Director of CS Product

ABOUT US

At Booking.com, our mission is to make it easier for everyone to experience the world. We are committed to providing our customers with a seamless and enjoyable experience at every step of their journey. Our Customer Service team is at the heart of this mission, and we are dedicated to equipping them with state-of-the-art tools, technologies and platforms that elevate customer satisfaction, unlock new services, innovate our process and enable our customer service agents to focus fully on delivering the best service experience possible.

Booking.com's Customer Service is essential for an exceptional global service experience, driving competitive advantage. We aim to enable a Connected Trip Support Experience, fostering loyalty and delivering significant business value. Serving travelers and partners across 40+ sites, 40+ languages, and over 10,000 agents globally, we operate in a complex, dynamic, and highly matrixed environment, ensuring agile, high-quality, and collaborative efforts for the best customer experience and strong business value.

We are seeking a visionary Director of Product that sets clear expectations and leads the evolution of our Customer Service platforms, including the Agent Desktop, CRM (Pega), and omnichannel solutions towards effective, agile execution of the vision and strategy. You will be pivotal in shaping the future of our customer service technology and driving transformative innovations.

POSITION SUMMARY

The Director of CS Product will play a pivotal role in shaping the future of our customer service technology landscape. This role requires a strategic thinker that is also delivery-oriented, and has deep expertise and experience of technological innovation, and product management. A good understanding and interest in Customer Service would be preferred. You will collaborate with a diverse team of professionals across Customer Service, IT, and Product Management to ensure our tools and platforms are intuitive, robust, and aligned with our overarching business goals.

You will be at the forefront of defining the long-term product vision, identifying user needs, and optimizing the Customer Service Journey. Your expertise will be crucial in creating the roadmap, ensuring seamless implementation, and continuously improving our service quality. Help us develop effective innovations and take our customer experience to a new level.

As Product Director, you're responsible for forecasting and managing resource allocation (FTE/budget) for your teams to achieve their ambitions, balancing short-term and long-term initiatives, and with a focus on good budget management.

One of your core focus areas is on developing and maturing your organisation and team members, whilst collaborating and co-planning with other organisations within CS and across business units. You are expected to excel at managing and developing people, with a particular sympathy and understanding of the needs of product managers.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Develop and articulate the product vision and strategy for the user journey and service provision of Customer Service through the customer service tools and platforms, ensuring alignment with Booking.com's objectives and customer expectations;
• Lead the end-to-end product lifecycle management, from ideation and requirements gathering to development, launch, and continuous optimization;
• Engage with stakeholders to understand business processes, identify pain points, and define requirements for system enhancements and new features;
• Lead and provide clear insights on progress to-date, challenge or major decisions that require engagement at LT level through strong communications through different channels, owning the narrative and ability to respond swiftly to change;
• Align, collaborate and ensure clear joint objectives with the Director of CS Service & Process Design and the Director of CS Tech with the goal of having one roadmap and effective ways of working across the teams, function agnostic, agile cross-functional teams towards common goals;
• Engage closely with engineering, design, process, as well as other product teams across the business and customer service teams to ensure successful product delivery, user adoption, and high-quality performance, using experimentation to test different approaches and measure impact;
• Develop and manage and prioritize the multi-year product roadmap, balancing short-term operational needs with long-term strategic initiatives, and incorporating and effective CS-based experimentation frameworks to drive innovation and ensure strong implementation and execution towards plan;
• Oversee the integration and enhancement of key customer service systems, including the Agent Desktop, CRM platform (Pega), workflow management, complex routing tools, and omni channel solutions, exploring opportunities to implement AI-powered automation and analytics;
• Monitor and analyze product performance metrics, leveraging data analytics and user feedback to drive continual improvement and innovation, including A/B testing and AI-driven insights;
• Stay abreast of industry trends and emerging technologies, assessing their applicability and potential impact on our customer service ecosystem;
• Lead the 3rd party strategic platform vendor relationships from a CS Product perspective in collaboration with your tech counterpart and vendor management, accountable for maximizing the value creation in partnership;
• Ensure clear design and decision-making for user journeys and tools within our matrixed teams whilst ensuring we get our platforms to be easy to manage and operate and striving for a low-code environment;
• Support and enable effective and consistent ways of working across cross-functional teams and Group Product Managers' scope areas with clear KPIs and Health Metrics Measurements in place;
• Provide leadership, mentorship, and development opportunities to a team of group product managers, (senior) product managers and other team members, fostering a positive culture of excellence, can-do attitude and continuous learning emphasizing the importance of​ AI literacy and deep knowledge of our customer, customer service operations and keeping up-to-date with the power of the platforms we operate with.

• Bachelor's degree in Business, Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field; MBA or advanced degree preferred;
• 12+ years of experience in Product Management, of which 8 years in a leadership role, with a significant focus on customer service experience, tools and platforms;
• Extensive knowledge of CRM and workflow management systems (Pega preferred) is highly preferred as is experience of the Customer Service Domain;
• Experienced in Agile, Scrum, and Waterfall methodologies, knowing which to use when. Skilled at understanding complex problems and organizing teams to solve them;
• Proven experience with complex routing systems and OMNI channel solutions in the customer service and self-service primarily post-book environment;
• Demonstrated ability to lead and influence cross-functional teams and manage multiple high-priority projects concurrently as well as 3rd party software relationships effectively;
• Exceptional analytical, problem-solving, and decision-making skills;
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to engage and inspire team members, stakeholders at all organizational levels;
• A track record of delivering innovative products through 3rd party solutions that enhance customer service operations and drive significant business results;
• Proven track record of creating, managing and inspiring high performing teams towards joint success. With a particular sympathy and understanding of the needs of product managers. They, along with craft leaders, put in place the frameworks for career growth for product managers in their organization;
• Experience in continuously managing the resourcing demand for the product team.

• Join a dynamic and collaborative environment where your contributions make a tangible impact on customers' experiences;
• Lead initiatives that shape the future of technology in one of the world's leading online travel platforms;
• Competitive salary and comprehensive benefits package, including health insurance, retirement plans, and professional development support;
• A global, diverse, and inclusive workplace that values different perspectives and encourages personal growth.