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. 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.

Booking.com the world’s leading accommodation website, is looking for a Senior Manager Public Affairs (Strategic Engagement) to lead the central content production and strategic positioning programmes. Based in Amsterdam the successful candidate will drive the public affairs narrative, create compelling content, manage the central content hub, and work to ensure impactful dissemination around the world. Furthermore, the role identifies and creates opportunities for Booking.com to engage with high level stakeholders, e.g. positioning senior leadership at thought leadership conferences or speaking opportunities with international organisations.

Responsibilities

As the Senior Manager Public Affairs (Strategic Engagement) you are responsible for:

• Lead central PA content creation, i.a. craft articles, op-eds, thought pieces and manage a central content hub to support stakeholder engagement globally
• Develop compelling, evidence-based policy communication materials, e.g. position papers, Q&As, infographics, videos, social-media content
• Closely follow political, regulatory and societal developments, and advice on their implications for Booking.com; contribute to better PA foresight and ensure the global PA strategy is in tune with these long-term trends
• Analyse policy issues and cooperate with local PA teams in defining and articulating Booking.com’s policy positions
• Develop and execute a global strategic engagement program, creating opportunities for engagement with high-level stakeholders, e.g. by identifying speaking opportunities for senior executives at relevant events
• Manage central distribution channels to amplify the reach and effectiveness of global PA engagement, in particular through the use of digital communications channels

Qualifications

The ideal Senior Public Affairs Manager (Strategic Engagement) will have:

• Master’s degree in Public Policy, Public Administration, Economics or fully qualified lawyer
• 8+ years of experience in a public policy oriented role, e.g. working in an international organization, government body, in-house, or consultancy; including
• 5+ years of experience working closely with in-house business, legal, public relations, and public affairs teams
• Proven track record in developing compelling content and positioning them in relevant fora; own publication history a plus
• Proven track record in working with senior executives (C-suite) and in creating and supporting high level engagement opportunities; own engagement with relevant stakeholder/media platforms a plus
• Experience and expertise in tech regulation and conversant in digital policy issues; good understanding of the economics of digital marketplaces (e.g. proven knowledge of microeconomics of strategy or game theory)
• Outstanding analytical skills and a strategic mindset
• Ability to write clearly and concisely
• Fluent in English; additional languages and international experience a plus.

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)
• Being curious, flexible, and a creative & pragmatic problem solver
• 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 judgement 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 90 professionals –  representing more than 25 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!

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