Reporting to the Head of Public Affairs, APAC and based in Sydney, the position leads the company’s public affairs programme within a cluster or markets within a region. The Manager Public Affairs represents the interests of Booking.com before government, political and regulatory audiences and other relevant stakeholders and engages (including influencing) with external stakeholders at senior levels. This role works closely with other parts of legal & PA, as well as with business units, corporate units and corporate functions, the accommodations BU and experiences, and aligns with the business priorities of our local and regional business offices. This role contributes to the strategic positioning and reputation of the company among external stakeholders.
Key Responsibilities:
- Support the development and implementation of the PA strategy to support business priorities and Booking.com’s corporate profile in defined markets within the Asia Pacific Region with a focus on Oceania (Australia, NZ) and South Asia (India)
- Liaise with elected members and government officials at mid to high levels on business related public policy issues
- Facilitate high level meetings with key stakeholders, including parliaments and governments, regulatory bodies, industry association and alliance partners to promote and advocate the company’s PA priorities
- Support the management of our trade association memberships and represent the company
- Ensure continuous monitoring and evaluation of political stakeholder activity and regulatory developments
- Communicate with the PA team to align messaging and provide colleagues with a thorough understanding of PA priorities
- Articulate Booking.com positions in briefing papers, consultation responses, internal and external meetings
- Represent PA’s POV internally and serve as an internal advisor to other functions within the company
Requirements of special knowledge/skills:
- Good understanding of policy and legal challenges facing the tech industry and affinity with the tourism and travel industry
- Experience and comfort with managing sensitive reputational issues and/or crises
- Experience developing creative and effective public affairs campaigns that underpin the company’s business objectives
- Excellent oral communications skills and ability to distill complex information into clear messages that will resonate with political and regulatory audiences, as well as into succinct updates for the business teams
- A strong work ethic and ability to work independently, while being able to adeptly build internal relationships and rope in allies as needed to get work done
- A confident demeanor with a sense of gravitas and fortitude that can stand up to scrutiny, countervailing views, opinions and positions.
- Have familiarity and comfort navigating multi-national corporate structures in order to successfully complete objectives
- Impeccable organizational skills, in particularly the capacity to manage multiple work streams at once and detail orientation when it comes to writing, verbal communication and strategic planning
- Advanced English speaker, other languages an advantage, such as native tongues used in India
- Prior experience either working in government/civil service or having direct sustained interaction with government entities in Australia and India would be a plus
Further skills we are looking for:
- 6-8 Years of relevant experience
- Aligning with Booking.com’s Values (Think Customer First, Succeed Together, Own It, Learn Forever, Do the Right Thing)
- Being curious, flexible, and a creative & pragmatic problem solver
- Confident yet collaborative
- Ability to influence stakeholders across all levels within the organisation
- Being proactive, resilient and having the drive to get things done
- Having sound judgement and the ability to see the big picture and simultaneously appreciate the details necessary to operationalise the strategy
- Having the courage to take positions and make tough judgment calls
- Being a team player, self aware and a good listener - a diverse group will always find the best solution!
- Ability to move with agility, prioritise workloads and meet deadlines
- Forward thinking with an interest in emerging issues in legal and policy
Why join the Legal & Public Affairs Team now?
Booking.com’s Legal & Public Affairs team is on a transformational journey at a transformational time for e-commerce and travel (think: growth, innovation, changes to how we operate); you will have an opportunity to actively shape the Department’s future. The Legal & Public Affairs team is also a critical part of the enablement of Booking.com’s strategy of the Connected Trip (a travel experience that includes not just accommodation, but also transportation, attractions, experiences, payments, flights etc).
This is a journey that requires close business and Legal & Public Affairs partnerships to redefine our business model, navigate complex regulatory environments, build new products, and negotiate increasingly elaborate commercial deals, among other important projects our teams get involved every day. To tackle this mission, it all starts with a strong team passionate about growing Booking.com in an ethical and sustainable way!
Who we are
To match our global footprint and the array of challenges we face, we are proud to highlight the diversity that exists across this group. We are a team of approximately 165 professionals - representing more than 36 nationalities - with lawyers qualified in many different countries, as well as non-lawyers with public policy, economics, compliance and risk backgrounds. Our team’s previous experience spans across a multitude of industries with team members having worked for major global companies (including Uber, American Express, Airbnb, Amazon, Google, Nokia), tech and other startups, government entities (e.g., the Dutch Competition Authority), and reputable international law firms (e.g., Hogan Lovells, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Baker Mckenzie), and Public Affairs firms (e.g., FTI Consulting, FIPRA, Brunswick).
In addition to our day-to-day work, we actively seek opportunities for our team members to engage in the wider global legal and public affairs communities through speaking engagements, training programs, and association memberships. Some of our lawyers are Board members of Consumer Law associations, Competition Law associations, Privacy associations, etc. We also believe in actively engaging with stakeholders to share our insights on policies affecting the travel experience and how travel tech innovations can fuel the digital transformation of the travel industry. For example, we recently launched Booking.com’s Public Affairs blog, where we publish our position on key policy issues (A World Worth Experiencing).
As a team, we believe in:
Integrating with the Business and Legal having a “seat at the table”: we are decision makers that can have a real impact on Booking.com’s future
Booking’s mission of making it easier for everyone to experience the world. Travel helps people become more open minded, curious and flexible
Allowing members of our teams to experience different areas or, if they want to be specialists, give them the tools to become more effective in their jobs
Providing holistic legal and public affairs advice; our team should not work in silos
Always looking for better ways of doing things, improving our Legal Operations function, innovating and exchanging best practices
Accepting that it's OK to make mistakes as long as we learn from them
Having a sense of humour and having fun working together; we are a team that likes to collaborate and share in joys and challenges together!
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.
