Talent & Business Relations Lead

When travelers are searching for a hotel, we want the obvious choice to be trivago! By comparing prices from major booking sites, we’re making it easy for people to find hotels they want at a price they’ll love. In the lively city of Düsseldorf, we seize opportunities to learn everyday, innovate, and make an enduring mark on the travel industry. A career at trivago is a journey designed for people who crave continuous development and want to thrive in a high-performing team. Here you will find those who aren’t afraid of change but rather embrace it, turning every challenge into a pathway for growth. Join trivago, work with a great team, and grow with us!

Join us in making a difference

Ready to lead HR business partnering at the next level?

As the lead of Talent & Business Relations, you connect Talents & Culture (TC) with the business, turning people strategy into action and business needs into practical HR solutions. This is a senior seat with real influence on organizational performance and strategic direction: you drive our Organizational Development Goals with your team, in close collaboration with the TC Co-Leads and your lead colleagues from across TC.

In this role, you lead two teams with five direct reports: four HR Business Partners and the Talent Support Lead. The Talent Support Lead in turn leads a team of three, responsible for talent administration and payroll preparation. Together, both teams keep our core HR operations running smoothly in a fast-paced environment. As a public company, we hold compliance in all our people processes to the highest standard, and you make sure we meet it with pragmatic solutions. You also support the integration of trivago Innovation Center (trIC), our newly acquired subsidiary, as it grows with us.

As a lead at trivago, you are an exemplary role model for our Leadership Principles and foster a Caring Performance Culture. You are eager to rethink how your team works with AI at the center.

Sound like a challenge for you? Apply today!

How you’ll make an impact:

• Lead a team of four HR Business Partners, setting the standard for consultative HR partnering, and empower them to act with confidence in their responsibilities. Guide the Talent Support Lead in leading their team.
• Keep your team focused despite a steady stream of topics coming in: separate urgent from important, steer from a strategic view, and set ambitious yet achievable goals through OKRs.
• Be the go-to partner for your team on complex or sensitive cases, joining key conversations with business leaders where it matters.
• Connect the dots by turning your team’s insights from regular check-ins with the Leadership Team, department leads, and the Talent Ambassador Group into clear priorities for TC.
• In close collaboration with the TC Co-Leads and your peers from the diverse TC Centers of Excellence like Talent Development and Performance & Recognition, you build synergies and work hand in hand on a unified approach to executing our strategy, in line with our OKR and planning rhythm.
• Take a strategic look for efficiency: identify low-hanging fruit and free your team from operational work by driving automation (with TC Data & Tech) and effective AI use that supports consulting and business relations.
• Work closely with our Legal team to shape people practices and frameworks that are compliant, practical, and trusted.

What you'll need to thrive:

• Proven experience as an HR Business Partner (at least 5 years), with strong knowledge of German labour law and a constructive approach to data protection: you are a sparring partner for critical cases and a builder of frameworks that bring a structured approach to recurring topics.
• Solid experience as a team lead (at least 3 years), with a track record of helping others grow while delivering results. You adapt your leadership style situationally, create transparency and focus through good structures and clear communication, stay flexible and resilient when priorities shift, and build a team atmosphere of trust and openness.
• Strategic and analytical thinking, and the credibility to advise and, when needed, challenge senior leaders. You can see the big picture as well as zoom in to get hands-on.
• A learning and performance mindset: you set ambitious goals, approach challenges with curiosity, seek out feedback, and follow through with diligence, even when things are ambiguous.
• You lead by example with AI: you try better ways of working with it yourself, share what you learn, and empower your team to do the same.
• Fluency in German (C1) and English (our company language).

What you can look forward to:

As you grow, so do we.

This is why at trivago, we prioritize your development, offer personalized coaching through Nilo, and provide workshops, educational meetups, conferences, free online learning courses, and access to a fully-equipped campus library.

Moving to join us?

No problem. You can count on the visa support from our talent support team, a relocation package, interest-free newcomer loan, free language classes, regular team and company-wide events to build experiences together.

Life happens.

We offer self-determined vacation (with a minimum of 25 vacation days), flexible working hours, up to 2 work from home days weekly. Additionally you can work remotely from a different location, within Germany or selected countries abroad for up to 20 days per year. You also get free access to the Heycare platform for personalized nanny assistance, and an on-campus kids room.

Enjoy your office days.

Use your daily canteen budget to share lunch with colleagues in our canteen, help yourself to complimentary snacks and drinks in our kitchens, choose from a variety of fitness options with our on-site gym, sports classes, and Urban Sports Club membership, and enjoy the comfort of ergonomic desks and focused work areas.