Senior Managing Counsel, Commercial, BKNG Fintech Legal

About Booking Holdings

Booking Holdings (NASDAQ: BKNG) is the world leader in online travel and services that support the entire travel journey. Our platforms - including Booking.com, Priceline, Agoda, KAYAK and OpenTable - utilize advanced AI, machine learning and other innovative technologies to simplify and personalize the travel experience for consumers and partners in over 220 countries and territories. Our mission is to make it easier for everyone to experience the world.

Senior Managing Counsel, Fintech Legal Team

This role is eligible for our hybrid work model: Two days in-office. Booking Holdings is seeking an exceptional legal leader to join our international Fintech Legal Team to serve as Senior Managing Counsel, leading legal support for Fintech Commercial Partnerships across Booking Holdings brands in the US.

• Lead the negotiation, drafting and execution of complex, high value partnerships with financial institutions, payment networks, fintech providers, and strategic technology partners, securing strong commercial outcomes while protecting the business against foreseeable legal and regulatory risk.
• Act as a single point of contact for the US Fintech Commercial Partnership teams, independently advising on priority commercial initiatives and escalations, and making commercially grounded recommendations on complex deal structures, risk trade-offs and approval paths.
• Design pragmatic legal strategies and risk mitigations for new commercial models and product-linked partnership initiatives (including payments infrastructure, embedded finance, and alternative payment models), and coordinates input from external and internal subject matter experts.
• Support in establishing and standardizing global contracting frameworks, and risk allocation models across jurisdictions and brands including delegations of authority, decision-making frameworks and compliance with internal policies and controls.
• Drive strong ways of working, sets high standards for drafting, negotiation and risk calibration, strengthens collaboration and knowledge sharing, and drives cross-brand efficiency and velocity through AI- and automation-led process improvements.
• Manage external counsel and scopes support in line with business priorities and budget.

Qualifications

• Qualified lawyer with 8 + years’ PQE (or equivalent experience) with a mix of in-house and big firm experience preferred.
• Law degree from a top law school, and excellent academic credentials.
• License to practice in New York.
• Exceptional drafting and negotiation skills, with a track record of leading high-stakes, complex commercial negotiations and producing clear, precise, and commercially effective agreements.
• Extensive experience advising on fintech, payments, financial services, and complex global commercial transactions.
• Good understanding of regulations that cover payments, Fintech, money transmission, EMI/PI frameworks, lending/BNPL, AML/CTF, fraud, sanctions, crypto/virtual assets, and data-driven financial services.
• Demonstrated ability to influence senior executives and drive decisions in a matrixed, global organization (whether inhouse or as part of private practice experience).

Preferred Experience

• Experience in-house at a global technology, fintech, or payments organization.
• Experience in working as an individual contributor in a ‘hands-on’ legal advisory support role, embedded in the business and working closely with the product and commercial teams.

Competencies

• Ability to influence stakeholders across all levels within the organization.
• 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.
• Exceptional and proven ability to move with agility, prioritize workloads and meet deadlines.
• Forward thinking with an interest in emerging issues in legal and policy.
• Elite drafting precision and negotiation excellence.
• Ability to lead through complexity and ambiguity.
• Global mindset.

Benefits

Our Commitment to Inclusion 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.

In addition to a competitive base salary, roles are eligible to be considered for an annual bonus and equity grant. The base salary range for Connecticut and the NYC-metro area is $224,600 - $274,600. We are proud to offer a comprehensive benefits program designed to keep you and your family healthy, plan for the future and make the most out of life. For a glimpse of our benefits offerings, please see here.

In addition to competitive health and wellness benefits, we currently offer other perks to eligible employees, such as: tuition reimbursement, fitness reimbursement, discounts, and more!