Senior Program Manager - CS Strategy and Delivery

About Us: At Booking.com, data drives our decisions. Technology is at our core. And innovation is everywhere. But our company is more than datasets, lines of code or A/B tests. We're the thrill of the first night in a new place. The excitement of the next morning. The friends you encounter. The journeys you take. The sights you see. And the memories you make. Through our products, partners and people, we make it easier for everyone to experience the world.

The Senior Program Manager is part of the Program Management Office Organization (PMO) that brings together our long term strategy and our operations, translating our strategic initiatives, goals and ambitions into actionable plans.

In this role, you will lead a team of program managers, project managers and senior technical project managers. The Global Program Management team owns the execution of the business strategy by delivering the strategic programs for CS. The Senior Program Manager is overall responsible for the management of the Unified Agent Desktop Program and Wave 3 & CS AI Programs, closely with teams in CS Platforms (Product) and CS Tech.

Role Description:

The Senior Program Manager must have demonstrated experience leading large cross-organizational programs and projects in a Product and Tech environment, and will have a deep technical background in technology/IT department. They must be able to thrive and succeed in an entrepreneurial environment, and not be hindered by ambiguity or competing priorities. This means not only being able to develop and drive high-level strategic initiatives, but also roll up your sleeves, dig in and help drive change.

• Lead by example on Project & Program management craft best practices and behaviors. Provide thought leadership, advice & support on Program Management including setting high quality standards both within the department as well as influence outside.

• Lead a high complex program or a portfolio of highly complex strategic or critical programs (e.g. complex change / transformational initiatives within the function and organization).

• Drives the program or portfolio of programs scoping and planning working with different teams and creating associated documentation.
• Brings clarity to sponsor, teams and stakeholders by defining and documenting program objectives, requirements and success criteria, KPIs, roadmap/E2E planning, risk and dependencies, cost estimates and in general program deliverables.

• Drive Program or Portfolio or Programs plan(s) execution, ensuring Program(s) objectives are met on agreed timelines. Brings program(s) to completion ensuring seamless Go-Live and smooth handover to operations
• Track and report status and progress of all streams of work, identifying and highlighting where required, risk/issues/dependencies to governance groups or team members/groups. Create plans and actions to mitigate/solve risks, issues and/or dependencies.

• Design and implement Portfolio's governance ensuring clarity on accountability, efficient communication and decision making
• Design and implement efficient cross-organisational structures and mechanisms to ensure program's/portfolio's long term success.
• Enable teams and leaders to make quality decisions and support in prioritization inside the Program.
• Can connect the dots and identify synergies, opportunities and risks/dependencies across projects/programs and able to elevate them at the portfolio level where appropriate

• Drive the progress and successful delivery of a set of large business initiatives that bring significant value to the business. They are the driving force that collaborates with multiple teams and departments to ensure that teams deliver significant change to the business covering the full scope, on agreed timelines and budget (where applicable).
• Exemplary role in change management best practices, including "embracing change/ growth" mindset.
• Encourages people to become change agents & embrace change.

• Collaborates with cross-functional teams across the business to identify & build action plans to improve the impact & experience for our customers, our business and our people (creating win-win). Productively interacts and manages senior stakeholders up to VP and MD level

• Define and measure the success metrics of the Program(s) in scope.

• Prepare and lead independently workshops to support the delivery of the Program(s)

• Recruit, mentor, and lead a team of approximately 7 FTEs, fostering a collaborative and high-performance culture.
• Provide clear direction, set performance expectations, and conduct regular performance reviews to ensure team members are meeting their goals and contributing to the program's success.
• Encourage professional development and growth within the team by identifying training opportunities and supporting career advancement.
• Promote a positive and inclusive work environment, ensuring that all team members feel valued and supported.
• Facilitate effective communication within the team and across other departments, ensuring alignment with the program's objectives and strategies.
• Lead by example, demonstrating Booking.com's values and behaviors, and acting as a role model for the team

• 10+ years of experience in project management, with a range of different methodologies and techniques.
• Strong project management skills/experience including experience with a range of different methodologies and techniques. Preferably having a background in Agile Project management(Kanban, Scrum, SAFE), PMI/ Prince certification and / or LEAN.
• Experience managing a team of project managers, and building an effective program management organisation.
• Have a solid business understanding, independently use quantitative and qualitative data to drive decision making. Ability to tell a clear story with data/insights.
• Strong change management experience (including methodologies and best practices)
• Exemplary role in change management best practices, including "embracing change/ growth" mindset. Encourages people to become change agents & embrace change
• Explicitly communicates: why change, what will change, how, when, where and whom it impacts (with possible outcomes and costs). Adjusts communication style to the audience to help them understand and accept the change
• Strong interpersonal skills focused on collaboration. Building and maintaining lasting relationships and connections with diverse teams, across the organization and outside. Ability to work effectively and influence up to Senior Director, VP and MD level
• Highly organized and structured and make sure all processes run smoothly and in a reliable manner.
• Strong leadership skills, ability to influence and steer leadership and senior management. Ability to influence VP level and productively interact with SVP/MD level
• Flexibility and the ability to function well within ambiguity and in a constantly changing environment.
• Ability to solve complex problems independently. They are able to break up a complex problem into actionable and easy to understand solutions. They are hands on and drive solutions to problems in partnership with the involved parties, while focusing on the opportunities.
• Ensure the portfolio's outcomes are in line with customer needs and/or expectations.

• 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 - up to 1400 per year - for yourself, including automatic Genius Level 3 status and Booking.com wallet credit

• Let's go places together: How we Hire
• This role does not come with relocation assistance.