HR Director Central Tech

About Booking.com

Established in 1996 in Amsterdam, Booking.com has grown from a small Dutch start-up to one of the largest ecommerce companies 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 roughly $166 billion (2025). Booking.com currently employs approximately 13,000 employees in 140 offices in 70 countries worldwide.

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 44 languages, offer more than 28M total reported listings, and cover over 174,000 destinations in 229 countries worldwide. Offering 30 different types of places to stay, including homes, apartments, B&Bs, hostels, farm stays, bungalows, even boats, igloos, and treehouses. So whether travelling for business or leisure, customers can instantly book their ideal accommodation quickly and easily, without booking fees and backed up by its promise to price match. Via the customer experience team, customers can reach Booking.com 24/7 for assistance and support in over 44 languages, any time of the day or night.

At Booking.com, we are all involved in making hundreds of decisions every day. The decisions we make are a reflection of our Values- they reflect what is important to us, both as individuals and as an organisation.

When Values are made explicit, they provide clarity on what "good" looks like. And when they are shared, they build unity in a group. They build culture.

Think customer first. We obsess about adding value for our customers- guests, partners, colleagues- to make it easier for everyone to experience the world.

Own it. We deliver on our promises, make informed decisions and prioritize to get the important things done today.

Learn forever. We are resilient, take time to reflect, and seek to learn- from colleagues, from the outside world and from our failures.

Succeed together. We celebrate team success, through making connections, building trust and valuing the diverse perspectives of others.

Do the right thing. We get the right results the right way. For each other, our communities and the world around us.

Profile HR Director, Central Technology

The HR Director for Central Technology will be a visible partner to the business, primary point of contact between the business organisations and HR senior management to address business needs requiring all HR capabilities including: organisational design, employee engagement & culture, talent acquisition, talent management, total rewards and employee relations. This will include strategically leading the Business HR team and also partnering closely with the SVP Central Technology (CTO) and their Leadership Team. This position will be based at Booking.com's headquarters office in Amsterdam, The Netherlands and report to our VP HR CBO (also based in Amsterdam).

• Understand the business, build relationships with Central Technology Department's' stakeholders, work with fellow business leaders to help them build a successful organization
• Lead People-related business initiatives for the Central Technology Department in synergy with Booking.com's global People organization, including organizational design, workforce planning, succession planning, compensation, benchmarking, etc.
• Design a comprehensive talent strategy with executive management to ensure successful execution of business objectives.
• Work with the Talent Acquisition team, Compensation, and Talent Management teams to develop and facilitate strategic recruiting solutions between the partners. Be the voice of the Central Technology Organisations within the People Department.
• Hold accountability for identifying, predicting and articulating key People related business challenges. Translate Central Technology Department's strategies into forward-thinking and actionable People plans. Set near-term priorities to support the annual business plan execution while simultaneously developing long-term human capital initiatives to prepare the business for further growth
• Hold responsibility for the organisational design and development measured through org health metrics, design principles, investment budget and productivity. Proactively participate in the budgeting and strategic planning process with a long term Org Design lens
• Identify capability or other people related gaps hindering achievement of business outcomes and ensure business is focused on solving root cause issues to improve organization effectiveness. Ensure planning, evaluation and implementation of talent mgmt and succession plans for critical ELT roles
• Act as the trusted partner towards the CTO in designing and executing Central Technology LT development journeys
• Coach executives and management on planning and communications related to change management
• Be a visible partner to the business, primary point of contact between the line organisations and HR senior management to address business needs touching all HR functions and capabilities
• A critical role in the formulation of long term HR strategy and accountability for delivery and adoption of long term global People strategy within the Central Technology organisation
• Hold accountability for driving global functional change across the organisation
• Proactively nurture and develop customer centric company culture, vision and values within the Central Technology organisation
• Partner with and coach the group of cross-BU Technology VPs (Tech Circle) in support of the global Technology Strategy delivery.

• Proven experience managing and implementing large scale HR programs, organizational design, change & transformation efforts in a technology company, specifically working with multi-capability business units.
• Knowledge leader, with demonstrated mastery in organizational development/design, change leadership, and overall talent management.
• A business leader, who is equally a builder of HR solutions based on HR best practices, as well as an astute business team member who employs solutions that affect the current and future performance of the business

• A strategic thinker yet focused on execution, with ability to derive actionable, forward looking insights from complex data sets
• Proven contribution to the effectiveness of the assigned business functions and of line management (leadership development), as well as anticipating and articulating strategic challenges, brokering broader HR function's expertise areas to advise with a long term impact lens
• Excellent coach in the individual and team relationships with highly developed influencing skills
• Past experience and exposure in navigating complex senior stakeholder groups
• Experimental, ready to learn and open to change
• Committed to building a diverse, inclusive work environment

• Strong executive presence and ability to communicate strategy clearly and simply
• Strong interpersonal skills, flexible and a positive attitude
• Self-motivated and able to take ownership of key topics
• Committed to building a diverse, inclusive work environment
• Strong cultural and organizational sensitivity
• Able to function in a fast-moving environment
• Unquestionable integrity