Background As Booking.com envisions a future in which it will serve customers a one-stop solution for all travel-related needs, we are working towards offering a fully ‘Connected Trip’, in which every aspect of the travel experience can be planned and booked through us. To accelerate the further development of our Connected Trip strategy, we have formed the Horizontal Business Unit, Marketplace, that focuses on the end-to-end customer experience. Led by the SVP Marketplace, who reports to the Chief Business Officer of Booking.com and is on the Booking.com Leadership Team, the Marketplace Business Unit is responsible for the overarching traveller experience on our platform, including traveller-facing journeys that are common across verticals, as well as our customer loyalty program, and company-wide Experimentation capabilities. Booking.com's Marketplace Department turns travel goals into travel realities. Our purpose? To create frictionless experiences at each and every stage of the trip. From browsing to booking and beyond, our focus is on building the connected experiences which make journeys smoother, faster and more enjoyable. Think of us as travel matchmakers, ensuring seamless integration across our product verticals to effortlessly and intuitively connect traveler preferences and actions. The Marketplace mission is to truly understand traveller needs and behaviour across multiple verticals, design and implement common traveller-facing product experiences, steward travellers to the right vertical offering, and grow Connected Trips, where travellers not only book hotels or homes, but also flights, car rentals, rides, and local attractions with us. The long-term mission of Marketplace is to grow traveller loyalty through delivering phenomenal product experience, by evolving our customer loyalty program, and by ensuring Booking.com supports our travellers in the right way throughout their trip. Marketplace Business Unit runs the common parts of our website and app, as well as is responsible for key Booking.com-wide capabilities, such as the User Experience, Experimentation Platform, Measurement, and operational Predictive ML models. Profile Imagine revolutionising the travel experience, being a key contributor to accelerating our Connected Trip strategy. As VP Product Experience, you will advance Booking.com Product, UX Design, and Content capabilities, and partner with the senior leaders across the organisation to deliver customer value through innovative Product Experiences. As a key member of the Marketplace Leadership Team, you will lead the Marketplace Product, UX Design, and Content areas, and play a critical role in building the Marketplace traveller-facing products and delivering on the promise of the Connected Trip to our travelers. You will act as a key Product and UX Design Partner towards the SVP of Marketplace and her LT. Collaborating closely with Data/AI and Technology leaders, you will also be a key Product and UX Design Partner to Marketing and Vertical BUs, collaborating with them on developing and optimising consistent and value-adding end-to-end traveller experience. You will be a key contributor to the Product Strategy and implementation, steering the growth of the Connected Trip across Booking.com. You will drive data-driven innovation and product development, through ownership of key traveler-facing journeys and User Experience and Design components across Booking.com and by ensuring excellence in the Product Experimentation Quality, Innovation, Customer Centricity and AI-first personalization. You will be working in partnership with the AI / ML team and Technology team at the Marketplace to develop product experiences that take full advantage of the pioneering AI techniques that create value to travelers. You will collaborate closely with the Product leaders across our Marketing, Trips, and Accommodation Business Units, and with your peer in the Marketplace who leads Genius, our Booking-wide Loyalty Program, to develop and deliver on the Connected Trip promise to our travelers. As VP Product Experience, you are accountable for the product roadmaps that deliver common, vertical agnostic, traveller experiences. You look at the end-to-end traveller experience, identify the most impactful moments, and translate these into a product strategy that can guide multiple years of product development across all of the Booking.com business units. You set common Product/UX standards that apply to all traveller-facing surfaces, doing so with the intent to leave as much space for vertical specific innovation, especially in the high intent conversion funnel, as is practical. You directly own the roadmaps for product surfaces common to travellers of all verticals, for example the home page and the trip management area, and one of your key activities is to direct each traveller to the most appropriate funnel experience - whether that is to transact, to research or to seek Customer Service information. This role offers a chance to make a significant impact on our company and the travel tech industry. If you're ready to lead with innovation and shape the future of travel, this is the role for you! KEY RESPONSIBILITIES: Leadership: Team leadership of 350+ FTEs. You are responsible for the Product team building