Flights Growth Operations Lead
Posted on: December 05, 2025 | Job ID: 26840
Company Name: Booking.com
Division: Commercial-Trips Business Unit
Location: Amsterdam, Netherland
Schedule: On-Site (Office-Centric) | Employment Type: Full-Time
About Booking.com: Making Travel Accessible to Everyone
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.
We began by taking hotel bookings online over 20 years ago, revolutionizing how people plan their stays. Since then, we've been continuously shaping and innovating the travel industry. Today, we're building an ambitious, integrated platform that connects all parts of the trip—from accommodation to transport, flights, tickets, tours, and much more. Our vision is to create seamless "connected trips" where every element of your journey comes together effortlessly in one place.
Our Trips Business Unit: Enabling Every Type of Journey
Our Trips Business Unit is on a mission to help people get where they want to go, anywhere in the world, through any mode of transportation they prefer. Whether customers want the freedom and flexibility of a rental car, the convenience and speed of a flight, the ease and affordability of a taxi, or the economy and sustainability of public transport, we make it all possible through innovative technology, strategic partnerships, and relentless focus on customer experience.
Our team is genuinely passionate about helping people travel and explore the world. We see challenges as opportunities for innovation and growth. And we're always ready for change in this dynamic, fast-evolving industry. We thrive on solving complex operational problems and delivering experiences that exceed customer expectations at every touchpoint.
The Flights Team: Where Every Journey Begins
A trip usually starts with a flight. The Flights team's mission is clear and compelling: offer travelers a wide selection of flights from airlines worldwide, deliver great value for money through competitive pricing and exclusive deals, and provide the easiest, most seamless end-to-end booking experience in the industry.
We partner strategically with Etraveli Group, a leading flight technology company, to make our mission a reality. Together, we have ambitious, high-reaching goals over the next several years that will transform how millions of people discover, book, and experience air travel. As we scale our flights business dramatically, we need exceptional operational leaders who can drive growth while maintaining operational excellence.
The Role: Flights Growth Operations Lead
The Flights Growth Operations Lead (also known as Flights Operations Project Lead) is a critical leadership position responsible for leading the end-to-end execution of strategic projects, governance processes, and transformational operational changes across our Growth Operations and Strategic Partnership Operations tracks within the Flights Operations Function.
This is not a traditional project management role. You'll be a strategic operator who can see the big picture while executing flawlessly on the details. You'll be the driving force behind initiatives that unlock growth, improve efficiency, and strengthen our partnership with Etraveli Group. Your work will directly impact our ability to scale the flights business, enter new markets, launch new products, and deliver exceptional customer experiences.
The role reports directly to the Growth Operations Manager based in Amsterdam and you'll be a core member of the Growth Operations team, working at the intersection of strategy, operations, and execution.
Why This Role Matters
As Booking.com's Flights business enters a high-growth phase, the ability to execute complex projects flawlessly while managing change across multiple stakeholders becomes absolutely critical to success. You'll be responsible for turning strategic ambitions into operational reality. Every project you deliver, every process you improve, and every change you drive will directly contribute to the growth trajectory of the Flights business and our ability to serve travelers worldwide.
Key Responsibilities and Accountabilities
End-to-End Project Leadership
Lead the comprehensive end-to-end execution of specific strategic projects from initial scoping and planning through building the business case, securing stakeholder alignment, executing the implementation, and ensuring successful closure of the project or initiative. You'll own projects from concept to completion, taking full accountability for delivering results on time, within scope, and achieving the intended business impact.
Your projects may span diverse areas including: new market launches, product feature rollouts, operational model changes, system implementations, partnership expansions, cost optimization initiatives, customer experience improvements, and strategic process redesigns. You'll need to be versatile, adaptable, and comfortable operating in different domains.
Process Design and Implementation
Identify opportunities for and drive the setup, kick-off, and execution of new or significantly improved business-as-usual (BAU) processes between Booking.com Flights, internal stakeholders across multiple departments, and our strategic partner Etraveli Group. This requires deep understanding of current operations, ability to envision better ways of working, and skill in designing processes that are efficient, scalable, and sustainable.
You'll work closely with teams in Amsterdam, Stockholm, London, and Athens to understand local needs and constraints while designing globally consistent processes. Your process improvements should eliminate waste, reduce handoffs, increase automation where possible, and improve overall operational efficiency and effectiveness.
