--- title: 'Associate Director - Operations (KUL based only) at Agoda' canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/associate-director-operations-kul-based-only-agoda-kuala-lumpur-qx3ntbah16hn' type: 'job' last_seen: '2026-11-08' --- # Associate Director - Operations (KUL based only) at Agoda - **Company:** Agoda - **Location:** Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - **Posted:** 2026-11-05 - **Last confirmed live:** 2026-11-08 - **Apply:** https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/agoda/jobs/8352278 ## Job description ## About Agoda At Agoda, we bridge the world through travel. Our story began in 2005, when two lifelong friends and entrepreneurs, driven by their passion for travel, launched Agoda to make it easier for everyone to explore the world. Today, we are part of Booking Holdings [NASDAQ: BKNG], with a diverse team of over 7,000 people from 90 countries, working together in offices around the globe. Every day, we connect people to destinations and experiences, with our great deals across our millions of hotels and holiday properties, flights, and experiences worldwide. No two days are the same at Agoda. Data and technology are at the heart of our culture, fueling our curiosity and innovation. If you’re ready to begin your best journey and help build travel for the world, join us. Get to Know our Team: At Agoda, we believe that the world is better when people can travel more freely, explore new places, and experience new things. Our Customer Experience Group (CEG) is at the heart of that mission, making sure every traveler feels taken care of, no matter where their journey takes them. This team plays a unique and vital role within CEG: we step in at exactly the right moments when a customer needs extra care, when the experience starts to go off track, or when there's an opportunity to turn things around before frustration builds. This team is also the trusted voice customers hear when they need us most, helping them find the right way forward and stepping in personally on the moments that matter. We don't stop at fixing the moment, we dig deeper, uncover what caused the issue in the first place, and work hand-in-hand with teams across the business to make sure it doesn't happen again. It's meaningful, high-impact work that directly shapes how millions of travelers experience Agoda. The Opportunity: This is a rare chance to build something from the ground up. As Associate Director, Operations, you'll lead the creation of a brand-new team, reporting directly to the Director of Escalation and Incident Operation. You will have the freedom and the mandate to design the operating model, shape how the team identifies and responds to key moments and build a regional organization that will grow and scale over time. Based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, this role is perfect for a leader who thrives on ownership and possibility, someone who gets excited by a blank page rather than daunted by it. You'll bring together strong people leadership, a genuine passion for customer experience, sharp analytical instincts, and the confidence to make great decisions even when all the answers aren't yet clear. We welcome applications from both local and international candidates and offer a relocation package to help the right person make Kuala Lumpur home. In This Role, You'll Get To: - Build Something New: Shape the operating model, response criteria, and structure of a growing team from day one and see your ideas come to life. - Make a Real Difference: Lead timely, thoughtful intervention on cases that need extra care, always putting yourself in the customer's shoes to find the right outcome. Keep the customer's experience and trust at the heart of every decision. - Drive Meaningful Change: Partner with teams across the business to turn what we learn from these moments into lasting improvements. - Lead with Curiosity: Use data and real results to keep refining and improving how the team operates, rather than sticking to a fixed playbook. - Lead Your Team Through Change: Guide your people through the change that comes with building something new, communicating openly and helping them feel confident, informed, and excited about what's ahead. - Create a Culture You're Proud Of: Shape the identity, values, and ways of working for a brand-new team from the very start. - Thrive in Fast-Moving Environments: Stay calm, clear, and confident even as plans evolve, adapting quickly as you learn what works best. - Tell a Compelling Story: Share progress and insights with senior stakeholders in a way that builds confidence and support for your team's work. - Champion Our Values: Uphold the highest standards of compliance and bring Agoda's mission and values to life every day. What You'll Bring: - Business-level proficiency, spoken and written, in English - 10+ years of leadership experience in contact center, operations, or customer service, leading through multiple layers of management across sites or regions - Working knowledge of, or experience in, travel-related operations - A track record of building and scaling teams or functions from the ground up - A strategic mindset: you don't just execute a plan, you shape it, and know when to shift direction - Strong analytical skills and comfort using data to guide decisions and coach others to do the same - A natural ability to build trust and influence others, even without direct authority - Excellent listening, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills, with great attention to detail - Confidence presenting to and engaging senior leadership - Comfort navigating ambiguity, shifting priorities, and the energy of a fast-paced, evolving environment - Based in or willing to relocate to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Nice to Have: - Experience building a new team or function from scratch, especially in travel, e-commerce, or fintech - Familiarity with Agile ways of working for managing multiple initiatives at once - Hands-on experience with CRM, contact center, workforce management, or data visualization tools - Exposure to predictive analytics or AI-driven tools - Additional language skills What Makes You a Great Fit: Beyond the experience above, we're looking for someone who naturally brings these qualities to the table: - A builder at heart: You love creating something from nothing, whether structure, process, or direction, rather than waiting for someone else to hand you the playbook. - Genuinely customer-obsessed: You care about truly solving the customer's problem and finding the right