Company Intro
Booking Holdings (NASDAQ: BKNG) is the world's leading provider of online travel and related services, provided to consumers and local partners in more than 220 countries and territories through five primary consumer-facing brands:
Booking.com, Priceline, Agoda, KAYAK and
OpenTable. The mission of Booking Holdings is to make it easier for everyone to experience the world. For more information, visit
BookingHoldings.com and follow us on X (formerly known as Twitter) @BookingHoldings.
Booking Holdings Financial Services (hereinafter “BHFS”) provides financial services in the form of payment services and e-money products across all the brands. BHFS is committed to conducting its business in compliance with applicable laws, regulations and guidelines, with integrity and to the highest ethical standards.
Job Summary
Partnering with the SVP Fintech and the other leadership team members, the CFO Fintech will be a critical player in bringing the company to its next phase of growth and transformation to include BHFS entities, BHI Fintech and Polaris. They will be a key member of the BHI Fintech leadership team, delivering a transformational agenda including meeting challenging operational and financial objectives, as well as supporting strategic programs across the Group. Moreover, the CFO Fintech will interact frequently with the Booking Holdings CFO, Booking Holdings Finance Leadership Team, Board of Directors, Audit Committee, Brands Leaders/CFOs, and numerous external constituencies to help communicate the plan and progress against key strategic objectives for all companies.
We are looking for a CFO Booking Holdings Fintech to serve as a critical architect for the evolution of our payments capabilities, including the expansion of authorised financial services business via our licensed payments entities globally. This is a fast growing part of Booking Holdings and you will have a chance to be part of an innovative and dynamic part of our business. You will act as the guardian of the Booking Holdings Fintech P&L. You will lead a global team across various Fintech entities across Treasury, FP&A, M&A/Investments, and Tax and work closely together with our SVP Fintech at Booking Holdings and Finance communities across Booking Holdings.
We are looking for an executive with Fintech experience who has thrived in both large corporate environments and high-growth, smaller settings. You should bring strong leadership experience with deep fluency in Treasury FX markets, FP&A, and the ability to balance operational speed with regulatory integrity.
Key Relationships:
Reports to: SVP of Fintech
Member of the Board of BHFS Ltd.
Member of the Board of BHFS International Ltd - PCF role
Direct reports: Global team of country CFO’s have a dotted reporting line to this role as well as a combination of matrix reporting across the following functions:
- Treasury, & Financial Services
- Tax
- Risk & Control
- Order to cash
- Accounting
- Financial Systems
- Financial Planning & Analysis
- Strategic Relationship Management
Other Key Relationships:
BKNG Fintech Leadership Team
Board of Directors, Booking Holdings Financial Services entities
Close relationship with BHI Group CFO and BCom CFO to ensure functional and commercial alignment.
Executive Leadership Teams other Booking Holdings Brands
Booking Holdings Finance leadership
External constituencies
Strategic Partner to CRO and CCO at executive level
Key Responsibilities:
As the leader of this critical function you will:
- Work with the leadership team of BKNG Fintech and CFO’S of our brands and Booking Holdings CFO; to bring financial and strategic solutions; drive BHFS's short-term and long-term goals. Be the guardian of the BKNG Fintech P&L and support the various Product/Commercial teams to continue to drive greater value for the group.
- Serve as both a financial and strategic business advisor to the BHFS Global CEO as well as other members of the leadership team. Contribute actively to the evolution and execution of the organization’s strategic and operational business plans.
- Set regulatory finance strategy across Ireland (CBI), UK (FCA), and US (state regulators)
- Ensure consistent approach to regulatory compliance while respecting jurisdictional differences
- Provide oversight of local CFO relationships with regulators and escalate material regulatory issues to SVP Fintech and General Counsel
- Coordinate group-wide responses to cross-jurisdictional regulatory matters
- Review and approve all material regulatory submissions before filing
- Sign off on consolidated regulatory reports where required
- Act as escalation point for regulatory inquiries or enforcement actions
- Ensure the timely delivery of accurate results and communicate results to Booking Holdings.
- Oversee and administer the full spectrum of BHFS's finance and accounting functions, including accounting/control, financial planning, tax, risk, treasury, and finance IT/technology. Direct the selection, hiring, training and development of all personnel in these functions.
- Drive continuous improvement and maturation of the finance organization. Lead finance at BHFS to world class standards for both operational finance activities and business partnering.
- Ensure that the company has the appropriate financial controls, policies, procedures, and systems in place to support its regulated requirements and continued growth.
- Drive the performance of the business and lead the finance team in continuously improving the quality of financial information and analysis necessary to maintain growth and improve operational efficiency.
- Direct financial planning and analysis, including the further development of
- Management information to assist the , leadership team and BHFS in the ongoing management of operations. In addition, the CFO will be responsible for the financial modeling of prospective and new business initiatives, a critical element in the company’s overall strategic, operating, and capital planning.
- Monitor trends to identify risks and opportunities across key revenue and expense categories. Establish benchmarks and scorecards to assist leadership in managing the fiscal discipline of their functions.
- Ensure all company accounting practices adhere to GAAP and are in compliance with all regulatory reporting requirements; interpret and communicate the impact of all new accounting pronouncements. This full range of activities including precise compliance with Sarbanes-Oxley 404 and other public listing requirements.
