Sr. Onboarding Specialist (12 month contract) at OpenTable

<h1><strong>Senior Onboarding Specialist (Senior OBS)</strong></h1> <p><strong>Location:</strong> Paris, France<br><strong>Team:</strong> Global Onboarding<br><strong>Travel:</strong> Up to 50%, varying by account and client requirements<br><strong>Salary: </strong>60k€ basic<strong><br>Languages:</strong> Fluent French and English required</p> <p>With millions of diners, 70,000+ restaurant partners and 25+ years of experience, OpenTable, part of Booking Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: BKNG), is an industry leader with a passion for helping restaurants thrive. Our world-class technology empowers restaurants to focus on what matters most – their team, their guests, and their bottom line – while enabling diners to discover and book the perfect restaurant for every occasion.&nbsp;</p> <p>Every employee at OpenTable has a tangible impact on what we do and how we do it. You’ll also be part of a global team and its portfolio of metasearch brands. Hospitality is all about taking care of others, and it defines our culture.</p> <h2><strong>Role summary</strong></h2> <p>The Senior Onboarding Specialist (Senior OBS) is a product expert and lead practitioner within OpenTable’s global Onboarding team. They own the end-to-end onboarding journey for complex and high-profile restaurant partners, from signed contract through configuration, integration, training, and go-live.</p> <p>Using a consultative, high-touch approach, the Senior OBS translates restaurant operating needs into effective OpenTable configurations and practical training. They combine strong individual delivery with team-level impact by mentoring colleagues, supporting escalations, managing workflow, leading test projects, and identifying improvements that increase onboarding quality, speed, and customer value.</p> <p>This Paris-based role will involve regular client-facing work on site. The successful candidate should be comfortable travelling up to 50%, with the exact level varying by account, implementation complexity, and client requirements.</p> <h2><strong>What you’ll do</strong></h2> <ul> <li>Own complex implementations from initial handoff through successful go-live, including configuration, product setup, integrations, data readiness, and tailored staff training.</li> <li>Act as a trusted advisor to restaurant partners, using a consultative approach to understand their operations, challenge assumptions constructively, and recommend setups that support adoption and long-term value.</li> <li>Configure OpenTable products to reflect each restaurant’s floor plan, guest flow, operating model, and business needs.</li> <li>Coordinate with restaurant teams, POS providers, third-party partners, and internal technical teams to resolve integration, data, and configuration issues.</li> <li>Deliver engaging training to restaurant owners, managers, and staff in French and English, both remotely and on site.</li> <li>Represent OpenTable professionally during client-site visits, workshops, implementation meetings, and go-live support.</li> <li>Manage a dynamic portfolio and daily workflow, balancing implementation speed, quality, client needs, and team service-level agreements (SLAs).</li> <li>Serve as a point of escalation for complex, unusual, or high-impact onboarding cases, partnering with Tier 2 Support, Product, Sales, Customer Success, Billing, and other teams to drive resolution.</li> <li>Mentor and support Onboarding Specialists by sharing product knowledge, configuration approaches, training techniques, and practical case guidance.</li> <li>Contribute to team training, knowledge sharing, internal channels, and the development of onboarding materials, playbooks, and process documentation.</li> <li>Lead or contribute to test projects for new products, tools, workflows, and company initiatives; define milestones, identify blockers, analyse results, and communicate recommendations to management.</li> <li>Identify bottlenecks and opportunities across the onboarding journey, using operational data and customer insight to recommend and implement improvements.</li> <li>Champion effective use of AI, automation, and role-specific tools to improve preparation, documentation, communication, workflow efficiency, and implementation quality.</li> <li>Maintain accurate account records, implementation milestones, training notes, and status updates so that internal stakeholders have clear visibility of progress and risk.</li> <li>Proactively communicate emerging risks and partner needs before they affect the customer experience or downstream handoff.</li> </ul> <h2><strong>What you’ll bring</strong></h2> <h3><strong>Experience and qualifications</strong></h3> <ul> <li>Typically 4–5 years of experience in software implementation, customer success, professional services, operations, or a comparable customer-facing role.</li> <li>At least 1 year of direct experience as an Onboarding Specialist or in a similar technical implementation role.</li> <li>Demonstrated experience implementing SaaS, restaurant technology, POS, booking, or other operational software.</li> <li>Experience training customers or non-technical users on software products, including delivering training to groups in person and remotely.</li> <li>Strong understanding of restaurant operations and the realities of front-of-house hospitality.</li> <li>Experience managing multiple concurrent implementations, competing priorities, and time-sensitive deliverables with minimal supervision.</li> <li>Fluent French and English, with the ability to communicate clearly and confidently with restaurant partners and internal stakeholders in both languages.</li> <li>Willingness and ability to travel up to 50%, depending on account and client requirements.</li> </ul> <h3><strong>Skills and capabilities</strong></h3> <ul> <li>Expert knowledge of OpenTable products and features, or the ability to quickly develop equivalent product mastery.