AI Engineer, Category Strategy Optimization

About Booking.com

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 encounter. The journeys you take. The sights you see. And the memories you make. Through our products, partners and people, we make it easier for everyone to experience the world.

We are seeking an AI Engineer, Category Strategy Optimization to join the team, responsible for co-developing and technically steering an advanced AI-driven platform designed to enable data-driven procurement decision-making. The solution will be developed in collaboration with a third-party technology partner, while Booking.com retains ownership of the technical direction, integration architecture, and data governance.

You will act as the internal technical lead, ensuring smooth integration of the vendor’s AI solution with Booking.com’s procurement ecosystem (Ivalua, Conga, ORO, …).

Your focus will be on defining system architecture, data models, and API integrations, validating vendor deliverables, and implementing Booking-specific extensions. This is a hands-on, technically oriented role that combines AI engineering expertise with the ability to oversee external development work.

Due to the rapid and continuous growth of the organization, the tasks and duties of this role may evolve over time. You will be keen to develop and grow within the role and to take on additional challenges and responsibilities as they occur.

Key Job Responsibilities and Duties

• Act as the internal technical lead for the AI-based Category Strategy Optimizer platform, developed in collaboration with a third-party vendor.
• Validate the overall architecture, ensuring alignment between Booking.com’s systems (e.g., Ivalua, Conga, ORO) and the vendor’s solution components.
• Oversee and technically steer the vendor’s development activities, ensuring code quality, compliance, and performance standards are met.
• Collaborate with Procurement, Legal, Finance, and Technology teams to translate business and functional requirements into scalable technical solutions and ensure ongoing compliance with internal security, privacy, and AI governance frameworks.
• Review and validate vendor deliverables, including data models, APIs, and AI-driven modules, ensuring adherence to Booking.com’s security and architecture standards.
• Develop integration scripts, validation routines, and Booking-specific extensions to enhance functionality and ensure end-to-end system coherence.
• Partner with data and platform engineering teams to guarantee robust data flows, pipelines, and governance.
• Support implementation of CI/CD automation, monitoring, and model deployment in cloud environments (AWS / GCP).
• Provide technical documentation and training materials, supporting operational readiness and knowledge transfer.
• Identify opportunities for optimization, performance improvement, and functional enhancement in collaboration with the vendor and internal stakeholders.

Qualifications & Skills

Technical Requirements

• Experience: 4-8 years of professional experience in AI engineering, MLOps, and AI application development.
• AI Application Development: Proven experience building and deploying AI applications—from prototype to production—using containerization (e.g., Docker).
• Programming Skills: Fluent in Python and SQL, with working knowledge of TypeScript or JavaScript.
• Generative AI Expertise: Strong understanding of AI agent architectures, LLM fine-tuning, prompt engineering, function calling, Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), and LLM orchestration.
• Agentic Frameworks: Hands-on experience with LangChain, and familiarity with advanced agentic orchestration frameworks such as LangGraph and CrewAI.
• Software & Deployment: Experience with CI/CD pipelines, model versioning, and scalable deployment of AI services.
• Cloud Environments: Proficiency in working with cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, or GCP) and integrating GenAI applications with enterprise systems.
• Statistical and Data Modeling: Solid understanding of regression, clustering, NLP, and generative modeling (LLMs, transformers).
• Data Management: Skilled in SQL and data wrangling tools for preparing and transforming both structured and unstructured data.
• Innovation Mindset: Ability to design and implement innovative GenAI solutions leveraging RAG and LLM integration.
• Collaboration: Experience in collaborating with outsourced or third-party technology partners.

Ability to have a good grasp of the detail and manage multiple priorities in a quick turnaround environment. Strong communication skills in English, both verbal and written. Organized, flexible, proactive, and result-oriented.

Nice to Have

• Understanding of procurement-related data and processes (e.g., spend categories, supplier performance metrics, sourcing workflows).
• Familiarity with model pipelines, and experimentation tracking tools (e.g., MLflow, Weights & Biases).
• Front-end development experience (React, Next.js, or similar frameworks).
• Strategic thinking, being able to balance mid-term objectives with short-term tactics and goals.

Benefits & Perks - Global Impact, Personal Relevance

Booking.com’s Total Rewards Philosophy is not only about compensation but also about benefits. We offer a competitive compensation and benefits package, as well unique-to-Booking.com benefits which include:

• Annual paid time off and generous paid leave scheme including: parent, grandparent, bereavement, and care leave
• Hybrid working including flexible working arrangements, and up to 20 days per year working from abroad (home country)
• Industry leading product discounts - up to 1400 per year - for yourself, including automatic Genius Level 3 status and Booking.com wallet credit

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) at Booking.com

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion have been a core part of our company culture since day one. This ongoing journey starts with our very own employees, who represent over 140 nationalities and a wide range of ethnic and social backgrounds, genders and sexual orientations.

Take it from our Chief People Officer, Paulo Pisano: “At Booking.com, the diversity of our people doesn’t just build an outstanding workplace, it also creates a better and more inclusive travel experience for everyone. Inclusion is at the heart of everything we do. It’s a place where you can make your mark and have a real impact in travel and tech.”

We ensure that colleagues with disabilities are provided the adjustments and tools they need to participate in the job application and interview process, to perform crucial job functions, and to receive other benefits and privileges of employment.

Application Process

Let’s go places together: How we Hire This role does not come with relocation assistance.

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, color, 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.

Pre-Employment Screening

If your application is successful, your personal data may be used for a pre-employment screening check by a third party as permitted by applicable law. Depending on the vacancy and applicable law, a pre-employment screening may include employment history, education and other information (such as media information) that may be necessary for determining your qualifications and suitability for the position.

Key skills/competency

• AI Engineering
• MLOps
• Generative AI
• Python
• SQL
• Cloud Platforms (AWS/GCP)
• System Architecture
• Data Governance
• Vendor Management
• CI/CD