Change Manager - Data & AI Governance

Role Description:

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.

About the team: The Data & AI Governance department ensures we leverage secure, trusted, and accessible data to unlock innovative growth and operational efficiencies. We do this through:

• An overarching Data & AI Policy to include associated standards
• Data & AI Governance including meta and master data management
• Data & AI Delivery Governance
• Data & AI Quality including both technical and business quality measures

This enables the maturity of Data and AI capabilities across Booking.com, unlocking data and algorithms as assets for delivering innovative growth opportunities and cost saving operational efficiencies.

We are looking for a Change Manager, Data & AI Governance to drive enterprise-wide adoption of these new capabilities. You will lead the change for multiple Data and AI Governance initiatives, ensuring the new capabilities are successfully embedded, iteratively matured and become sustainable throughout the organization over the long term.

About the role: In this strategic role, you will bring structure to complex transformations, embed data literacy across the company, and act as a trusted partner for (S)VP-level stakeholders, as well as Data owners across the business, turning ambiguity into clear, actionable progress without creating administrative bottlenecks.

The role will be part of a Central Change Management Function, with a dedicated focus on Data & AI Governance (DAIG). This role combines expertise in Change Management, Communications, Operations and Data & AI Governance. You are the Change Business Partner to the DAIG initiative sponsors and leadership, will support to embed change into the team's processes, and are the change expert for the Business Unit. You will ensure that change craft best practices, including change management (AI) workflows and proven ways-of-working across Booking.com are applied to benefit the needs of the DAIG Department and scope.

As the Data regulatory landscape evolves rapidly, so will the demands for the role. You must have demonstrated experience in leading a large scale cross-organisational change program in a tech or preferably data field, in addition to demonstrated experience in leading a cultural shift at an enterprise level. Ideal candidates have technical knowledge in Data & AI Governance Standards & Frameworks, Data Ownership & Stewardship, Risk Management, Regulatory Change, Business Operations and various Data Governance capabilities. 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 can also roll up their sleeves, dig in and help drive change.

Key Job Responsibilities and Duties

• Drive Strategic Change: Lead end-to-end change strategies for complex Data & AI transformations, spanning culture, behavior & mindsets, process, technology, tooling, data and policy, ensuring sustained adoption and business value realization.
• Champion Data Literacy: Design and embed enterprise-wide programs that shift how people think about and use data, including interventions that go beyond training to address behaviors and culture at scale..
• Engage & Influence: Develop compelling communication plans from design to rollout. Act as a dedicated Change Business Partner to VP+ sponsors, coaching leaders to tell engaging stories that bring the organization along the journey.
• Measure Impact: Define KPIs and use data-driven insights (both qualitative and quantitative) to track adoption success, adjusting strategies as needed and integrating metrics into broader business outcomes.
• Drive Operational Rigor & Executive Governance: Partner with the PMO to co-create effective team ways of working, provide change management insights for operational/executive boards and identify potential risks into clear narratives that enable senior leaders to make informed decisions, help define the cadence and structure of the executive board, and lead rigorous prioritization exercises that translate complex operational insights into clear narratives that enable senior leaders to make informed decisions.
• Align Programs: Partner with program management functions and business engagement teams to integrate change roadmaps, stakeholder engagement, and end-to-end delivery plans with Booking.com’s key strategic priorities. Identify dependencies, facilitate trade-offs, and establish a sustainable way-of-working across priorities.

Role Qualifications and Requirements

• 10+ years of experience in change management, with a strong track record of leading high-scale, high-complexity transformations with at least 5yrs in a Data/ Data Governance or Tech field.
• Demonstrated experience designing and leading data literacy and mindset change programs including behavior change, culture interventions, and capability building.
• Proven experience owning communications strategies and plans for large-scale capability or technology roll-outs, from design through to sustained adoption.
• Significant experience working in large, matrixed organizations and managing senior stakeholders (VP+/SVP level).
• Solid experience contributing to or leading operational governance structures including exec/ops board cadence, reporting frameworks, and prioritization processes.
• Demonstrated ability to partner with program management functions, contributing to roadmap development and program-level alignment.
• Experience with change portfolio management, including integrating change metrics into program and business outcomes.
• Skills & Competencies

Change Craft

• Mature understanding of the full spectrum of change impacts: culture, behavior & mindsets, process, technology, tooling, data, and policy.
• Ability to design and own highly effective change strategies that drive successful outcomes across diverse and complex audiences.
• Expert facilitator of large (15+) and/or challenging groups; excellent influencer across all group sizes and seniority.

Communication & Stakeholder Management

• Highly effective communicator, credible and trusted by senior audiences (SVP/VP level).
• Highly effective at adapting communication style to audience; enables department leadership and influences at SVP/VP level.
• Quickly builds trusting relationships across a wide and diverse organizational network; high levels of organizational savviness.

Operations & Analytical Thinking

• Ability to break up highly complex problems into actionable, easy-to-understand solutions.
• Sought out by senior leaders to provide transparent, broad perspectives and candid feedback; an objective sounding board for ideas.
• Data-driven approach to change: uses qualitative and quantitative signals to inform strategy, track adoption, and demonstrate impact.

Program Orientation

• Strong ability to partner with program management to help in balancing program alignment with the independence needed to build foundational capabilities.
• Able to identify and manage dependencies across multiple programs and the broader change portfolio.

Benefits & Perks - Global Impact, Personal Relevance:

Booking.com’s Total Rewards Philosophy is not only about compensation but also about benefits. We offer a competitive compensation and benefits package, as well unique-to-Booking.com benefits which include:

• 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
• Living and working in Amsterdam, one of the most cosmopolitan cities in Europe
• Contributing to a high scale, complex, world renowned product and seeing real-time impact of your work on millions of travelers worldwide
• Working in a fast-paced and performance driven culture
• Opportunity to utilize technical expertise, leadership capabilities and entrepreneurial spirit
• Promote and drive impactful and innovative engineering solutions
• Technical, behavioral and interpersonal competence advancement via on-the-job opportunities, experimental projects, hackathons, conferences and active community participation
• Competitive compensation and benefits package and some great added perks of working in the home city of Booking.com

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) at Booking.com:

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion 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 build an outstanding 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 ensure that colleagues with disabilities are provided the adjustments and tools they need to participate in the job application and interview process, to perform crucial job functions, and to receive other benefits and privileges of employment.

Application Process:

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

Booking.com is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace and is an affirmative action employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability, age, or veteran status. We strive to move well beyond traditional equal opportunity and work to create an environment that allows everyone to thrive.