Program Coordination and Governance
Actively lead the coordination of programs, overseeing the governance cycle to ensure projects stay on track, risks are managed proactively, and stakeholders remain aligned. You'll establish and run governance processes including steering committee meetings, status reporting, risk and issue management, decision-making forums, and change control processes.
Drive the issue resolution process, ensuring that blockers are identified early, escalated appropriately, and resolved quickly to keep projects moving forward. You'll need to be comfortable navigating organizational complexity and finding creative solutions to obstacles.
Continuous Process Improvement
Drive ongoing process improvements across Growth Operations and Strategic Partnership Operations, using data analysis, stakeholder feedback, and industry best practices to identify opportunities. You'll implement Lean, Six Sigma, or similar methodologies to systematically improve operational performance, reduce cycle times, eliminate defects, and enhance customer and partner satisfaction.
Measure the impact of your improvements using clear KPIs and metrics, demonstrating tangible value delivered to the business. Build a culture of continuous improvement where teams are constantly looking for ways to work smarter and better.
Organizational Change Management
Motivate and drive organizational change within the Flights department to successfully adopt new processes, tools, systems, and ways of working. Change management is often where good strategies fail—you'll ensure that doesn't happen by building change management plans, communicating effectively, addressing resistance, training teams, and ensuring new approaches are fully embedded.
You'll serve as a change champion, helping teams understand the "why" behind changes, involving them in solution design, and celebrating successes along the way. Your ability to bring people along on the transformation journey will be critical to achieving lasting change.
Qualifications & Skills Required
Project Management Excellence
Strong project management skills with 5+ years of progressive experience leading complex, multi-stakeholder projects from inception to completion. You should have a proven track record of delivering projects on time, within budget, and achieving intended business outcomes. Experience with formal project management methodologies (Agile, Waterfall, Prince2, PMP) is valuable, though practical delivery capability matters more than certifications.
Your project portfolio should demonstrate increasing complexity and business impact over time. Ideally, you've managed projects involving multiple countries, external partners, technical implementations, and significant organizational change.
Stakeholder Management and Influence
Excellent stakeholder management skills with demonstrated ability to influence up to Director level and beyond. You'll be working with senior leaders across Flights, Growth Operations, Product, Technology, Finance, Legal, and our strategic partner Etraveli Group. Your ability to build trust, communicate effectively, navigate politics, and gain commitment from stakeholders who don't report to you is absolutely essential.
You should be comfortable presenting to executives, facilitating workshops with cross-functional teams, negotiating with external partners, and building coalitions to drive initiatives forward. Your influencing skills should be adaptable—knowing when to push, when to pull back, when to escalate, and when to find creative compromises.
Proactive Problem-Solving
Proactive approach to identifying and implementing process improvements and change management. Don't wait to be told what to improve—you should constantly be scanning the environment for opportunities, talking to stakeholders about pain points, analyzing data for insights, and proposing solutions. You're comfortable with ambiguity and can structure unstructured problems.
Your change management capabilities should include assessing change readiness, developing communication plans, designing training programs, measuring adoption, and addressing resistance with empathy and persistence.
Cross-Cultural Collaboration
Comfortable working independently and with diverse, geographically dispersed teams across Amsterdam, Stockholm, London, and Athens. You'll be collaborating with colleagues from different cultures, time zones, and working styles. Cultural intelligence, flexibility in working hours, effective virtual collaboration skills, and ability to build relationships across distances are all critical.
You should thrive in a matrixed organization where you need to coordinate across multiple teams and locations without always having direct authority. Experience working with international teams and external partners is highly valuable.
Communication Excellence
Great communication skills with ability to summarize complex information simply and present effectively to diverse audiences. You need to be equally comfortable writing detailed project plans, creating executive presentations, facilitating workshops, sending concise email updates, and explaining technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders.
Your communication should be clear, concise, and adapted to your audience. You should be skilled at storytelling—helping stakeholders understand not just what you're doing but why it matters and how it will benefit them.
Commercial Awareness
Good commercial awareness with ability to understand basic business drivers including revenue, costs, margins, market dynamics, competitive positioning, and customer economics. While you're not expected to be a finance expert, you should understand how your projects contribute to business goals and be able to build business cases that demonstrate ROI.
