Data & AI Governance Operations Senior Specialist

Role Description

About the team: The Data & AI Governance department enables extending the governance theme of policies, standards, processes and technology for governing data and AI to driving excellence in our approach to leveraging secure, trusted, accessible data for data driven decision making 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.

Role description: Booking.com is looking for a Data & AI Governance Senior Specialist to join the Data & AI Governance organisation. The Implementation Manager must have demonstrated experience leading large cross-organizational Data & AI Governance initiatives, and have a deep technical background in Data & AI Governance Standards & Frameworks, Data Ownership & Stewardships, Risk Management, Regulatory Change, and Business Operations. 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 your sleeves, dig in and help drive change.

Key job responsibilities and duties:

Data and AI governance:

• Data Stewardship: Manage and define Data Ownership and Stewardship structures, ensuring clear accountability and proper onboarding of data stewards.

• Data & AI Governance Principles: Apply and enforce Data & AI Governance principles, processes, and standards to ensure consistent and effective governance practices.

• Regulatory Compliance: Ensure adherence to Data & AI regulatory policies, such as GDPR, DMA, SOx, and the EU AI Act, by staying updated on compliance requirements and integrating them into governance frameworks and implementation practices.

• Data & AI Governance Practices: Oversee data cataloging, data profiling, metadata management, data classification, data lineage, master data management, and workflows, ensuring robust governance of critical data elements.

Project management:

• Craft Methodology and Standards: Apply structured methodology to and lead project/change management activities and train junior team members on project management methodologies.

• E2E Project Management: Lead independently end-to-end (E2E) high complexity projects from scoping to execution, analysis, recommendation and implementation.

• Project Initiation and Planning: Drives the program scoping and planning working with different teams and departments by creating associated documentation.

• Project Implementation and Completion: Drive project plan execution, ensuring project objectives are met on agreed timelines, track and report progress and ensure a project closing and correct handover to business as usual.

• Project Governance: Design and implement project governance and delivery structure to ensure efficient delivery, communication and decision making.

• Delivery/Impact: Drive the progress and successful delivery of initiatives that bring value to the business.

• Stakeholder Management: Primary point of contact for project(s) related queries. Ability to work and productively interact with different stakeholders up to Director to Executive Level.

• Success Metrics: Define and measure the success metrics of the project(s) in scope.

• Facilitator: Lead independent workshops to support the delivery of the project(s) and coach other team members on facilitation best practices.

• Risk Management: Identify, assess, track and mitigate issues and risks at multiple levels.

• Project Management Tooling: Utilize Atlassian Jira and Confluence to manage project workflows, track progress, and collaborate effectively across teams.

• Change Management: Apply change management methodologies, with a solid understanding of the change curve and process, to guide teams through transitions and ensure smooth adaptation to changes.

Role qualifications and requirements:

Experience requirements:

• 4+ years of experience around Data Governance, or, alternatively, 5+ years of experience in working with Data, coming from Data Analysis, Business Analysis, analytical background.

• 1-2 years of experience managing an organization of program managers, including building and growing the team.

• 5-8 years of relevant project management experience.

• PMP or Agile Project Management or equivalent certification is preferred.

• Data Governance certification (e.g., DAMA, DGI, etc.) or equivalent certification is a plus, though not a requirement.

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.

• 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.

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.