Established in 1996 in Amsterdam, Booking.com has grown from a small Dutch start-up to the third largest e-commerce company 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 approximately $80 billion.
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 travellers 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. Booking.com also offers its customers the ability to book flights, rental cars, attractions and taxis as a one-stop-shop for a connected trip. The Booking.com website and mobile apps are available in over 40 languages, offer more than +28 million total reported listings, and cover +140K destinations in +200 countries worldwide.
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As Sr Legal Counsel, Product (AI and Machine Learning), you will report to the Sr Managing Counsel for AI and Machine Learning (ML) Product and work as part of the broader product counsel function. You will work directly with a number of business units who build, train and make use of AI and ML (including GenAI) to fuel insights, productivity and great products.You will act as a central pivot point for these teams partnering with them to ensure their use of AI and ML and generation of new product is legally sound and compliant with a range of regulatory requirements. In particular you will; manage a pipeline of AI product initiatives requiring risk assessment and review, as well generating and maintaining AI policy, playbooks, guidelines and good practice. You will be responsible for carrying out a wide range of legal tasks in this space, as so should be an all rounder and 'T-shaped lawyer'. Ideally you will have;
- Deep knowledge of, and experience practically applying, platform, technology, data and emerging AI regulations
- An ability to clearly communicate the impact of such regulations on business and product strategy
- Experience working with AI, ML and product teams (you will be able to speak their language)
- Experience managing work across a number of workstreams at high pace
- Ability to effectively communicate and engage with senior stakeholders in the business in this space .
- Experience synthesizing advice from multiple specialist legal teams to deliver practical 'one voice' advice to the business.
You will bring to the other members of the Legal & Public Affairs team matters requiring escalation, collaboration or further analysis - although you will also spend much of your time acting independently and collaborating directly with business and operational counterparts.
You will also play a key role in shaping, testing and experimenting the legal product review process, including how Booking.com's Legal & Public Affairs department may itself make use of AI to be as effective as possible. Knowledge and experience in the field of legal technology, legal design and the use of AI by in-house legal teams will therefore be a bonus.
In your capacity as a member of the Product Counsel team of Booking.com you will also provide hands-on support to the other Product Counsels in the team in assessing, responding and supporting inquiries from Product teams across the company. You will also assist other members of the team in identifying efficient and scalable means of engaging the broader product community at Booking.com.
Key responsibilities:
- Running risk assessments which involves the understanding of legal and commercial risks (AI, IP, Data, Litigation, Contractual, Competition, Consumer, Platform Regulation), mapping that against a risk matrix and advising go or no go.
- Establish an effective means of receiving, interpreting and responding to requests for AI Product Counsel support from across the business
- Assist other members of the LPA team in managing material escalations and matters that have high strategic value, or material risk or exposure to the company collaboratively
- Assist other members of the LPA team in managing regulatory compliance and litigation
- Liaising with the Compliance team in maintaining the Regulatory Change Management Program as required
- Respond to Product Owner queries and help coordinate requests for input and legal advice for various Product Initiatives, particularly AI and ML related (but not limited to) from across Booking.com that are generated by our internal risk assessment processes
- Carrying out other tasks as required to enhance the effectiveness of the Product & FinTech team
Skills required:
- Bachelor's Degree or equivalent of education and related experience
- Minimum of 5 to 8 years experience in a legal role or with a legal qualification
- Innovative: the ability to meet complex challenges with innovative solutions that will apply successfully across multiple practice areas and jurisdictions
- Ability to empathise with the regulatory expectations of regulators, review output and communicate with fluidity and precision in dealings with regulators or plaintiffs in adverse litigation
- Curiosity about and interest in exploring legal technologies and tech-enabled efficiencies; experience with multiple legal tech solutions is a plus
- Expertise in data presentation in regulatory contexts
- Very strong organizational and project management skills. Capable of handling multiple projects/initiatives simultaneously and executing to completion
- A natural problem-solver and strategic thinker, comfortable with ambiguity and able to bring structure to challenging situations
- Someone who is always looking for opportunities to drive efficiency through appropriate use of the right technologies
- Strong communication skills, particularly clear and concise written communication
- A natural at building consensus and working with multiple stakeholders to drive projects to completion.