and delivering Marketplace-owned Product Experiences and Platform Products, as well as leading the UX Design and Content organizations that operate across Booking.com; Collaborating with senior leaders across Data, Tech, Product, Marketing within the Marketplace and other BUs to build the best User Experiences for our travelers; You will set a long-term strategy for the Marketplace Product and UX Design capabilities as part of customer-centric product development and the overarching Booking.com Connected Trip Strategy; You will implement the ways of working and the operating model for the Product, UX Design, and Content teams that accelerate delivery, ensure that our roadmaps are well-grounded in the customer needs and take advantage of the latest technology innovations, and that the operating rhythms and success metrics are clearly defined and operate in collaboration with the Product, Data and Technology teams, both within the Marketplace and across the BUs; You will represent Booking.com and Marketplace Product and UX Design internally and externally, driving visibility, education, and collaboration amongst fields; You will be responsible for the Product and UX Design craft excellence across Booking.com, ensuring that the professionals in this job community are set up for success in their skill development, career paths, and by promoting cross-functional collaboration; You will contribute to building a strong Marketplace leadership team and aligning senior leaders across Booking.com on Product Experience, and on delivering consistent and valuable customer journeys across all of Booking.com; You will collaborate closely with Marketing, to ensure a consistent and personalized customer journey strengthened by Product Marketing levers and joint understanding of the customer needs; You will collaborate closely with the leader of the Genius Program - a pioneering Loyalty program at Booking.com - and leaders within Marketplace and other BUs who drive commercial incentives to ensure the best value for our travelers. Strategy and Requirements: Develop and implement the Product Experience roadmap to empower Connected Trip strategy and support the Customer Loyalty program. Stay abreast of traveller needs and the opportunities for innovative ways to address them, by applying emerging technologies like Gen AI, pioneering UX Design best practices, and cross-functional collaboration projects that holistically improve the customer journey. Business Insights: Build great products by leveraging customer centric and market insights, building for measurable impact, implementing an effective operating model, and a strong eye for business value across the Product, UX Design, and Content teams; Partner with senior leaders to drive measurable customer value from the Products we build; Equip Product teams with data insights for web and app performance, and a clear link between our product levers and measurable customer outcomes; Partner with Data, AI, and Tech leaders to embed data-driven decision-making in product development. Product Capabilities: You will build products and will be accountable for the Marketplace Product roadmaps and delivery alongside the end-to-end horizontal traveler experience: from search and discovery to trip planning, trip management, in-trip and post-trip support, as well as some of the key Product Platform capabilities enabling the consistent traveler experience; You will lead the UX Design and Content teams that are serving the entire Booking.com organization and ensure that our UX is consistent and meets the best industry standards; You will lead the Content organization whose mission is to ensure that our user and partner-generated content, as well as UX writing, Content integrity, and other Content work create the most value for our travelers. Innovation and Standards: Prototype and evaluate new product ideas, focusing on advances in Gen AI, Machine Learning, and UX interactive design; Set common standards, operating rhythms, and success metrics across Marketplace Product, Tech, and Data teams, ensuring team alignment and empowering collaboration and prioritisation across teams and tracks. DESIRED OUTCOMES: Increase high-quality traffic to verticals from shared product surfaces (homepage, cross-sell, promotions) to boost bookings; Deliver shared capabilities that enhance connected trips and unify user experiences (price bundling, user segmentation), improving decision-making and product development; Drive company loyalty by enhancing the connected trip experience, driving metrics like app engagement and repeat business. IDEAL EXPERIENCE & SKILLS Product Experience Leadership: Extensive experience in leading Product and UX Design teams through organisational change in a large-scale complex organizational environment. Strong executive business partnering skills; Ability to mentor and develop senior Product, UX Design, and Content leaders on their craft skills, strategic insights, and business partnering with diverse peers across the organisation; Strong eye for business, as evidenced by using insights to identify and drive growth levers by building great products in the context of an international online consumer business (ideally, a marketplace business); Experience with shaping, implementing, and evolving