Senior Machine Learning Manager - Machine Learning Platform

At Booking.com, data drives our decisions. Technology is at our core. And innovation is everywhere. But our company is more than datasets, and lines of code. We’re the thrill of the first night in a new place, the excitement of the next morning, the friends you make, the journeys you take, the sights you see, and the food you sample. Through our products, partners and people, we can empower everyone to experience the world.

Our department mission is to radically accelerate innovation across all data, analytics & Machine Learning teams by providing a self-service, end-to-end platform, enabling the creation of connected, and repeatable, machine learning and analytics solutions

As a Senior Machine Learning Manager you lead the development of ML/AI solutions as end-to-end products through people management and thought leadership. You are a technical subject matter expert in theory/algorithms or design/engineering of multiple areas of machine intelligence (e.g. GenAI, LLM, recommenders, optimisation, NLP, Computer Vision). You develop a broad ML strategy for your teams, across a large product portfolio with high technical and organizational complexity. You are accountable for the craft excellence in your teams' delivery, aligned with company-wide ML/AI requirements. You create outsized business impact through craft-based synergies among your various teams. You are a champion of your team members' personal development and career growth

 What you will be Doing: 

• Manage the vision and teams responsible for Booking’s Machine Learning Platform and shape it’s direction, ultimately driving adoption and business impact.
• Develop the machine intelligence strategy and research plan on a product family by designing innovative ML/AI models, algorithms, and approaches that deliver both short-term commercial impact and longer term differentiated business value and customer experiences. 
• Document and share the findings, and generalise these technologies into reusable frameworks.
• Translate broad business problems into ML/AI challenges and identify the best approach within the constraints of the production environment.
• Define and build proof-of-concepts to test new ideas and demonstrate their potential value to relevant stakeholders.
• Drive the end-to-end execution of the ML/AI development process on a product, from understanding product requirements, data discovery, model development and evaluation, to implementation of a full production pipeline for both batch and stream-based deployment.
• Develop production-grade machine learning code, from models to features and pipelines, allowing for scalability, realtime, monitoring and retraining, when necessary from scratch and following engineering best practices. 
• Own a product end to end by actively monitoring application health, performance and business impact, setting and monitoring relevant SLIs, SLOs and KPIs, and acting accordingly when these are not being met.
• Build readable and reusable code, choosing the right technologies, coding methodologies, and approach from carefully designed rapid prototyping to software deployment at scale. 
• Identify horizontal opportunities across multiple business domains, and drive platform-based development and reuse by abstracting business problems to generalized ML/AI solutions.
• Maintain a highly cross-disciplinary perspective, solving issues by applying approaches and methods from across a variety of ML/AI disciplines and related fields. Coach others through evidence and clear communication, explaining advanced technical concepts in simpler terms.
• Identify underlying issues and opportunities across domains and situations through application of structured thinking and logic, and drive concrete improvements. Guide and support colleagues dealing with complex scenarios.
• Continuously evolve your craft by keeping up to date with the latest developments in ML/AI and related technologies, introducing them to the machine learning community and promoting their application in areas where they can generate impact. Bring this knowledge back to the community through publications, open source code and the like.
• Actively contribute to Machine Learning at Booking.com through training, exploration of new technologies, interviewing, onboarding and mentoring colleagues, as well as leading the processes to enable others to contribute.
• Guide and actively contribute to the improvements, scaling and extension of machine learning tooling and infrastructure, collaborating with central teams

 What You Will Bring:

• 8+ years of experience
• Advanced knowledge and experience in theory/algorithms or design/engineering of multiple machine intelligence (e.g. Large Language Models, Generative AI, Recommender Systems, Deep Learning, Information Retrieval, Computer Vision, Speech Recognition, Causal Inference, scaling ML models, etc)
• Expertise designing an applied research plan for a product family from scratch as evidenced by peer-review publication or similar track record.
• Deep Relevant work or academic experience (MSc + 9 years of working experience, or PhD + 5 years), involved in the development and application of Machine Learning.
• Masters degree, PhD or equivalent experience in a quantitative field (e.g. Computer Science, Mathematics, Artificial Intelligence, Physics, etc).
• Expertise on multiple machine learning facets: working with large data sets, model development, statistics, experimentation, data visualization, optimization, software development.
• Experience leading cross functional efforts for the development of machine learning products (e.g. Developers, UX specialists, Product Managers, etc).
• Expert knowledge of Python, Hadoop, SQL, R, Spark or similar big data technologies.
• Working experience with version control systems.
• Excellent English communication skills, both written and verbal.

 What we offer:

Benefits & Perks: Global Impact, Personal Relevance: 

Booking.com’s total rewards philosophy is not only about compensation but also about benefits. Our rewards are aimed at making it easier for you to experience all that life has to offer — all the messy, beautiful, and joyful bits — on your terms. So you can focus on what really matters. We offer competitive compensation as well as thoughtful, valuable, and even fun benefits which include:

• A great, brand new office to in the heart of Amsterdam
• Free breakfast and lunch 
• 29 days’ paid holiday plus bank holidays 
• Health & well-being benefits such as mental health support, access to health insurance, etc.
• Employer contribution pension 
• Industry-leading parental leave and adoption leave 
• From day one of your employment with us, we offer 22 weeks’ fully paid leave for all new parents, regardless of gender or the way you become a parent
• Great discounts on accommodation, car rentals and other group benefits 
• Carer’s leave. 10 days’ fully paid leave per year for colleagues who are caring for ill family members.
• Hybrid Working (NL): We believe in office attendance at least 40% of your time whilst empowering you with the flexibility to plan where to do your best work, as well as up to 20 days per year to Work from Abroad* (subject to terms and conditions)

 THINK INCLUSION: WELLBEING & INCLUSION AT BOOKING.COM: 

Inclusion, Diversity, Belonging, Wellbeing and Volunteering (IDBWV) 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. 

Take it from our Chief People Officer, Paulo Pisano: “At Booking.com, the diversity of our people doesn’t just create a unique 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 will ensure that individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable adjustment to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and to receive other benefits and privileges of employment.