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 one makes. The journeys one takes. The sights one sees. And the food one samples. Through our products, partners and people, we are making it easy for everyone to experience the world..
About The Team
Booking relies heavily on machine learning to personalise the experience of travellers and partners. Machine Learning Platform (MLP) track is about making it easy for product teams to build and use AI/ML at Booking. At Feedback Loops team, part of MLP track, you are at the epicentre of this by building state of the art machine learning algorithms to bootstrap ranking, recommendation and personalisation models. You are also responsible for building and maintaining the platform that models run on. The team is focused on changing the way ML is done at Booking by leading and advocating for online learning, as well as helping teams build customised models for their specific use cases. The team works quite closely with other product and ML teams powering personalisation at Booking, as well as teams building any sort of ranking and recommendation models to achieve this in close collaboration with them.
As a Machine Learning Engineer you are a driver of your field, who generates significant business impact directly and indirectly, and crafts the direction of product initiatives by being driven and having full ownership of your projects - from ideation to collecting data, annotating, feature engineering, productizing and training model pipelines, deploying experiments, measuring and iterating on them - as well as coaching other Machine Learning Engineers, Scientists, Data Engineers, Product Managers, etc to do the same.
Key Job Responsibilities and Duties
- Develop production-grade ML systems, from models to features and pipelines, accounting for reliability, scalability, real-time requirements, monitoring and retraining.
- Build readable and reusable code, applying code quality best practices and using standard libraries. Choose the right technology or coding methodology as well as refactor and simplify code when necessary.
- Take full ownership of your services end to end by actively monitoring the systems health, performance and business impact.
- Be responsible for business related data governance processes, the technical implementation and maintenance of data processing services and storage systems, and the implementation and maintenance of ML governance processes.
- Evaluate possible architecture solutions taking into account the business and technology requirements.
- Set the relevant service level objectives SLOs and act accordingly when they are not met.
- Build readable and reusable code, using the right technologies and coding methodologies applying knowledge of business area tools and product needs.
- Continuously evolve your craft by keeping up to date with the latest developments in ML/AI and related technologies and upskilling on these, as needed.
- Contribute to the internal ML/AI community by sharing your knowledge and participating in our internal ML programs.
- Coach others through evidence and clear communication, explaining advanced technical concepts in simpler terms.
- Maintain a highly cross-disciplinary perspective, solving issues by applying approaches and methods from across a variety of disciplines and related fields.
- Achieve mutually agreeable solutions by staying adaptable, communicating ideas in clear coherent language and practising active listening
Role Qualifications And Requirements
- 3+ years of relevant work experience (or equivalent), involved with the application of Machine Learning to business problems in a commercial environment.
- Experience in areas like e.g. Recommender Systems, Deep Learning, Information Retrieval, Computer Vision, Speech Recognition, Causal Inference, MLOps, etc.
- Work experience (or equivalent), involved with the application of Machine Learning to business problems, preferably in a commercial environment.
- Knowledge of multiple machine learning facets, such as working with large data sets, experimentation, scalability and optimization.
- Experience with data-driven product development: analytics, A/B testing, etc.
- Strong working experience in one or more general purpose programming languages
- Experience of version control systems.
- Excellent English communication skills, both written and verbal.
Benefits & Perks: Global Impact, Personal Relevance
Booking.com’s Total Rewards Philosophy is not only about compensation but also about benefits. Our Total Rewards strive to make it easier for you to experience all that life has to offer on your terms so that you can focus on what really matters. We offer competitive compensation as well as thoughtful, valuable, and even fun benefits which include:
- Headquarters located in one of the most dynamic and cosmopolitan cities in Europe: Amsterdam.
- Contribute to a high scale, sophisticated, world-class product and see the real time impact of your work on millions of travellers worldwide.
- Be part of a truly international fast paced environment and performance driven culture.
- Full relocation support for you and your family to move to Amsterdam. We have fine-tuned this process by successfully relocating over 300 Technology professionals to Amsterdam in the last year alone!
- Performance-based company that offers 29 vacation days, career advancement, and lucrative compensation, including bonuses and stock potential.
- Discount on Booking.com accommodations with the “Booking Deal” including other perks and benefits.
- Company-sponsored family and social activities to help our employees become integrated with each other and Dutch culture.
- Diverse and creative colleagues from every corner of the world.
- Health, life, and disability insurance*
- 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 for yourself, friends, and family, including automatic Genius Level 3 status and quarterly Booking.com wallet credit.
- Free access to online learning platforms, development and mentorship programs, and a complimentary Headspace membership
- On-site meals, coffee, and snacks, including healthy and vegan options, daily*
#ThinkInclusion: 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.
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, colour, 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.
