Senior Business Operations Manager - Finance

Role Description

The Senior Business Operations Manager plays a pivotal role in driving the operational efficiency, planning and cross-functional collaboration of the Finance Department. They will work closely with the Department leadership team (LT) and other departments to optimize business processes, streamline operations and achieve organizational goals.

The Senior Business Operations Manager is responsible for designing, driving and overseeing the day-to-day operations, including strategy, systems, execution, intelligence and performance, of a business area to ensure it runs effectively and efficiently, achieves shared objectives, and mitigates key risks and dependencies. They will also drive and facilitate the adoption of company-wide processes within their department impacting major strategic initiatives.

The Senior Business Operations Manager partners with Department LT to make sure the right prioritization is in place, Department objectives and plans are identified, and the right tracking is in place to monitor progress and KPIs.

The Senior Business Operations Manager acts as Finance’s single point of contact for all yearly business planning activities, as well as the execution of the planned activities after annual budget submission. They will also facilitate alignment between departments and make sure the results of the yearly planning are correctly identified and followed up.

This role will also play a part in the creation and execution of the Finance strategy, ensuring that the right topics are being worked on. This will include governance and active program and/or portfolio management, or leading the change for Booking.com’s most complex transformations.

This role manages a team of approximately 10 people and is responsible for setting clear direction, fostering a collaborative and high-performance culture, encouraging professional development and growth, and promoting a positive and inclusive work environment.

Key Job Responsibilities and Duties

Business cadence

• Define, execute and manage the rhythm of the business working closely with the Fintech Leadership Team, ensuring an effective adoption of corporate cadence, such as Monthly Business Reviews, Strategic Portfolio Management, Quarterly Planning, and Workforce Management tracking.
• Run and optimize cross-departmental engagement models to effectively deliver on shared objectives.

Process excellence

• Design, implement, and drive adoption of standardized processes and tooling across the Fintech department to increase efficiency and effectiveness.
• Lead the adoption of the corporate planning process through all phases, including driving and facilitating cross-department handshakes and the dependency planning process.

Performance management

• Actively manage the department scorecard through tracking and reporting, providing insights and recommendations to the Fintech LT. Initiate and lead projects aligned to improving scorecard KPIs.

Stakeholder management

• Effectively influence across all levels, up to SVP.
• Lead the cross-functional collaboration efforts among various teams, departments, and stakeholders.

Craft methodology and standards

• Drive and shape the future of the BusOps craft for Fintech and Booking.com.
• Design and implement new structured methodologies and standards.

People leadership

• Recruit, mentor, and lead a team of approximately 10 people, fostering a collaborative and high-performing culture. Provide clear direction, set performance expectations, and conduct regular performance reviews.
• Lead by example, demonstrating Booking.com's values and behaviors, and acting as a role model for the team.

Qualifications & Skills

• Strong process and business operations management experience, including experience driving quarterly and annual planning.
• 10+ years experience required.
• Able to design and implement processes which aim to improve BU effectiveness and efficiency.
• Strong problem solver, able to identify challenges and opportunities and drive solutions independently.
• Able to use quantitative and qualitative data to tell a clear story and drive decision making.
• Highly organized and structured to ensure all processes run smoothly and in a reliable manner. Able to envision and design effective tools to drive process optimization.
• Experience with JIRA (preferred), or similar enterprise tooling, and the change management around it.
• Strong written and verbal leadership communication skills; ability to influence and steer senior management up to SVP.
• Able to function well within ambiguity and in a constantly changing environment.
• Proven experience managing a team, ideally including people managers (managing managers).
• Prior experience working in the tech and/or payments industries preferred, but not required.

Benefits & Perks

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