You should be able to have intelligent conversations with commercial leaders about business strategy and how operational initiatives support strategic objectives.
Data-Driven Decision Making
Strong preference for using data and analysis to drive decisions and measure impact. You should be comfortable working with data, conducting analyses, interpreting results, and using insights to inform strategy and track progress. Proficiency with Excel, data visualization tools (Tableau, Power BI), and ability to work with analytics teams to extract insights are valuable.
Don't just rely on intuition—back up your recommendations with data, measure outcomes against baselines, and continuously monitor performance to identify issues early.
Partnership Experience
Experience working with external partners including vendors, suppliers, service providers, or strategic partners. You understand the unique challenges of partner relationships including different priorities, contractual constraints, communication challenges, and the need for win-win approaches.
Your partnership experience should demonstrate ability to build strong relationships, manage partner performance, navigate conflicts constructively, and create value for both parties.
Travel Readiness
Willingness to travel approximately once per quarter to strategic partner locations including Stockholm and Athens for strategic meetings, workshops, project kick-offs, relationship building, and problem-solving sessions. These trips are essential for building strong partnerships and ensuring alignment across geographically dispersed teams.
Additional Valued Skills
- Experience in travel, aviation, or e-commerce industries
- Familiarity with Lean, Six Sigma, or other process improvement methodologies
- Understanding of airline operations and flight booking processes
- Technical aptitude and ability to understand system architectures
- Project management certification (PMP, PRINCE2, Agile/Scrum)
- Multilingual capabilities for international collaboration
- Experience with operational metrics and KPI frameworks
Personal Attributes
- Self-starter with strong initiative and drive
- Resilient and adaptable in fast-changing environments
- Detail-oriented while maintaining big-picture perspective
- Collaborative team player with positive attitude
- Customer-centric mindset
- Comfortable with ambiguity and complexity
- Results-driven with strong accountability
- Diplomatic and skilled at navigating conflicts
- Enthusiastic about travel and technology
What Success Looks Like
In your first 30 days, you'll build relationships with key stakeholders across Flights, Growth Operations, and Etraveli Group, understand current projects and processes, and identify quick wins that demonstrate value.
Within 90 days, you'll have taken ownership of your first major project, established governance frameworks, and begun implementing process improvements with measurable impact on operational efficiency or business outcomes.
Within six months, you'll have successfully delivered multiple projects, driven significant process improvements, and established yourself as a trusted partner across the organization and with Etraveli Group.
Within a year, you'll have transformed how the Growth Operations team executes projects and manages partnerships, with a portfolio of successful initiatives that contributed meaningfully to the Flights business growth trajectory.
Benefits & Perks: Global Impact, Personal Relevance
Booking.com's Total Rewards Philosophy is not only about compensation but also about comprehensive benefits that support your whole life, career aspirations, and personal wellbeing. We offer a competitive compensation and benefits package, as well as unique-to-Booking.com benefits designed to enhance both your professional and personal life.
Time Off and Work-Life Balance
Annual paid time off with generous allowances that recognize the importance of rest, rejuvenation, and pursuing personal interests. We believe that well-rested, fulfilled employees do their best work.
Generous paid leave scheme including:
- Parental leave for new mothers and fathers to bond with new additions to the family without financial stress
- Grandparent leave to support family members and celebrate important milestones
- Bereavement leave providing time and space to grieve and support loved ones during difficult times
- Care leave for when family members need your support during illness, recovery, or other challenges
Flexible Working Arrangements
Hybrid working model including flexible working arrangements that optimize your productivity, wellbeing, and work-life integration. Work from our modern Amsterdam office when collaboration, connection, and energy matter most, and from home when you need focused time for planning, analysis, and deep work.
Up to 20 days per year working from abroad (from your home country), allowing you to experience new places, visit family and friends, or simply enjoy a change of scenery while staying connected to your work. This unique benefit embodies our mission to make travel accessible and integrated into daily life. Imagine working from a beach in Greece or a mountain cabin in Sweden!
Travel and Lifestyle Benefits
Industry-leading product discounts up to €1,400 per year for yourself, allowing you to experience firsthand the products and services you're helping to optimize and improve. Travel more frequently, explore new destinations, test our flights booking experience, and bring those authentic customer insights back to your work.