Further skills we are looking for:
- Aligning with Booking.com's Values (Think Customer First, Succeed Together, Own It, Learn Forever, Do the Right Thing)
- Ability to make risk-based decisions and to escalate high risks to management
- Being curious, flexible, and a creative & pragmatic problem solver
- Ability to contribute to and manage legal projects
- Confident yet collaborative
- Ability to influence stakeholders across all levels within the organisation
- Being proactive, resilient and having the drive to get things done
- Having sound judgment and the ability to see the big picture and simultaneously appreciate the details necessary to operationalise the strategy
- Having the courage to take positions and make tough judgment calls
- Being a team player, self aware and a good listener - a diverse group will always find the best solution!
- Ability to move with agility, prioritise workloads and meet deadlines
- Forward thinking with an interest in emerging issues in legal and policy
Booking.com ensures equal employment opportunity to all employees and applicants. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, ancestry, colour, family or medical care leave, gender, gender identity, genetic information, marital status, medical condition, national origin, physical or mental disability, political affiliation, protected veteran status, race, religion, sex, pregnancy and childbirth, sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by applicable laws and regulations. We aspire to have a workplace that reflects all of the diverse communities we serve and we welcome and encourage candidates from all backgrounds and experiences to apply for roles on our team. We work to cultivate an inclusive culture in which all of our employees can be their authentic selves.
Why join the Legal & Public Affairs Team now?
Booking.com's Legal & Public Affairs team is on a transformational journey at a transformational time for e-commerce and travel (think: growth, innovation, changes to how we operate); you will have an opportunity to actively shape the Department's future. The Legal & Public Affairs team is also a critical part of the enablement of Booking.com's strategy of the Connected Trip (a travel experience that includes not just accommodation, but also transportation, attractions, experiences, payments, flights etc).
This is a journey that requires close business and Legal & Public Affairs partnerships to redefine our business model, navigate complex regulatory environments, build new products, and negotiate increasingly elaborate commercial deals, among other important projects our teams get involved every day. To tackle this mission, it all starts with a strong team passionate about growing Booking.com in an ethical and sustainable way!
Who we are:
To match our global footprint and the array of challenges we face, we are proud to highlight the diversity that exists across this group. We are a team of approximately 165 professionals - representing more than 35 nationalities - with lawyers qualified in many different countries, as well as non-lawyers with public policy, economics, compliance and risk backgrounds. Our team's previous experience spans across a multitude of industries with team members having worked for major global companies (including Uber, American Express, Airbnb, Amazon, Google, Nokia), tech and other startups, government entities (e.g., the Dutch Competition Authority), and reputable international law firms (e.g., Hogan Lovells, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Baker Mckenzie), and Public Affairs firms (e.g., FTI Consulting, FIPRA, Brunswick).
In addition to our day-to-day work, we actively seek opportunities for our team members to engage in the wider global legal and public affairs communities through speaking engagements, training programs, and association memberships. Some of our lawyers are Board members of Consumer Law associations, Competition Law associations, Privacy associations, etc. We also believe in actively engaging with stakeholders to share our insights on policies affecting the travel experience and how travel tech innovations can fuel the digital transformation of the travel industry. For example, we recently launched Booking.com's Public Affairs blog, where we publish our position on key policy issues (A World Worth Experiencing).
As a team, we believe in:
- Integrating with the Business and Legal having a "seat at the table": we are decision makers that can have a real impact on Booking.com's future
- Booking's mission of making it easier for everyone to experience the world. Travel helps people become more open minded, curious and flexible
- Allowing members of our teams to experience different areas or, if they want to be specialists, give them the tools to become more effective in their jobs
- Providing holistic legal and public affairs advice; our team should not work in silos
- Always looking for better ways of doing things, improving our Legal Operations function, innovating and exchanging best practices
- Accepting that it's okay to make mistakes as long as we learn from them
- Having a sense of humour and having fun working together; we are a team that likes to collaborate and share in joys and challenges together!
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.