Senior Strategic Initiatives Manager, Expedia Lodging

Senior Strategic Initiatives Manager, Expedia Lodging

Introduction to the team:  

Expedia Group’s consumer business has three flagship brands: 

• Expedia® is the one-stop shop for travel, with a mission of helping travelers get the most out of every trip they take by providing everything they need all in one place, and feel supported every step of the way. 

• Hotels.com® is the hotels expert that is all about giving travelers more of what they want — whether that’s instant savings, flexible options, or rewards they can actually use. 

• Vrbo® is the trusted vacation rental brand perfecting stays before they happen by helping travelers find their perfect fit, ensuring quality homes and hosts, and providing trusted support. 

These teams set the strategic vision, operating plans, and investment priorities to create compelling and distinct traveler value and drive business growth. The team is responsible for effectively partnering with cross-functional teams in Marketing, Product, Technology, Supply, Advertising, Servicing, and Corporate Functions to deliver the best traveler and business outcomes. 

Brand Expedia is seeking a Senior Strategic Initiatives Manager, Expedia Lodging to drive the next chapter of growth and customer experience for our Hotels & Vacation Rentals business. You will own the strategy and P&L agenda for priority lodging initiatives, shaping how millions of travelers discover, book, and experience stays on Expedia. 

Sitting at the intersection of growth strategy, customer lifecycle, and traveler experience this role is highly cross‑functional. You will partner closely with Marketing, Product, Supply, Servicing, Analytics, and Finance to identify the biggest opportunities, build the roadmap, and lead end‑to‑end execution from idea to scaled impact. 

This is a high‑visibility role with regular exposure to senior leaders and the opportunity to influence the long‑term direction of Expedia’s lodging marketplace. 

In this role, you will: 

• Set the strategic agenda for Expedia Lodging (Hotels & Vacation Rentals): define the ambition, key bets, and multi‑year roadmap that deliver profitable growth and a differentiated traveler experience. 

• Own a portfolio of high‑impact strategic initiatives across the traveler lifecycle focusing on step‑change improvements in conversion, repeat rate, customer satisfaction, and market share 

• Lead cross‑functional programs end‑to‑end: frame the problem, size the opportunity, align stakeholders, stand up workstreams, and ensure on‑time, high‑quality execution across Marketing, Product, Supply, Servicing, Legal, and Finance. 

• Use data to drive decisions and understand customer needs: partner with Analytics and Data Science to build business cases, design A/B tests, measure impact, and continuously refine the strategy based on performance and customer insights. 

• Optimize commercial and operational levers across pricing, promotions, merchandising, incentives, and service design to balance growth, margin, and customer experience, in order to ensure successful execution towards Expedia’s annual plan 

• Shape the traveler and partner experience: identify friction points across the end‑to‑end journey (search to post‑trip), prioritize fixes and enhancements, and work with Product and Operations to deliver scalable solutions. 

• Drive change and organizational alignment: create clear narratives, materials, and playbooks that help teams understand the strategy, adopt new ways of working, and execute consistently across markets. 

• Collaborate with regional and local market teams to ensure strategies and initiatives are localized, executable on the ground, and responsive to competitive dynamics. 

Experience & Qualifications:

• 8+ years of relevant experience with a Bachelor's degree, or 6+ years with a Master’s degree.  

• Proven experience in strategy, marketplace / retail e‑commerce, advertising, or management consulting, including ownership of commercial outcomes. 

• Strong problem‑solving abilities with a demonstrated commitment to test‑and‑learn approaches and data‑driven decision‑making.  

• Experience working closely with Product, Marketing, Servicing, and Sales/Commercial teams; able to translate strategy into clear requirements and operational changes. 

• Ability to influence stakeholders at all levels of the organization and drive alignment across diverse teams.  

• Ability to craft compelling, insight‑driven narratives using data and communicate them clearly to a wide audience.  

• Comfort with ambiguity, with demonstrated ability to scope, plan, and deliver strategic projects involving multiple stakeholders.  

• Developing subject‑matter expertise in key business topics, with the ability to translate insights into actionable plans. 

Preferred Qualifications: 

• Experience serving as a trusted advisor to leaders and cross‑functional partners on strategy, operational improvements, or business transformation.  

• Expertise conducting advanced data analyses, including building robust models and analytical frameworks to inform decisions.  

• Strong understanding of industry trends, performance metrics, and competitive landscapes.  

• Demonstrated ability to design new data‑collection methodologies and synthesize insights from diverse sources.  

• Proven ability to anticipate business needs, understand organizational dependencies, and navigate complex project environments.  

• Experience assessing financial impacts of change initiatives and supporting strategic investment decisions.