It wasn’t so long ago that booking a trip so see the Eiffel Tower, stroll down New York’s iconic Madison Avenue or feel the sand between our toes on Copacabana Beach was simply a matter of a few taps on our smartphone. In fact, that’s what we do at Booking.com. We make it easier for everyone to experience the world. And while that world might feel a little farther away right now, we’re busy preparing for when the world is ready to travel once more. Across our offices worldwide, we continue to innovate. To solve for some of the most complex challenges in travel and technology, and to plan for the exciting developments that lie ahead. With strategic long-term investments into what we believe the future of travel can be, we are opening up new career opportunities that will have a strong impact on our mission. We are united in the belief that our very human desire to explore the planet’s beauty and discover more about other people and cultures will endure. The world is waiting for us. Together, we will be ready.

Commercial operations includes Customer Service, Partner Services (our commercial function) and our Content Agency who generate and moderate all onsite text, images and videos.  With over 10,000 employees distributed across the globe, Commercial Operations is the human face to both our customers and our suppliers. We are responsible for many of the tools that customers use to manage their own reservations and partners use to grow their businesses.  We are there to make it easier for everyone to experience the world.

The Technology department of Commercial Operations owns the customer journey end to end, from the customer facing self service app and web platforms to the support tooling used by our employees. ‘Behind the scenes’ we run the critical data and ML infrastructure that helps provide the right answer to our customers and partners as if by magic.  We leverage machine learning and data to maximise efficiency and reduce friction.  We take pride in our resilience and quality, knowing that our goal is to create a platform that serves all our customers the moment they need us the most.

In the Machine Learning track our work focuses on large scale business problems that involve Natural Language Processing and Deep Learning. We leverage cloud technologies and big data because we always want to work on the bleeding edge and deliver impactful results for our customers and the business.

B. Responsible 

As a Senior Data Scientist Machine Learning & Team Leader, you are responsible for a multi-functional team and the technology that the team owns. You will not only work as a coach for your people but also as a technical leader, ensuring that the right technical decisions are made when building our product.

Important aspects of the job include:

• People Leadership
• Lead by example by taking ownership, being proactive and collaborating
• Nurture, grow and develop the scientists in the team
• Foster a great culture that innovates, work together as a team, partner with other Booking.com com teams and roles and celebrates unified success
• Craft
• Identify machine learning opportunities and deliver end-to-end - including research, model development, prototyping, offline validation, implement into production and online testing
• Guide the correct application of data science and machine learning and ensure a high-level of quality
• Ability to see beyond the numbers - be the voice of data when communicating to decision makers, product owners and team leaders
• The dexterity to convey complex analysis results clearly and with conviction to all levels of the business
• Be a go-to person in your area of expertise
• Continuously learn and teach your craft. Keep up to date with industry and academic standard methodologies and advocate for standard methodologies
• Challenge ideas and methods while collaborating with talented and highly skilled team members.

B. Skilled 

We have found that people who match the following requirements are the ones who fit us best:

• 5+ years of experience in an applied data science role
• 3+ years of experience leading and managing a team of data scientists in a fast-paced and complex environment.
• Understanding of software development in an agile environment and how to interact with engineering teams
• Masters degree or equivalent experience in a quantitative field (e.g. Statistics, Computer Science, Operations Research, Applied Mathematics, Physics, Econometrics, etc.)
• Strong knowledge of all data science facets: working with large data sets, machine learning, statistics, experimentation, data visualization, optimization, software development
• Experience applying Data Science to business problems.
• Experience collaborating cross functionally (e.g. Developers, UX specialists, Product Managers, etc.)
• Strong working knowledge of Python, Hadoop, SQL, R, Spark or similar technologies.
• Able to convince others through evidence and clear communication; can clearly explain advanced technical concepts in simpler terms
• Interested and experienced in coaching, mentoring and technical leadership
• You have strong knowledge in at least one field of applied machine learning (e.g. Recommender Systems, Deep Learning, Information Retrieval, Computer Vision, Speech Recognition, Causal Inference, scaling ML models, etc)

B. Offered

• 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 travellers 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, behavioural 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

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, colour, 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.