outcome for them. - A natural root-cause thinker: You look past the immediate issue to understand what's really going on, and you share what you learn so others can benefit too. - Comfortable with data, driven by insight: You use evidence and real-world results to keep improving your approach, rather than sticking to a fixed plan. - A trusted collaborator: People across the business want to work with you, because you build real partnerships, not just transactions. - Calm, confident, and adaptable: You bring clarity and good judgment even when things are still taking shape, and you're comfortable making decisions without having every answer. If this sounds like you, we'd love to hear from you. Join us in building something new and in making travel better, one customer at a time Please review our Hiring Process Guidelines before your interview — click [here](https://careersatagoda.com/interview/)to learn how interviewing at Agoda works. Discover more about working at Agoda - Agoda Careers [https://careersatagoda.com](https://careersatagoda.com/) - Facebook https://www.facebook.com/agodacareers/ - LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/agoda - YouTube https://www.youtube.com/agodalife ## Equal Opportunity Employer At Agoda, we pride ourselves on being a company represented by people of all different backgrounds and orientations. We prioritize attracting diverse talent and cultivating an inclusive environment that encourages collaboration and innovation. Employment at Agoda is based solely on a person’s merit and qualifications. We are committed to providing equal employment opportunity regardless of sex, age, race, color, national origin, religion, marital status, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, citizenship, veteran or military status, and other legally protected characteristics. We will keep your application on file so that we can consider you for future vacancies and you can always ask to have your details removed from the file. For more details please read our [privacy policy](https://careersatagoda.com/privacy-statement). Disclaimer We do not accept any terms or conditions, nor do we recognize any agency’s representation of a candidate, from unsolicited third-party or agency submissions. If we receive unsolicited or speculative CVs, we reserve the right to contact and hire the candidate directly without any obligation to pay a recruitment fee. ## About Agoda ## Company Overview - **One-liner**: Agoda is a digital travel platform that helps travelers find great value deals on hotels, flights, and activities worldwide. - **Entity Type**: Public (subsidiary of Booking Holdings Inc., NASDAQ: BKNG) - **Headquarters**: Singapore - **Founded**: 2005 - **Founders**: Robert Rosenstein and Michael Kenny ## Core Business - Primary industry: Online travel and accommodation booking - Target customers: B2C (leisure and business travelers globally) - Mission/purpose: “Bridging the world through travel” – making travel easier, more affordable, and rewarding for everyone. ## Products & Services - **[Agoda.com / Agoda mobile app]**: Online travel agency (OTA) offering booking for hotels, homes, villas, flights, and activities. Available in 39 languages with 24/7 customer support. - **[Agoda Flights]**: Flight booking service launched in 2010. - **[Agoda Easy Cancel / Hygiene Plus]**: Products introduced during the pandemic to offer flexible cancellation and enhanced cleanliness information. ## Market Standing - **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not publicly disclosed separately; parent company Booking Holdings has a market cap of approximately $140+ billion (as of mid-2025). Agoda is a key growth engine within the group. - **Key Metric**: Over 7,000 employees; processes 1 trillion price checks daily; 2B+ user interactions captured daily; 12 PB of data processed monthly. - **Notable Investors/Partners**: Wholly owned by Booking Holdings (NASDAQ: BKNG). Partnerships with over 6 million hotels and holiday properties globally. - **Growth Signals**: Expanded to 27 markets; launched new products during COVID-19 (ASQ, Go Local, Easy Cancel); continues to hire aggressively across engineering, product, and analytics roles. ## Competitive Advantages - **Scale & Data**: Access to Booking Holdings’ global network and massive data pipeline (12 PB/month, 1 trillion price checks/day) enables real-time pricing optimization and personalization. - **Tech-First Culture**: Data-driven experimentation (1,000+ live experiments at any time), heavy use of GenAI, and a strong engineering focus. - **Asia Home Base**: Deep roots in Asia-Pacific with a large office in Bangkok, giving local market insights and cost advantages. - **Parent Support**: Backed by one of the world’s largest online travel companies, providing financial stability and cross-selling opportunities. ## Strategic Focus - **Growth through technology**: Continued investment in AI, machine learning, and experimentation to improve search, pricing, and user experience. - **Expanding product offerings**: Growing beyond accommodation into flights, activities, and domestic travel options. - **Sustainability**: Integrating sustainability initiatives into operations and offerings. - **Talent acquisition**: Actively hiring across multiple functions (engineering, product, data, marketing) to support global expansion. ## Why Work Here - **Culture**: Described as “data-driven to the core” with a focus on experimentation, ownership, and direct respect. Inclusive environment with 90+ nationalities represented. - **Flexibility**: Hybrid workplace balancing in-office and work-from-home days; employees can work from anywhere for up to 30 calendar days per year. - **Benefits**: Competitive perks, flexible benefits, relocation support for key roles, and recognition as an award-winning workplace (Fortune World’s Most Admired Companies 2025, TIME/Statista World’s Best Companies 2023, Forbes World’s Top Companies for Women 2023). - **Engineering & Analytics**: Strong emphasis on tech – 1,000+ live experiments, 12 PB data/month, and a “scientist” mindset across teams. Opportunities to work on massive-scale systems. - **Community**: Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) for belonging and inclusion; lively social events like AgodaFest. ## Sources 1. [agoda.com](https://www.agoda.com/about-agoda/) 2. [careersatagoda.com](https://careersatagoda.com/our-culture/) 3. [careersatagoda.com](https://careersatagoda.com/) 4. [job-boards.greenhouse.io](http://job-boards.greenhouse.io/agoda) 5. 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