Director of Marketing Science

This inclusive employer is a member of myGwork – the largest global platform for the LGBTQ+ business community.

Job Description For

Director of Marketing Science

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 $119,69 billion (2023). 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.

Marketing

When you see an irresistible offer that makes you click, you probably don't think of all the hard work that went into grabbing your attention and moving you step by step through a marketing funnel. Our marketing business unit that develops those funnels is a deep one. They cover the intricacies of search, metasearch and SEO, but also creative brand messaging, email marketing, PR partnerships and customer research. They work together in lock step to bring great deals to customers and help our partners outperform the competition.

Director of Marketing Science

At Booking.com, we're searching for a visionary Director of Marketing Science to focus on data science & research and lead our data-driven decision-making efforts and fortify our omni-channel marketing strategy. In this pivotal role, you'll be at the forefront of developing and implementing pioneering measurement solutions to optimize the allocation of multi-billion-dollar budgets across various marketing channels. This is a rare opportunity to join a world class team at a data led company.

Your expertise in both behavioral and cognitive measurement will be paramount as you delve into analyzing customer behavior changes and perceptions. By using insights derived from these analyses, you'll craft efficient hypotheses aimed at enhancing customer loyalty and driving sustainable growth.

Moreover, you'll play a vital role in cultivating an impactful team and fostering a culture of innovation and collaboration. Your leadership will not only contribute to the success of your team but will also shape the overall marketing strategy of Booking.com, ensuring that we remain at the forefront of the industry.

Join us in our mission to innovate, grow, and deliver unparalleled experiences to our customers worldwide.

Responsibilities

This role reports to the VP of Growth Marketing of and leads a team of around 45 FTE.

The role is located in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

• Transformative Leadership: Develop and implement a compelling vision, strategy, and roadmap for the innovative use of data, insights, and analytics across Marketing Science.
• Evidence-Based Decision Making: Champion and standardize the use of a robust hierarchy of evidence to support high-quality decision-making throughout Marketing and the broader business.
• Innovative Experimentation: Create and define a pioneering testing and experimentation framework to optimize the efficiency of our marketing channels.
• Leadership: Join the leadership team as a subject matter authority in Marketing related - Analytics, Data, and Insights, leading and mentoring senior Data Science and Analytics leaders while recruiting and nurturing premier talent.
• Global Collaboration: Build and maintain strong connections with global data and analytics functions across Booking.com, ensuring seamless collaboration across Marketplace, ABU, TBU, and Central Technology.
• Influencing & Collaborating: Collaborate across departments, acting as a trusted advisor who simplifies complex problems for the Leadership Team.
• Community Leadership: Serve as a reference point for the Data Science & Analytics community, providing essential support to help team members excel and grow in their craft.
• Drive Innovation: Continuously seek innovative ways to leverage data and analytics to enhance business performance, always focused on meeting company and departmental objectives.
• Strategic Experimentation: Design large-scale online and offline experiments that span multiple business areas, driving strategic insights and growth.
• Proactive Problem-Solving: Understand business needs and proactively inspire change, removing impediments to progress and innovation, and collaborating with other functions to find practical solutions.
  
  

Ideal Experience & Skills

• Shown experience in building out measurement protocols across marketing. Significant years in both Marketing research & Marketing data science Marketing data, analytics, and experimentation, preferably in a communications or media context.
• Extensive experience in (online) media platforms, with a focus on modern measurement solutions.
• Experience/in depth understanding of market research/product research methods and ability to influence marketing strategy and planning
• Getting customer/traveller insights to be at the centre of all marketing strategy, product development and commercial decision-making
• Demonstrated experience in using (experimental and modeled) marketing measurement to drive performance and/or brand outcomes.
• Shown strength in leading and developing high-performing data teams.
• Demonstrated ability to drive performance across business units/areas.
• Strong background in digital experimentation and the key statistical components underlying high quality decision making via experimentation.
• Global and large market experience required. Focus on US, UK, DE. Experience in LATAM and APAC markets is beneficial.
• Highly experienced in agency & external partner management.
• Ability to represent Booking.com externally with partner companies.
• Strong knowledge of the current digital, programmatic, social and ad-tech environments.
• Experience leading and influencing cross-functional teams in an international environment.
• Ability to drive innovation and set clear strategic agenda for team and stakeholders.
• In-house/client side experience and ecommerce experience highly preferable.
• Solution oriented, data driven and result focused
• Strong work ethic; self-directed and resourceful.
• Effectively communicate in large groups; credible & trusted by senior audiences Language: English. Other languages are a plus.
  
  

Other Personal Characteristics

• Strong communicator: Effectively communicate in large groups, credible and trusted by senior audiences.
• Energy bringer. Proactive and collaborative: Open mind, learning attitude, transparent behavior,
• Strategic yet hands-on: Strategic problem solver focused on execution, able to roll up sleeves to get things done.
• Adaptable and innovative: Data-driven, experimental, ready to learn, open to change, and able to drive innovation.
• Customer-centric and culturally sensitive: Keeps the customer at the center, with good cultural and organizational sensitivity, and committed to building a diverse, inclusive work environment.
  
  

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.