Managing Director Attractions, Manchester

About Booking.com

Established in 1996 in Amsterdam, Booking.com has grown from a small Dutch start‑up to one of the largest e‑commerce companies in the world. It is the largest business within Booking Holdings (NASDAQ: BKNG) and accounts for the vast majority of the group's total revenue. Booking Holdings is a leading Fortune 500 e‑commerce conglomerate with a market cap of roughly $75 billion (2022). Booking.com currently employs approximately 10,000 employees in 120+ offices in 70 countries worldwide.

Profile

The Managing Director – Attractions & Experiences is a commercially driven, product‑minded and highly strategic leader who will shape and scale Booking.com’s global Attractions & Experiences business in line with the company’s strategy and mission. The role leads the vision, builds a compelling traveller proposition and accelerates supply, demand, partnerships and innovation. The Managing Director will act as the senior leader for the business, with responsibility for the P&L and the integration of commercial, product, marketing, operations and partner strategy to create a category‑defining experience offering within the broader Booking.com travel ecosystem.

Key Priorities

• Further develop the supply strategy to ensure a strong offer and availability for customers and a compelling partner value proposition.
• Ensure best‑in‑class customer experience so customers can plan, book and manage their Attractions & Experiences bookings.
• Partner with other business units to strengthen market position and accelerate demand generation and cross‑sell opportunities.
• Maintain effective leadership, governance, operating cadence and a performance culture within the vertical.
• Effectively and responsibly integrate AI into processes and ways of working to increase productivity and improve the customer proposition.

Key Relationships

• Reports to: SVP, Trips.
• Direct reports: Product, Commercial and Operations leaders within the Attractions/Experiences organisation (3).
• Key peers: MDs for other Trips verticals and business unit peers including Accommodations, Marketplace, Fintech, Marketing and Finance.

Location

Flexible – Amsterdam (preferred) / Manchester / London. Travel required.

Key Responsibilities

• Business leadership and strategy
  • Define and lead the long‑term strategy for Booking.com’s Attractions & Experiences vertical, aligned with company priorities and traveller needs.
  • Set a clear vision for how attractions and experiences can become a differentiated and material growth engine within the connected trip proposition.
  • Own the vertical’s business performance, including growth, profitability and partner quality.
  • Identify new growth opportunities across geographies, customer segments, inventory types and business models.
• Commercial growth and marketplace development
  • Build and scale a high‑quality global supply base across activities, attractions, tickets and experience providers.
  • Develop commercial strategies that improve assortment, availability, pricing competitiveness and conversion.
  • Lead relationships with key strategic partners, distributors, operators and ecosystem players.
  • Drive marketplace health by balancing traveller demand, partner success, operational excellence and unit economics.
• Product and customer proposition
  • Partner closely with Product and Technology leaders to create a best‑in‑class traveller and partner experience.
  • Champion a customer‑first approach that improves discovery, merchandising, booking flow, trust, flexibility and post‑booking experience.
  • Ensure the vertical benefits from Booking.com’s broader platform strengths in personalization, cross‑sell, mobile, payments and loyalty.
  • Help shape the roadmap for differentiated experiences products that strengthen brand relevance and repeat engagement.
• Cross‑functional leadership
  • Serve as the senior point of alignment across Commercial, Product, Marketing, Finance, Operations, Analytics, Legal and Customer Service.
  • Lead through influence across a complex matrix organisation, ensuring clarity of priorities, ownership and outcomes.
  • Build operating rhythms, KPIs and governance mechanisms that improve decision‑making and execution speed.
  • Represent the business with senior internal stakeholders, external partners and industry forums.
• Operational excellence
  • Establish clear performance metrics and business reviews across supply growth, conversion, attachment, repeat, NPS, partner satisfaction and margin.
  • Drive execution discipline and accountability across teams to deliver against ambitious goals.
  • Ensure scalability of processes, tools and operating models as the business grows.
  • Partner with legal, compliance and trust teams to uphold high standards around safety, quality and regulatory requirements.
• Team leadership
  • Build, inspire and develop a high‑performing leadership team for the vertical.
  • Attract top talent and foster a culture of pace, ownership, innovation and collaboration.
  • Coach leaders across multiple functions and geographies, creating strong succession and capability depth.
  • Act as a visible and motivating leader who can align teams behind a compelling ambition.

Ideal Experience and Skills

• Significant senior leadership experience in marketplaces, e‑commerce or another fast‑scaling digital platform business. Experience in Travel and Experiences is desirable but not mandatory.
• Proven track record of owning and scaling a complex consumer‑facing business or category with meaningful revenue responsibility.
• Strong commercial experience, including supply‑side strategy, partner negotiations, business development and go‑to‑market execution.
• Strong understanding of marketplace dynamics, including liquidity, pricing, conversion, partner economics and customer behaviour.
• Experience working closely with product and technology organisations to shape digital products and customer journeys.
• Demonstrated success leading cross‑functional and international teams in a matrixed environment.
• Experience setting strategy while also driving operational execution and performance management.
• Ideally brings experience in tours, activities, attractions, ticketing, leisure, online travel or adjacent consumer internet sectors.
• Bachelor’s degree required; MBA or equivalent advanced degree is a plus.

Strategic and Commercial Leadership

• Strong strategic thinker with the ability to translate vision into measurable business outcomes.
• Excellent commercial instincts and a sharp understanding of what drives scalable growth with ability to negotiate effectively and build long‑term partnerships.
• Data‑driven individual, with the ability to make high‑quality decisions in ambiguous, fast‑moving environments.

Customer and Product Orientation

• Deep commitment to customer experience and a strong intuition for what creates traveller value.
• Comfortable partnering with product and tech teams to prioritise features, propositions and platform investments.
• Data‑informed, with strong analytical judgement and fluency in performance metrics.

Leadership and Influence

• Exceptional leadership presence with credibility to engage at executive and board level.
• Highly effective in matrixed environments; able to align senior stakeholders without relying solely on direct authority.
• Strong negotiator and people leader with a track record of building trust, developing talent and raising the performance bar.

Execution and Resilience

• Action‑oriented, with a bias for pace and accountability.
• Comfortable balancing long‑term ambition with near‑term delivery.
• Resilient, adaptable and effective in navigating change, complexity and competing priorities.

Communication and Partnership

• Outstanding communicator, both internally and externally.
• Strong negotiation and relationship‑management skills.
• Able to represent Booking.com with senior partners and industry stakeholders in a compelling way.

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