Automatic Genius Level 3 status giving you access to the best available rates on accommodations, exclusive deals, free room upgrades, early check-in, late checkout, and VIP treatment when you book through Booking.com.
Booking.com wallet credit for additional travel experiences including flights, rental cars, attractions, and tours, encouraging you to explore our full platform and understand the complete customer journey from discovery to post-trip.
Professional Development
We invest meaningfully in your growth through training programs, conference attendance, professional certifications (including support for project management certifications), mentorship opportunities, and learning programs that help you develop new skills and advance your career. We believe in promoting from within and creating career paths for talented team members.
Additional Benefits
Beyond these highlights, we offer a comprehensive benefits package tailored to our Amsterdam location, including:
- Competitive health insurance options
- Pension contributions and retirement planning support
- Commuter benefits and bike programs
- Wellness programs and gym memberships
- Employee assistance programs for mental health and wellbeing support
- Social events and team building activities
- Modern office facilities with excellent amenities
- Various other perks designed to support your financial security, physical health, mental wellbeing, and career growth
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion 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. This diversity is not just something we're proud of—it's fundamental to our innovation, creativity, and success in serving global customers.
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 fully in the job application and interview process, to perform crucial job functions, and to receive other benefits and privileges of employment. We believe accessibility is not an accommodation but a right, and we're committed to creating an environment where everyone can bring their authentic selves to work and contribute their best.
Application Process: Let's Go Places Together
We're excited to learn more about you and how your experience and skills can drive growth and operational excellence for our Flights business. When you apply, please ensure your application materials clearly demonstrate:
- Your project management experience with specific examples of complex projects delivered
- Stakeholder management and influencing skills, ideally with examples up to Director level
- Process improvement initiatives you've led and their measurable impact
- Experience working with external partners or in international, matrixed environments
- Your approach to change management and driving organizational adoption
Important note: This role does not come with relocation assistance. Candidates should be based in Amsterdam or planning to relocate to the Amsterdam area independently.
Our Hiring Process: How We Hire
Our hiring process is designed to be thorough yet respectful of your time and to give you a comprehensive understanding of the role and team. You can expect to:
- Initial screening with our Talent Acquisition team to discuss your background, experience, and interest in the role
- Interviews with the hiring manager (Growth Operations Manager) to dive deep into your project management experience, operational thinking, and approach to stakeholder management
- Case study or practical exercise to demonstrate your problem-solving abilities, analytical thinking, and communication skills in a realistic scenario
- Meetings with key stakeholders from the Flights team, Strategic Partnership Operations, and potentially Etraveli Group representatives
- Final discussions about mutual fit, role expectations, career development opportunities, and next steps
We'll provide detailed instructions on any required application materials, work samples, portfolios, or assessments as you progress through the process. We're committed to providing timely feedback, clear communication, and a positive candidate experience throughout your journey with us.
Our Commitment to Equal Opportunity
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 commitments and work proactively to create an environment that allows everyone to thrive. We believe that diverse teams make better decisions, create more innovative solutions, and deliver superior customer experiences. Your unique perspective, background, and experiences are assets we deeply value.
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 verification of employment history, education credentials, and other information (such as media information) that may be necessary for determining your qualifications and suitability for the position.
This process is conducted with full respect for your privacy and in full compliance with all applicable data protection laws, including GDPR. We will request your explicit consent before conducting any background checks and will only collect information that is directly relevant and necessary for this specific role. Your privacy matters to us.
Ready to Drive Flights Growth?
If you're passionate about project management, operational excellence, strategic partnerships, and driving transformational change at scale, we want to hear from you. This is your opportunity to join a high-growth business within the world's leading travel platform, working with talented colleagues across multiple countries and making a tangible impact on how millions of people experience air travel.
You'll have the chance to lead strategic initiatives that shape the future of Booking.com's Flights business, work closely with our strategic partner Etraveli Group, and develop your career in a dynamic, fast-paced environment that values innovation, execution excellence, and continuous improvement.
Apply now to begin your journey as Flights Growth Operations Lead at Booking.com.
Booking.com is committed to creating a diverse and inclusive workplace where everyone can thrive and make their mark. We welcome applications from all qualified candidates and look forward to learning about your unique perspective, experience, and approach to driving operational excellence and growth.
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