Company Intro

Booking Holdings (NASDAQ: BKNG) is the world leader in online travel and related services, provided to customers and partners in over 220 countries and territories through six primary consumer-facing brands – Booking.com, KAYAK, priceline, agoda.com, Rentalcars.com, and OpenTable. The mission of Booking Holdings is to make it easier for everyone to experience the world.

The Booking Holdings Financial Services (BHFS) group is an international group of companies that is owned by Booking Holdings Inc. and will enable the delivery of regulated financial and payments services to customers of the BKNG brands around the world.

Job Overview

Booking Holdings Financial Services, is looking for a highly energetic and organized senior product and regulatory lawyer with experience or a demonstrated interest in payments to act as a critical partner to help develop and deliver a legal strategy to launch, and scale a world-class payments operation to support Booking Holdings Inc.’s brands globally.

The selected candidate will have the chance to join a team that helps remove friction out of payments, and shape the future of travel. You will have the chance to work on a range of innovative legal questions relating to regulatory strategy, roll out of new products and design of key areas of user experience, demonstrating a grasp of regulatory payments, product and commercial considerations that enable product management at scale, and help shape how travel is experienced by millions of users. 

The role demands a product-savvy, technically competent lawyer, who can inform strategic decisions around licensing, registration and consumer protection requirements for payment and financial services products. This opportunity represents an exceptional chance to embed yourself with one of the world’s most exciting technology platforms and help define the future for accessing travel experiences across the world.

This position is flexible to be based either in New York or Dallas, Texas.

Salary for this role in New York: $207,000 – $253,000

Salary for this role in Dallas, Texas: $197,100 – $240,900

Responsibilities and Duties

• You will report directly to the Legal Director, BHFS US and be responsible for handling legal matters relating to product and regulatory issues impacting Booking Holdings Financial Services, with a particular focus on the U.S. 

• You will be able to clearly and concisely articulate legal and regulatory payments issues to non-legal stakeholders, including the BHFS US management team.

• You will work cross functionally on a daily basis, including with the BHFS US management team, technology, product, risk, compliance and finance teams and other stakeholders across the business. You will also partner with broader teams within BHFS and at Booking Holdings, as well as members of the Booking Holdings Global Legal Department across our affiliate brands. You will also work with legal advisors at other Booking Holdings Group businesses.

• You will identify and advise on key regulatory issues impacting the BHFS business in the US region.

• You will be called upon to provide practical and actionable legal advice on a variety of regulated products and services and you will need to exercise legal judgment and commercial acumen in assessing legal risks in multiple state jurisdictions.

• You will provide legal and strategic business advice on all aspects of our operations, including product development, privacy and marketing strategies.

• You will help draft, review and negotiate complex contracts with financial institutions, payment providers, technology platforms and other entities that provide or support our operations.

• You will help draft, review and manage product terms of use. You will provide legal and strategic business advice that will help develop a comprehensive, long-term approach to our relationships with key partners on all aspects of our operations.

Qualifications

• 5-8 years practicing law, with a mix of in-house (preferably financial services, Fintech or technology services) and law firm experience preferred.

• Law degree from an accredited law school, and excellent academic credentials.

• Experience working with different team roles, including cross-functional teams at a global company, advising management teams.

• Experience with and/or demonstrated curiosity for payments and its regulation, data privacy, security, consumer protection issues and information policy. 

• Exceptional organizational and project management abilities.

• Experience in advising on aspects of new product development and product delivery channels and working closely with product designers, engineers, and product management.

• Experience with regulated money services businesses, other types of financial transactions and services and having experience advising regulated entities is desirable.

• Experience in drafting and negotiating complex contracts, specially in the payments space with PSPs, card networks and in respect of payment terms is desirable.

Requirements of special knowledge / skills

• Excellent interpersonal, oral and written communication skills along with a demonstrated ability to collaborate cross-functionally with internal and external stakeholders.

• Ability to work collaboratively and effectively in a global team environment. 

• Positive attitude, a sense of humor, unquestioned level of ethics and integrity and intellectual curiosity. 

• Demonstrated experience negotiating and structuring international commercial transactions with a wide range of counterparties, cultures and working styles. 

• High tolerance for change and ambiguity.

• Creative thinker with strong problem-solving skills and the ability to thrive in a fast-paced work environment, handle multiple assignments simultaneously and effectively manage conflicting priorities.

• Eager to learn new technologies and ideas. Comfortable navigating complicated and nuanced issues.

• Previous experience of working within a financial technology, digital platform or e-commerce environment is desirable.

• Should be willing to travel occasionally in post-Covid environment. 

• Bar admission in a US state (preferably New York or Texas).

About BKNG 

Booking Holdings is the world leader in online travel & related services. Our teams work around the clock to build and improve the technology that empowers people to more freely travel across borders, time zones, languages and cultures. At Booking Holdings, we make it easier for everyone to experience the world every day through seamless technology powered by our six major brands: 

• Booking.com

• KAYAK

• priceline

• agoda

• Rentalcars.com

• OpenTable

Through the Booking Holdings brands, we help our customers reach all corners of the earth. Our ability to provide great service rests on how well we understand our diverse customer base, which is why having a diverse team is so important to us. We bring together employees from all walks of life and we are proud to provide the kind of inclusive environment that stimulates innovation, creativity and collaboration.