Principal UX Writer - UX Writing and Content Design - Accommodations

At Booking.com, data drives our decisions. Technology is at our core. And innovation is everywhere. But our company is more than datasets, lines of code or A/B tests. We’re the thrill of the first night in a new place. The excitement of the next morning. The friends you make. The journeys you take. The sights you see. And the food you sample. Through our products, partners and people, we make it easier for everyone to experience the world.

We’re looking for a Principal UX Writer to join our UX Writing and Content Design organisation. We’re a close-knit community made up of more than 50 writers working on product teams all across the company.  And we’re right there in the thick of it – collaborating on product design, development and data analysis. 

As Principal you’ll produce strategies, guidelines, and frameworks – that serve as benchmarks for a business topic or technical focus area – in order to shape new products and services that drive innovation. You’ll guide and mentor core, senior, and lead UX writers, but also do hands-on work yourself. You’ll also participate in design leadership reviews of companywide UX/UI work.

As a member of the UX Writing Leadership Team you will help to define the UX Writing craft roadmap and you will manage key initiatives and deliverables at an organizational level. You’ll report to the Director of UX Writing and Content Design. 

To land a Principal position you will be asked to present your portfolio and explain relevant work that you have planned, led, and realised.

To learn more about working as a UX Writer at Booking.com check out B.Writes, our Medium publication.

• Facilitate the long-term UX Writing vision for a business topic or technical focus area; Integrate in-depth company knowledge and area of expertise to develop innovative new ideas and solutions, utilizing the strengths of others in creating and developing the vision.
• Demonstrate advanced understanding and application of user-centered design concepts, methods, and techniques to facilitate, enable and advance quality content design and outcomes. 
• Actively seek out, request, and contribute to the creation and collection of data and actively interpret it to help inform decisions. Able to draw on a variety of sources, both internal and external, to independently collect and interpret data from a customer experience point of view; expert with data and analysis tools to deliver solutions accountable to business metrics. 
• Deliver company level or external industry communication on UX Writing, strategy, or processes at Booking.com, new products, and new business initiatives; 
• Mentor and coach individual writers to improve craft, deliverables, process, communication, and career advancement. 
• Proactively partner with leads, principals, directors, or other high level roles in product and technology organisations to define and drive organisational or BU level strategy; Align with other leaders to drive larger business unit initiatives. 
• Identify project risks and make recommendations to lessen risk; Guide and influence strategic decisions made by managers and leaders in their own area; Evaluate trade-offs in costs and performance and make them explicit to stakeholders. 
• Liaise effectively with the Extended Leadership Team and be a point of contact on UX Writing specific issues, jumping in where required. 
• Promote your domain across the company in order to spread awareness and create a more consistent user experience.

• You have 10+ years UX Writing experience within high traffic digital products (100,000+ visitors per day), preferably E-commerce or marketplace companies.
• You have a proven track record of successfully advocating for UX Writing as a discipline and influencing multi-disciplinary teams, including designers, researchers, engineers, and product leaders.
• You have a proven track record in building both copy strategies and roadmaps, and setting KPIs and objectives.
• You can comfortably lead others through each part of the writing process – from brainstorming and researching to shipping products and iterating, all while keeping the user at the centre of their process.
• You are self-driven and able to solve problems in a rapidly changing environment.
• You thrive on feedback and critique and can promote that culture across UX Writing teams.
• You have experience working directly with language specialists and localisation teams on multilingual platforms.
• You know how to write copy that is future proof and scalable.
• You have A/B testing experience and knowledge of experimentation techniques.
• You have experience with user testing and are knowledgeable of research methodologies

• You’ll contribute to a high scale, complex, world renowned product and see the real-time impact of your work on millions of travellers worldwide.
• You’ll receive relocation support for you and your family (if applicable) to move to Amsterdam – one of the most cosmopolitan cities in Europe. We have fine-tuned this process by successfully relocating 300+ technology professionals to Amsterdam in the last year alone.
• You’ll join a performance-based company that offers 29 vacation days, career advancement, and lucrative compensation, including bonuses and stock potential.
• You’ll get discounts on Booking.com accommodations with the “Booking Deal” including other perks and benefits.
• You’ll be invited to company-sponsored family and social activities aimed at helping employees become integrated with each other and Dutch culture.
• You’ll be part of a truly international environment with diverse, unique colleagues from every corner of the world.

Please apply with your English CV and link your portfolio or writing samples. Samples should include UX/product writing work specifying your role and clearly defining problems, solutions and your UX processes. If you don’t have a portfolio, a slide deck of writing samples with mentioned specifications is enough.

Booking.com is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace and is an affirmative action employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, colour, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability, age, or veteran status. We strive to move well beyond traditional equal opportunity and work to create an environment that allows everyone to thrive.