</li> <li>Strong consultative communication, presentation, phone, and in-person facilitation skills.</li> <li>Sound judgement and ethical decision-making in ambiguous or fast-moving situations.</li> <li>Advanced organisation, documentation, prioritisation, and time-management skills.</li> <li>Ability to analyse implementation performance, identify root causes, and use data to support recommendations.</li> <li>Strong cross-functional collaboration and stakeholder-management skills.</li> <li>A leadership mindset, with the ability to mentor colleagues, lead by example, and act as a trusted resource without formal people-management responsibility.</li> <li>Confidence leading projects from definition through execution, reporting, and follow-up.</li> <li>Practical fluency with CRM, project-management, reporting, and collaboration tools such as Salesforce, Google Workspace, and equivalent platforms.</li> <li>Comfortable using AI and automation tools as part of daily work, and willing to share effective practices with the wider team.</li> </ul> <h3><strong>Preferred qualifications</strong></h3> <ul> <li>Direct experience working in restaurant operations is preferred, for example as a restaurant manager, maître d’, lead host, or in a comparable hospitality role. Experience in another high-volume service environment is also valued.</li> <li>Experience with complex POS integrations, web-based widgets, APIs, data migration, or third-party technology deployments.</li> <li>Experience supporting multi-site restaurant groups or strategically important accounts.</li> <li>Bachelor’s degree or equivalent professional experience or certification.</li> </ul> <h2><strong>How we’ll measure success</strong></h2> <ul> <li><strong>Implementation quality and speed:</strong> Complex accounts are delivered accurately, with strong right-first-time performance and within agreed time-to-value benchmarks.</li> <li><strong>Partner readiness and adoption:</strong> Restaurant teams demonstrate confidence and proficiency at go-live, with configurations that support effective ongoing use.</li> <li><strong>Client experience:</strong> On-site and remote interactions build trust, resolve issues efficiently, and represent OpenTable to a high standard.</li> <li><strong>Workflow and SLA performance:</strong> Personal and team workflow is actively managed, risks are surfaced early, and agreed SLAs and quality standards are consistently met.</li> <li><strong>Mentorship impact:</strong> Junior team members benefit from practical coaching, escalation support, and knowledge sharing.</li> <li><strong>Process improvement:</strong> At least one meaningful process, automation, or AI-enabled improvement is identified, tested, or implemented and its impact is communicated.</li> <li><strong>Stakeholder trust:</strong> Sales, Customer Success, Support, Product, and other partners have clear visibility of onboarding status, risks, and next steps.</li> </ul> <h2><strong>Working relationships</strong></h2> <p>The Senior OBS works closely with restaurant partners and with OpenTable’s Sales, Customer Success, Customer Support, Billing, Product, Tier 2 Support, and Onboarding leadership teams. The role is expected to navigate the organisation independently while building alignment around the best outcome for the restaurant and the business.</p> <h2><strong>Pay, Benefits and Perks</strong></h2> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>There are a variety of factors that go into determining a salary range, including but not limited to external market benchmark data, geographic location, and years of experience sought/required. The salary range for this Paris-located role is 60k€.</p> <p>In addition to a competitive base salary, roles are eligible to be considered for additional compensation and benefits in accordance with local law and company policy.</p> <p>Benefits:</p> <ul> <li>Generous paid vacation + time off for your birthday: <ul> <li>25 days of paid vacation, plus RTTs (reduction in work time days)</li> <li>Additional paid time off for key life moments, including your wedding</li> <li>Enhanced paid parental leave</li> </ul> </li> <li>Health and life insurance coverage through Malakoff Humanis&nbsp;</li> <li>Work from (almost) anywhere for up to 20 days per year</li> <li>Focus on mental health and well-being: <ul> <li>Company-paid therapy sessions through SpringHealth</li> <li>Company-paid subscription to Headspace</li> <li>Annual company-wide week off a year - the whole team fully recharges (and returns without a pile-up of work!)</li> </ul> </li> <li>Focus on your career growth: <ul> <li>Development Dollars</li> <li>Leadership development</li> <li>Access to thousands of on-demand e-learnings</li> </ul> </li> <li>Travel Discounts</li> <li>Employee Resource Groups</li> </ul> <h3><strong>Work Environment &amp; Flexibility</strong></h3> <p>At OpenTable, we pride ourselves on fostering a global and dynamic work environment. As a team member with us, you will benefit from a schedule tailored to accommodate a global workforce operating across multiple time zones. While the majority of your responsibilities may align with conventional business hours, there will be instances where you are expected to manage communications - via calls, Slack messages, or emails - outside of regular working hours to effectively collaborate with international colleagues, respond to restaurant partners, and/or address urgent matters. OpenTable will always abide by and consider local laws and regulations.</p> <h3><strong>Inclusion</strong></h3> <p>We’re committed to creating a workplace where everyone feels they belong and can thrive. We know the best ideas come when we bring different voices to the table, so we're building a team as dynamic as the diners and restaurants we serve—and fostering a culture where everyone feels welcome to be themselves.</p> <p><em>If you need accommodations during the application or interview process, or on the job, we’re here to support you. Please reach out to your recruiter to request any accommodations.</em></p>