Software Engineering Director (For independent contractors)

Marketplace owns the overall traveler experience. They truly understand traveler behavior across multiple verticals and are responsible to define and achieve our product vision.

The Marketplace Business Unit drives travelers into the right vertical funnel at the right time and will increase connected trip (multi-vertical) transactions as well as traveler loyalty through Genius. Marketplace manages the common parts of our website and app, provides product capabilities that are required across BUs and sets common product standards.

Trip Management and Order Mission and Purpose

The purpose of the Trip Management & Order organization is to turn bookings into flawless trip experiences. To fulfill this commitment we need to constantly stay on top of potential and actual trip disruptions, ensure the traveler is proactively and timely supported whenever they need help and can securely and reliably use our support channels.

Trip Management is a large-scale challenge, addressing 38M upcoming trips every day. Connected trips and traveler support needs are growing rapidly and we need to meet and exceed the growing expectations and needs associated with this. One of the initiatives in our portfolio is introducing a ‘frontline AI support’ to help our customers instantly when they need help and connect them to one of our specialised agents or partners when needed. We are also working relentlessly to provide our internal stakeholders platforms for the management of every order within Booking.com and all cross-vertical experiences from stays to flights and attractions, as well as platforms for the communication between agents, travellers, and supply partners.

In 2026 TMO is doubling down on making trip‑level experiences real (Order Platform + trip management + conversational/AI support), while improving CS efficiency and maturing its platforms, tech health, and operating model.

Given the nature of the portfolio the area has significant dependencies, both business and technology related, across almost the full landscape of Booking.com, with significant collaboration and coordination required with each of the BUs.

We are looking for a technology leader to lead this portfolio, partnering with the Data and Product leaders to deliver on our ambition for the Connected Trip. The person in this role will need to drive delivery and evolve the capabilities of this area.

Responsibilities:

You will be:

• Developing deep partnership with senior Technology, Data and Product leadership mapping out our long term technology vision, strategy and roadmap to ensure capabilities within the BU are fit for the future and have a clear evolution path

  
  

• Defining and develop the operating model for their team that is linked clearly to, and delivers against, the strategic objectives of their BU and Booking.com

  
  

• Developing a sustainable, high performance organization

  
  

• Leading, inspiring and motivating a team, setting clear expectations around what success looks like, giving ownership and providing clarity when necessary

  
  

• Ensuring that future technology investments and capabilities are widely socialized, understood, prioritized and aligned so that they are built effectively into medium to long term planning horizons   

  
  

• Communicate strategy in a compelling manner to multiple teams and stakeholders

  
  

• Create a learning environment by coaching, maintaining two-way feedback, helping people extract & share personal learnings, and supporting teams to constantly adapt

  
  

• Foster the engineering culture; innovate, work as a team and celebrate success

  
  

• Build a world class team through nurturing, attracting, and retaining tech talent from around the world

  
  

• Lead, influence and own delivery within your function including department goals

  
  

• Maintain focus on the end goal, minimise risk and remove roadblocks for our strategic agenda

  
  

• Foster mastery in engineering craftsmanship across Booking.com including shaping ways of working

  
  

• Own Technology-wide topics and help lead and grow the department

  
  

• Identify problems and significantly improve, change or adapt existing methods and techniques drawing from personal experiences and feedback

  
  

• Shape, define and build new services, processes and operational plans in alignment with the commercial and financial needs of the business

  
  

• Make decisions in complex and ambiguous situations, and guide others in their decision making by recognizing and challenging assumptions, introducing relevant data and multiple perspectives

  
  

• Ensure that the Booking architecture principles and engineering practices are adhered to, and that there is direction and alignment for each product

  
  

• Anticipate the need for changes based on context, and set renewed courses of action to engage teams and achieve goals, while striving to make the impact clear and understandable

Ideal Experience & Skills:

You have:

• Deep technical experience related in Software Engineering

  
  

• Tech leadership experience with demonstrated success of building, shaping and leading a cross functional Engineering function

  
  

• Industry experience at fast moving, innovative global technology companies

  
  

• Experience operating large, Internet scale applications and distributed systems spanning multiple languages, platforms, front and back end services, networks and public cloud platforms (AWS)

  
  

• Deep understanding of technology, with a proven track record of designing and building platforms at scale

  
  

• Able to provide technical direction to the teams (driving tech strategy, making build vs. buy decisions, prioritising etc.)

  
  

• Demonstrable expertise in leading in Agile environments and more importantly an Agile culture and ethos

  
  

• Demonstrable experience of setting, leading and influencing both the Engineering and Business strategy for the medium and long-term

  
  

• Experience with managing and coaching teams of senior tech leaders including building and growing teams

Other personal characteristics

• Character traits: open minded, with a learning attitude, transparent behavior, positive, overachiever, strong communicator, proactive and collaborative

  
  

• Strategic thinker yet focused on execution; able to roll up sleeves and get things done

  
  

• Able to function in a fast-moving entrepreneurial environment

  
  

• Data driven, experiment-oriented, ready to learn and open to change

  
  

• Keeping the customer at the center of everything you do

  
  

• Good cultural and organizational sensitivity

  
  

• Committed to building a diverse and inclusive work environment