com currently employs approximately 12,000 employees in 140 offices in 70 countries worldwide.
With a mission to make it easier for everyone to experience the world, Booking.com invests in digital technology that helps take the friction out of travel. Booking.com connects travelers with the world's largest selection of incredible places to stay, including everything from apartments, vacation homes, and family-run B&Bs to 5-star luxury resorts and even tree houses. The Booking.com website and mobile apps are available in over 44 languages, offer more than 28M total reported listings, and cover over 174,000 destinations in 229 countries worldwide. Offering 30 different types of places to stay, including homes, apartments, B&Bs, hostels, farm stays, bungalows, even boats, igloos, and treehouses. So whether travelling for business or leisure, customers can instantly book their ideal accommodation quickly and easily, without booking fees and backed up by its promise to price match. Via the customer experience team, customers can reach Booking.com 24/7 for assistance and support in over 44 languages, any time of the day or night.
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At Booking.com, we are all involved in making hundreds of decisions every day. The decisions we make are a reflection of our Values- they reflect what is important to us, both as individuals and as an organisation.
When Values are made explicit, they provide clarity on what "good" looks like. And when they are shared, they build unity in a group. They build culture.
- Think customer first. We obsess about adding value for our customers- guests, partners, colleagues- to make it easier for everyone to experience the world.
- Own it. We deliver on our promises, make informed decisions and prioritize to get the important things done today.
- Learn forever. We are resilient, take time to reflect, and seek to learn- from colleagues, from the outside world and from our failures.
- Succeed together. We celebrate team success, through making connections, building trust and valuing the diverse perspectives of others.
- Do the right thing. We get the right results the right way. For each other, our communities and the world around us.
About the position of Head of Business Transformation
The Head of Business Transformation will be responsible for the company-wide change program. The HoBT of both identifies and champions short-term improvement and long-term transformation initiatives and, through change leadership, improves the chances of a successful program.
The role will include continuous improvement/process redesign, oversight of large horizontal projects spanning multiple business units, and transformations programs whose scope may include the company's business model, products, go-to-market approach, operational processes, spend, structure, and talent.
The HoBT will manage, directly and indirectly, all of its moving parts as the plan is executed, and will ensure alignment with the corporate strategy. The role should provide perspectives independent of decisions of the past, and will have interaction and support from the CEO, and top executives involved in the program. The HoBT of will drive an effective partnership and collaboration with Booking.com employees that are supporting the initiatives. The HoBT of will be an experienced, highly capable leader and role model for the behaviours required to encourage and embed change.
The main objectives for the HoBT of will be:
- Lead transformation: Conduct regular analysis to ensure program is focused on delivering maximum value and that initiative executives and owners are accountable to deliver on commitments
- Make decisions: Make prompt and effective decisions, evaluate trade-offs across the program and escalate critical decisions to Sponsor when relevant
- Report progress and run governance: Run weekly Transformation program meetings; Report to Executive Committee on a regular basis
- Resourcing: Play a key role in ensuring owners have/maintain the skills to lead initiatives and search new talent with the required capabilities for selected initiatives
Key Responsibilities:
- Represent the Transformation Program to the leadership team;
- Develop, along with the leadership team, the program priorities and roadmap;
- Mobilize and coach executives and resources and hold the various stakeholders accountable for delivering on their initiatives;
- Drive an effective partnership and collaboration with all resources that are supporting the program;
- Ensure that the executive sponsor is apprised on the status of the program in a timely and accurate fashion;
- Work within the approved governance structure to ensure coordination and alignment of the individual strategic initiatives with one another, as well as with the overall program;
- Secure sponsorship of the initiating sponsor and other key executives, as required, for the success of the program;
- Maintain a broad focus on the overall program, the intended business outcomes,and the progress toward those outcomes;
- Ensure that execution risks are surfaced early, and that risk mitigation is both planned and executed in a timely fashion;
- Achieve the intended business results of the program. This is a shared responsibility with the program initiating and sustaining sponsors;
- Acts as a'change leader' role model in all interactions.
Key Skills
Ideal Experience & Skills:
- Bachelor's degree in computer science, or computer engineering. Masters or advanced degree is preferred;
- Experience working in a fast-paced and results-oriented environment, diligence mindset and ability to charge forward, remaining calm yet strong under fire;
- Provenability to develop and execute enterprise-level strategy resulting in material business improvement;
- A track record of building strong, trust-based counselling relationships with senior executives;
- Broad business experience in multiple functions (a strong cross-functional background) including:
- Strong operational background: operations leadership and experience of working with front-line employees;
- Financial acumen: P&L, cash, working capital, CAPEX.
Required Capabilities:
- The program is complex and broad-ranging. An ability to abstract and to see and present the big picture is critical. This includes the ability to help others see their part in the context of the overall design and requires excellent planning skills.
- The program must be sold to the business community. The HoBT of must be an effective influencer and possess strong business acumen to represent the impact and benefits of the program in business terms.
- Once planned, the components of the project must be tracked and managed. Ability to manage many moving parts is required, and in particular, the ability to facilitate and lead an accelerated program cadence
- The HoBT of must be able to maintain an independent and unbiased perspective across progress and issues.
- The analytic side of the program requires a leader who can quickly evaluate initiatives value to bottom line and is a forward thinker who uses the experience gained to-date to see the way ahead for the project.
- Progress will not come without issues, and skilled conflict management and political savvy will be required.
- The HoBT of will involve a large number of people. The HoBT must be strong, able to communicate the vision and the plans, create the accountability required to drive results, build a strong team, and lead this team through successful execution.
- Last, but definitely not least, this individual must be a leader. The HoBT will be a figurehead and act as a role model for the transformation team, the sponsors, and the executive group.
Other Personal Characteristics:
- Character traits: open mind, learning attitude, transparent behavior, positive, overachiever, strong communicator, proactive and collaborative;
- Strategic thinker yet focused on execution; able to roll up sleeves to get things done;
- Able to function in a fast-moving entrepreneurial environment;
- Datadriven, experimental, ready to learn and open to change;
- Keep the customer at the centre of everything you do;
- Good cultural and organizational sensitivity;
- Committed to building a diverse, inclusive work environment.
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.