company-wide operating models and standards for product development, with an eye on the commercial impact, customer value, and in line with regulatory guardrails. People Leadership, Business Partnering and Cross-functional Team Management/collaboration: Building and leading cross-functional teams of Product and UX Design professionals at scale. Developing craft skills and stakeholder management abilities, and ensuring effective and engaged teams operating in both central and federated settings; Delivering measurable customer impact and sustaining quality standards and shared methodologies for Product development; Operating as an equal business partner to Business, Data, Product, and Technology counterparts, co-creating solutions for customer problems and building on each others’ strengths; Collaborating with Marketing to build and deliver seamless valuable experiences. Collaboration and Customer Impact: Consistent track record in collaboration and delivering customer impact; Strong collaboration skills with Data, Marketing, Finance, and Technology teams; Success in using data and insights to improve customer engagement and experience. Expertise in Decision Sciences and Measurement: Using diverse types of customer data and insights for hypothesis-driven Product Development. CRITICAL LEADERSHIP CAPABILITIES Acting Strategically Develop a clear strategic vision for the Product and UX Design craft, aligned with the overall company strategy; Provides clear direction for the organisation, leading to actionable changes across multiple operations or functions; Engages in scenario planning that incorporates new information or innovative thinking to gain significant advantage or impact; Resourcefully navigates diverse interests and perspectives to facilitate collaboration and alignment, ultimately contributing to the achievement of our overarching company goal: the Connected Trip. Getting Results Responds resourcefully, flexibly, and positively when faced with new challenges and demands. Optimally deals with complexities of various situations. Moves forward productively under conditions of change or uncertainty; Demonstrates and champions a sense of urgency, a “can-do” spirit, a sense of optimism, ownership, and a strong commitment to achieving goals and organisational success; Demonstrates a strong sense of ownership and a commitment to achieving meaningful results; Facilitates alignment on critical decisions related to the Connected Trip strategy by involving relevant collaborators, gathering input, and building consensus; Reviews performance and progress on a regular basis to ensure teams are achieving results; Tests to see if goals are sufficiently bold and implement corrective actions when things get off track; Finds opportunities and translates them into actionable steps, whether it is for business growth, improving customer experience, or increasing employee productivity and engagement. Establishing relationships, Collaborating and Influencing Effective collaborator and influencer, forming relationships at both the team and executive levels; Takes time to identify and engage with collaborators, seeking consensus and/or understanding; Identifies opportunities to build and enhance relationships that help others achieve their objectives, reaching out proactively; Promotes collaboration and partnership among multiple parties inside the organisation; Orchestrates events for key players and collaborators to engage in dialogue and shape consensus, plays a leading and visible role in those events; Champions a culture where people feel valued and respected and leverages even difficult or tense circumstances to enhance relationships; Possesses strong conflict resolution skills to navigate and resolve disagreements and disputes among team members, departments, or collaborators, fostering an atmosphere of collaboration; Shows strength in negotiation techniques to bring parties with varying interests to a mutually beneficial agreement, ultimately contributing to the success of the Connected Trip initiative. OTHER PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS Impeccable Integrity Embodies and practises premier ethical standards. Creates an environment of trust by acting with fairness and consistency, keeping commitments and providing rationale for decisions. Open Mind A resilient and committed executive with a flexible, collaborative and open operating style; non-political and non-bureaucratic; someone with a natural and effective consultative approach who will gain the trust and respect of individuals at all levels. Excellent Communication Skills Maintains an open flow of two-way communication, exhibiting strong verbal, written and presentation skills, stating expectations clearly and being visible to all collaborators. A person with strong intellectual capabilities who can hold their own yet support the ultimate decision. A creative problem solver who is willing to acknowledge the past and build forward. Ego Maturity A highly motivated, credible and mature operating executive, with high confidence in their superior professional skills and ability to drive decisions. A balanced leader with an appropriate blend of modesty, calm demeanour and professional will to win. 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.
