Senior Project Manager - Machine Learning

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 40 languages, offer more than +28 million total reported listings, and cover +140K destinations in +200 countries worldwide.

Across our offices worldwide, we continue to innovate. To solve for some of the most complex challenges in travel and technology, and to plan for the exciting developments that lie ahead. With strategic long-term investments into what we believe the future of travel can be, we are opening up new career opportunities that will have a strong impact on our mission. We are united in the belief that our very human desire to explore the planet’s beauty and discover more about other people and cultures will endure. The world is waiting for us. Together, we will be ready.

We are currently seeking a senior project manager who will be responsible for the governance and project management of initiatives within the Central ML (CML) department. In this role, you will be responsible mainly for managing the different applied research projects managed within CML and work closely with Machine Learning Scientists and principal product managers, ensuring the applied research projects are made to production and answer prioritized business requirements. In addition, you will be working closely with a senior director, helping manage different projects that helps us improve the overall work experience of our ML practitioners across Booking.com. You will be leading the overall yearly plan for the ML craft and supporting the director in managing and running the overall operations for executing the different craft’s projects.

The successful candidate will partner with various ML teams and other business units to support, and proactively work with them, to facilitate the work occurring between them and the business units and centralized functions. You will ensure the teams roadmaps/plans focus on agreed business priorities, dependencies and strategies aligned across CML and Central Tech priorities - crafted based on data and business needs, and delivered against the shared objectives & goals.

In addition, you will be accountable for providing assurance that projects within CML are managed & organized in a consistent manner, whilst working with the different business units & central functions within Booking.com to build engagement and where needed governance over decisions needed for work to be signed off. In some cases, the role requires dealing with external vendors and managing external stakeholders.

Your will structure, plan, coordinate, and enable individual teams/departments to execute, while keeping the overall objectives & success in sight. We seek a strong stakeholder manager who will take full ownership and accountability for projects with a global scope.

Key responsibilities of the Senior Project Manager -ML:

• Support Program Management function to build the Program & Portfolio Management structure for our applied research group to be inline with the rest of the organization.
• Apply structured methodology to and lead project/change management activities
• Own the successful delivery of the end-to-end project lifecycle. Starting from ideation till the closure of the project.
• With limited supervision, lead medium/high complexity projects with global impact (cross-functional) driving them through execution, analysis, recommendation and implementation
• Manage project Actions, Risks, Issues and Dependencies, including appropriate critical issues and anticipates bottlenecks while balancing business needs with technical constraints
• Develop and run a resource scheduling process that enables prioritization and capacity planning to be realized for the different phases of projects/initiatives such as of Scoping, Delivery, Testing, Change & Learning and Knowledge Management
• Engage and influence stakeholders inside and if required outside of the organization: work collaboratively with business unit partners and corporate support teams to drive enterprise strategy execution and partner on segment or functional strategy projects
• Interacts with project sponsors, project stakeholders and multiple business and technical teams to define and document requirements, key design decisions.
• Contribute to the Project scoping and Planning by helping to document the project goal, OKRs, roadmap and main deliverables.
• Track and report progress; Creates clear planning documents together with involved departments
• Ability to work and productively interact with different stakeholders up to senior Director level.

The Senior Project Manager - skilled at:

• 5 years solid experience as a project manager role, with a consistent record of successfully project managing and delivering projects within R&D or product organizations
• Working experience on machine learning or Data is highly preferred
• Working experience and managing projects through Jira (MUST), Jira Align (preferred)
• Ability to lead multiple low /medium complexity projects or portfolio of projects
• Flexible and adaptable; able to work in ambiguous situations
• Strong stakeholders management skills, mostly technical stakeholders
• Good business acumen and understanding of organizational issues, challenges & dependencies
• Organized with a natural inclination for planning strategy and tactics based on various situations
• With limited supervision, ability to use quantitative and qualitative data to drive decision making
• Strategic thinking, able to contribute to long term department vision and program management track
• Strong problem solving and root cause identification skills
• Ability to establish and maintain strong relationships (both within a team and with wider stakeholders) with ability to work effectively and influence up to Director level
• Effectively communicate in small/medium groups; Strong influencer in 1:1 and small groups
• PMP or Agile Project Management or equivalent certification is preferred.

Booking.com’s Total Rewards Philosophy is not only about compensation but also about benefits. Our Total Rewards are aimed to make it easier for you to experience all that life has to offer—all the messy, beautiful, and joyful bits—on your terms. So you can focus on w hat really matters. We offer competitive compensation as well as thoughtful, valuable, and even fun benefits which include:

• Health, life, and disability insurance
• Annual paid time off and generous paid leave scheme including: parent, grandparent, bereavement, and care leave
• Hybrid working including flexible working arrangements, and up to 20 days per year working from abroad (home country)
• Industry leading product discounts for yourself, friends, and family, including automatic Genius Level 3 status and Booking.com wallet credit
• Free access to online learning platforms, development and mentorship programs, and a complimentary Headspace membership
• On-site meals, coffee, and snacks, including healthy and vegan options, daily

Inclusion, Diversity, Belonging, Wellbeing and Volunteering (IDBWV) have been a core part of our company culture since day one. This ongoing journey starts with our very own employees, who represent over 140 nationalities and a wide range of ethnic and social backgrounds, genders and sexual orientations. Take it from our Chief People Officer, Paulo Pisano: “At Booking.com, the diversity of our people doesn’t just create a unique workplace, it also creates a better and more inclusive travel experience for everyone. Inclusion is at the heart of everything we do. It’s a place where you can make your mark and have a real impact in travel and tech.” We will ensure that individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable adjustment to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and to receive other benefits and privileges of employment.

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.

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.