About Us:

 
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.

 

About the Team:

 

Our team is dedicated to embedding agile values and principles across the organization. Our mission is to foster a culture where continuous improvement, collaboration, and customer-centricity are at the heart of everything we do by leveraging fast flow, fast feedback and climate for learning capabilities.

 

Through education and coaching, we equip individuals and teams with the mindsets, behaviours, and practices needed to thrive in agile environments. We lead transformational change by guiding teams and departments through shifts in mindset, culture, and ways of working.

 

By promoting transparency, collaboration, and empowerment, we cultivate an environment where teams take ownership, adapt quickly, and tackle complex challenges together. We drive continuous improvement by proactively identifying constraints to value delivery and evolving behaviours and processes that support long-term, sustainable growth.

We're also passionate about building community, nurturing vibrant communities of practice that enable knowledge sharing, peer support, and ongoing learning, ensuring innovation stays at the core of how we work.

Role Description:

A Senior Agile Coach works across multiple teams, tracks and a Business Unit, partnering with senior management to address complex delivery and organisational challenges. They optimize the wider system by rallying stakeholders, using data and systems thinking, and leading change that creates sustainable outcomes beyond a single team. Senior Agile Coaches raise the bar of the Agile Coaching craft by mentoring peers and Agile Coaches, train, coach and mentor stakeholders up to and including VP level, and independently decide where coaching effort will have the greatest impact. They align internal Agile Coaching activities where required, including across BAU groups and Hub streams. This is an individual contributor role with no line-management responsibility

Key Job Responsibilities and Duties:

Work with teams to deliver working software: 

• Partner with Product, Engineering, Business Operations and other relevant functions across multiple teams and tracks to improve delivery outcomes and optimise the wider Business Unit.
• Take on complex, multi-team delivery challenges by applying systems thinking, identifying patterns and dependencies, and rallying the right people around a shared outcome.
• Surface delivery risks, impediments and system constraints early, communicate their business impact and facilitate sustainable resolution beyond a single team.
• Use relevant delivery metrics, observations and feedback to diagnose problems, test assumptions, guide experiments and assess progress across the wider system.
• Drive the adoption of AI-enabled ways of working across multi-team structures and business units to scale operational effectiveness.

 

Influencing Behavioural Change: 

• Lead initiatives that help teams and stakeholders learn, adapt and adopt new ways of working across multiple teams while maintaining shared outcomes.
• Balance local team needs with wider Business Unit impact, adjusting interventions as evidence emerges and ensuring behavioural change persists beyond direct involvement.
• Build commitment and gain support for complex change by influencing without formal authority, communicating trade-offs clearly and aligning senior stakeholder expectations.
• Raise the bar of the Agile Coaching craft by teaching, mentoring and coaching Agile Coaches and senior peers, sharing practices and helping others guide sustainable improvement.

 

Continuous Improvement: 

• Work across teams, roles and organisational levels to understand the current state, identify systemic patterns and competing needs, and define a clear direction for change.
• Own decisions about where and how to focus coaching effort, prioritising opportunities that maximise business value and impact for the available effort.
• Drive progress towards target conditions by taking ownership for sustainable outcomes beyond a single team and following complex improvements through to completion.
• Align internal Agile Coaching activities where and when required, including coordination across BAU groups, Hub streams and other internal activities.

 

Culture of psychological safety:

• Build psychological safety and healthy conflict across teams, stakeholders and the Agile Coaching community so people can surface risks, competing perspectives and systemic issues openly.
• Bring different perspectives together to create shared understanding, surface trade-offs and make root causes visible, even when they cannot be fully resolved.
• Support Agile Coaches and senior peers to continuously improve their ideas, perspectives and approaches to complex organisational change

 

Stakeholder Management: 

 

• Identify and engage stakeholders across teams, tracks, Business Unit leadership and senior management, assessing competing needs, dependencies and the impact of change.

• Build trusted partnerships through curiosity and deep listening, noticing what is said and unsaid, valuing different perspectives and creating shared understanding.

• Communicate complex delivery challenges, trade-offs and recommendations clearly to diverse audiences, including senior leadership.

• Co-design change with stakeholders, build ownership and sustain improvements beyond direct involvement.

 

Negotiating:

 

• Work towards mutually beneficial outcomes by understanding the needs and motives of others, surfacing trade-offs and responding constructively during negotiations.

Influencing:

• Influence and motivate stakeholders at multiple levels without formal authority by using sound judgement, clear narratives, emotional intelligence and evidence-based recommendations.

• Initiate action independently in complex situations without waiting for direction, while remaining aligned with business priorities and shared outcomes.

 

Consulting / Advising: 

 

• Provide expert advisory services and practical solutions for complex delivery and organisational challenges across the Business Unit.

• Understand challenges from people, delivery and business perspectives, form a clear view and remain open to context, evidence and being wrong.

• Adapt the intervention and ways of working across teams, stakeholders and organisational contexts while maintaining shared outcomes.

 

Coaching and Mentoring: 

• Train, coach and mentor stakeholders up to and including VP level, adapting the approach to the context, need and readiness of the stakeholder.
• Mentor and coach Agile Coaches and senior peers to raise the standard of the craft and amplify sustainable impact across the organisation.
• Share experience and practical approaches that improve stakeholder performance, address impediments and build ownership beyond the coach's direct involvement.

Qualifications & Skills:

• Broad Job Knowledge (5 - 8 years)

• Full understanding of the agile values and principles

• Differing agile methodologies (e.g. scrum, kanban, lean, XP etc)

• Expert Knowledge in the software delivery life cycle including but not limited to continuous delivery and walking skeletons. 

• Relevant background in an Engineering or Product role

 

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 

 

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) 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. 

 

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 in the job application and interview process, to perform crucial job functions, and to receive other benefits and privileges of employment.

 

Application Process: 

• Cv review
• Recruiter Interview
• Business Interview 1
• Business Interview 2 case study
• FIT/ Final Interview
• Hiring Decision

 

Let's go places together: How we Hire

This role does not come with relocation assistance.

 

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 and work to create an environment that allows everyone to thrive.

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.