About Booking Holdings
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.
This role is eligible for our hybrid work model: Two days in-office.
Role Description: Booking.com is therefore looking for a
Legal Counsel - Fintech Partnerships to join the growing Fintech legal team in the Legal & Public Affairs (LPA) department and be responsible for supporting key commercial initiatives, assessing new product proposals, identifying Fintech regulatory and other legal implications and working with the other team members to chart our path in this growing area for the business.
Key Job Responsibilities and Duties:
- Supporting the negotiation and drafting of critical third party payment service provider contracts, ensuring compliance with laws, regulations and card scheme requirements and optimising for commercial outcomes whilst protecting the company from foreseeable risks and consequences
- Coordinating support across different specialisms and areas to support the strategic assessment of critical vendor partnership proposals and the delivery of contractual and related workstreams including subject matter experts from the Booking.com Legal & Public Affairs team (such as Consumer Law, Privacy & Data Protection, the Digital Markets Act and/or Digital Services Act, Financial Crime and Compliance) and other functions (e.g. tax, treasury, product)
- Participating in projects and tasks to enhance the effectiveness of the Fintech legal team and the wider Legal & Public Affairs team
- Coordinating with Booking Holdings, Booking Holdings Financial Services and other group companies on cross brand payment agreements and commercially strategic payment initiatives.
Qualifications & Skills:
- Qualified to practice law in a European country, UK and/or another key jurisdiction
- Strong experience in procurement contracts, commercial contracting, tech agreements (SAAS), and/or regulatory technology contracting
- Experience working for a Fintech, Payment Service Provider, Card Scheme, Alternative Payment Provider, E-Wallet, Online Marketplace (or for these clients whilst in Private Practice) is an advantage
- Knowledge in Payments, Privacy, AI/GenAI and/or Intellectual Property Law is an advantage
- Native or fluent English speaking and writing skills (additional languages a plus)
- Excellent communication skills (written and oral), attention to detail, organisational and project management skills and ability to meet deadlines, prioritising appropriately
- Excellent legal drafting and negotiation skills
- Able to demonstrate commercial awareness and understanding of the business requirements enabling provision of pragmatic and solution oriented advice
- Professional and collaborative approach and ability to influence stakeholders
- A high standard of knowledge and use of productivity tools in the work environment, including Microsoft applications, Google Suite, Zoom, Glean, Jira, etc (or a willingness to learn!)
- 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 - or close client contact with equivalent commercial exposure in private practice
- Experience in a role with global or regional scope - the lawyer in this role should equally have a global worldview - and be capable of sourcing, critiquing and managing input form a range of internal and external stakeholders to form a view even outside of their direct experience.