- Oversee the value added treasury services in areas such as global cash management, financial strategy, foreign exchange and interest rate hedging, risk management and insurance to the business units and corporate functional group. Group treasury functions and associated relationships with banks are centralised under the Group Treasurer in BHI. The BHFS CFO will coordinate with this centralised function in order to facilitate fintech product development and the cash management needs of BHFS entities.
- Define and implement industry best practices across finance to continually improve effectiveness and efficiency.
Desired Outcomes:
- Partner with the and be a critical player in driving the evolution of the company’s business model and generating returns to shareholders.
- Help optimize the many new business opportunities for BHI Fintech, BHFS and Polaris with a continuous focus on improving profitability, managing costs, creating efficiencies and mitigating risk for the company.
- Work with Booking Holdings and the other Booking Holdings Brands on the design and buildup of Booking Holdings Financial Services, the largest travel payments network in the world.
Ideal Experience:
This position requires a seasoned Executive with prior finance experience in regulated and unregulated businesses
Impeccable strategic and analytical skills, and strong leadership traits. The ideal CFO candidate will be intellectually curious, highly collaborative, and a contributing force as the company transitions into a multi product line payments and travel leader.
The candidate is a strong communicator and a strong leader of a sizable organization. The candidate will handle challenging situations in a professional and balanced manner and will serve as a mentor, leader and partner across the organization. The candidate will be experienced and comfortable operating in a “dotted line” matrixed reporting model and will know how to leverage this structure.
- 15+ years of senior level finance leadership experience
- Diverse and progressive finance experience preferred. Strong academic credentials, including a finance, accounting or other relevant degree; an accounting qualification and/or MBA are desirable.
- Experience as a CFO of a large company.
- Experience in leading the overall control environment for a large division
- Relevant sector experience
- Experience in technology, eCommerce or Internet and/or with rapidly growing global businesses will be a strong plus.
- Leadership of a globally dispersed finance team
- Experience leading teams that are dispersed across global locations and cultures, conducting business in different markets and currencies.
- Experience in a matrix organization and/or in an organization with the typical global, regional and local complexities
- Has experienced large transformational finance projects.
- International experience with a global company
- Understanding of regulations, risks, and doing business in a global environment
Other Personal Characteristics:
- Able to function in a fast-moving entrepreneurial environment
- Humble yet confident, with high self-awareness
- A strategic thinker yet focused on execution; able to roll up their sleeves to get things done
- Self-starter with high energy and drive; fast-paced and results-driven; forward-thinking
- Experimental, ready to learn and open to change
- Keep the customer at the centre of everything you do
- Data-driven
- Good cultural and organizational sensitivity
- Committed to building a diverse, inclusive work environment
- Clear, logical and strong communicator
Critical Leadership Capabilities:
Strategic Thinking- Operating in a fiercely competitive, fast-moving industry, BHFS has rapidly transitioned from start-up to a maturing organization. Accordingly the CFO will need to enhance the strategic planning and decision-making capabilities of the organization by:
- Translating broad corporate strategies into clear, specific objectives and plans for units and individuals.
- Creating plans that address specific segments or contrast the local market with other locations or segments.
- Thinking several years ahead.
Leading People:
In the context of a business where growth will increase the speed and complexity of operating decisions, the CFO will secure and lead a world-class financial organization that can deliver value and protect the company under these conditions. The CFO will:
- Strengthen the finance team, instilling a focus on rigorous financial discipline and fostering a business partnering culture. Act as a coach and mentor while identifying and hiring talent. Lead through example as well as management skills. Drive a finance culture of excellence, aligned with the company's ethos. Provide a motivating atmosphere that encourages successful performance.
- Collaborate and openly debate with the team to manage projects, solve problems, discuss challenging issues, or learn more about critical issues as a group.
- Delegate roles thoughtfully to free self to work at a more strategic level.
- Collaborate with each employee to establish clear, challenging performance goals and metrics for the year.
- Design a performance management process to monitor projects and deliver results that exceed expectations.
- Periodically review team progress against plans, focusing attention beyond the project to the full year or more.
Collaborating and Influencing:
The CFO will need to build relationships that command respect with Booking Holdings, the leadership team and other operating employees. Externally, given the company is in the midst of growing to the next phase, clear messaging to regulators, the Board of Directors of BHFS entities and Booking Holdings is of importance. Therefore the CFO will need to:
- Negotiate with a genuine give-and-take approach, where both act as true peers and decisions are shared.
- Spend time identifying all stakeholders necessary and meets or connects with all of them, neglecting no one to shape a collective consensus.
- Identify opportunities to build relationships that will help others achieve their objectives and reaches out to those people or new people.
Booking Holdings Financial Services is an equal opportunity employer that is committed to inclusion in the workplace. We are committed to treating all employees equally, regardless of gender, civil status, family status, sexual orientation, religious belief, age, disability, race or membership of the traveler community.
This policy extends to every phase of the employment process including, but not limited to, recruitment, selection, placement, transfer, training and development, position elimination, restructure, promotion, compensation, benefits, layoffs, termination, and all other conditions or privileges of employment. Booking Holdings Financial Services is an Equal Employment Opportunity employer and makes hiring decisions based solely on qualifications, merit, and business needs at the time.
