Privacy Principal Counsel

Our Company

Booking Holdings (NASDAQ: BKNG) is the world’s leading provider of online travel & related services, provided to consumers and local partners through five primary B2C brands: Booking.com, Agoda, Priceline, KAYAK, and OpenTable. Collectively, Booking Holdings operates in more than 220 countries and territories in Europe, North America, APAC, South America, the region, the Middle East and Africa in more than 40 languages. The mission of Booking Holdings is to make it easier for everyone to experience the world.

The Opportunity 

Within Booking Holdings, an enhanced and more connected global B2B organization is being built, bringing together strategic partnership capabilities across Booking.com, Priceline and Agoda ("New B2B Business"). Intended to better serve partners, move faster in the market, and unlock new opportunities for growth, the new organization will support strategic partnerships, affiliate and API distribution, corporate and wholesale travel, and other commercial channels, serving airlines, travel management companies, OTAs, financial institutions, platforms and other strategic partners. You will collaborate closely with colleagues across Booking Holdings Inc., Booking Holdings Financial Services, our sister brands, and key functions including FinTech, Product, Commercial, Legal, Internal Audit, People and Supply to help shape and support the next chapter of Booking Holdings' B2B business, leveraging the company's scale, technology, talent and global reach to create best-in-class partner experiences and innovative solutions.

Agoda will support the New B2B Business across the relevant legal domains. This includes providing the necessary data privacy support in respect of the setup of the core components of the New B2B Business’s privacy program, as well as for all associated privacy advisory and contractual matters.  

Reporting to Agoda’s Chief Privacy Officer, you will as Principal Counsel, provide senior programmatic and advisory support to the New B2B Business as outlined in the role description below.   

This position is based in Bangkok. Agoda provides relocation support for successful candidates not currently located in Bangkok. Remote or alternative base locations are not available.

In this Role, You’ll Get To: 

Play a central role in the original design, set up and support for the New B2B Business’s privacy program, as well as provide the necessary advisory support across a number of different matters set out below.  

Privacy Program: 

• Design, set up and implementation of the New B2B Business’s privacy program: In conjunction with Agoda’s Privacy Program team, help design, advise on and build the privacy program of the New B2B Business. This includes its records of processing activities, drafting and implementation of relevant privacy policies and outward facing notices, privacy by design processes including for privacy impact assessments, as well as providing the necessary programmatic support for incident response, international data transfers (including data sharing), and data subject rights.  

Privacy advisory support: 

• Contracting, negotiations and templates: you will build out the necessary data protection contractual templates, and handle relevant privacy contractual negotiations for the New B2B Business. 

• Privacy by design and by default: through early, positive interactions and impact assessments you will provide our product teams with clear, practical privacy advice building in key privacy by design concepts for various initiatives. In conjunction with Agoda’s Chief Privacy Officer, you will need to be able to take responsible risk positions outlining risk while working with other members of the Legal team and enabling the business to move forward   

• Marketing and cookies: you will be expected to understand, navigate and provide practical privacy counsel to our marketing teams across relevant marketing initiatives  

• Regulatory change management for existing, new, and amended data protection laws relevant to the New B2B Business: you will handle and manage the relevant privacy compliance aspects with global privacy laws, new and existing  

• Program, auditing and controls: Working closely with our Privacy Program team you will facilitate and manage key aspects of the privacy program, audits and enable reporting obligations 

• Contribute to brand initiatives within the Booking Holdings Inc. family: you may be expected to contribute and have meaningful impact across brands through cross-brand initiatives, forums, networks and offsites  

• General privacy support: As may be required, you will need to support relevant regulatory enquiries, authority demand requests and escalations relating to data subject rights  

What You’ll Need to Succeed 

Experience & Expertise 

• 8+ years of progressive experience in data privacy preferably as a lawyer, and/or in risk management. 

• A relevant privacy certification e.g. CIPP/E, CIPP/US or CIPP/A. 

• Relevant experience with data privacy laws globally. 

Technical & Functional Skills 

• Hands on experience designing and operationalizing privacy programs. 

• Strong ability to use relevant privacy technology e.g. OneTrust in order to facilitate the core aspects of a data privacy program. 

Leadership & Stakeholder Management 

• Demonstrated success in influencing and partnering with senior stakeholders across functions (Product, FinTech, Fraud, Legal, Internal Audit, Operations) in fast paced, high growth environments. 

• Strong project and program management skills, with the ability to prioritize, plan, and deliver multiple initiatives concurrently across jurisdictions and time zones 

• Excellent communication skills in English (written and verbal), with the ability to explain complex financial crime and compliance concepts in clear, business friendly terms. 

Mindset & Values 

• Strategic, data driven, and solutions oriented, with the ability to “connect the dots”, see the big picture, and drive constructive change. 

• High level of integrity and sound judgement 

• Self-starter who operates with minimal supervision, is comfortable with ambiguity, and thrives in a dynamic, tech driven, international environment.