CJ Allen leads Product for brand Expedia, ensuring every traveler always has a trip on the horizon. Whether it’s a weekend getaway to a dream vacation, it’s his team’s job to ensure we’re a seamless partner for every step of their journey.  

Now three years into his Expedia Group career – which he jokingly equates to enough time for five around-the-world cruises –  CJ’s professional journey has been far from linear. 

Describe your career journey so far. 
My career path has been anything but a straight line, which I think gives me a unique perspective. I started working when I was a little older than 14 (as soon as I legally could), doing everything from scooping orange chicken at a fast-food spot and working retail, to delivering ice and stringing tennis rackets at a resort and serving as the night auditor for a hotel chain.  My path seemed headed toward law—I even spent four years as a bailiff during my undergrad—but I found my passion in technology when I helped build tech in the courthouse and the first Extensible Markup Language (XML) standard for electronic court filing. 
 
From there, I dove into the startup world, learning hard lessons about venture capital and resilience. That experience paved the way for nearly a decade at Amazon, where I had the chance to build and lead teams in Marketplace, Prime Video, and Alexa Smart Home. I’m especially proud of my work as a hiring Bar Raiser, where I completed over 650 interviews, and my contributions to high-profile projects like launching a new brand (working with Jeff Bezos) and teaching Alexa how to handle declarative statements spoken to Echos or connect smart home devices. After a rewarding stint leading consumer product at Stitch Fix, I was thrilled to bring my experience to an industry I’ve always been enthusiastic about: travel.

What drew you to the travel industry? 
Like so many people here, I was drawn to the mission. Travel is a powerful force; it opens our minds, builds empathy, and helps us dream bigger. The opportunity to apply my background in technology to an industry that creates such meaningful human experiences was something I couldn’t pass up. We’re not just building features; we’re helping build memories.

What is your favorite thing about working in Product at EG? 
My favorite thing is being at the intersection of so many talented teams. Product gets to partner with design, engineering, data, marketing, and finance, learning from all these diverse perspectives. Our job is to synthesize that collective expertise into a clear vision and ultimately deliver experiences that make travel easier and more accessible for our travelers. Seeing the hard work of the entire team result in a traveler confidently booking a trip is what makes it all worthwhile.

What’s the most meaningful project you’ve worked on? 
I had the opportunity to help lead a company-wide initiative to reduce hotel relocations and host cancellations. These are deeply disruptive moments for a traveler. What was most meaningful was seeing how the entire organization rallied around the goal to “save our travelers’ vacations.” It wasn’t just a tech problem to solve; it involved process, partnerships, and operations. It was a powerful reminder of what we can achieve for our travelers when we are all focused on the same problem together, and we successfully reduced these incidents by double-digit percentages.

What’s the best piece of career advice you’ve received? 
No one will ever be a better advocate for your career than you are. It’s on you to do the work: to understand what you want, to be honest about your strengths and your gaps, and to be willing to ask for the opportunities you want to pursue.  It’s a call for self-awareness and ownership, which is foundational to growth.

If you could sum EG up in one word, what would it be? 

Relentless. This captures the passionate, customer-focused drive and the fast-paced tech environment needed to deliver on our promises. EG is an incredible place to learn and has an impact on a global scale. You have the complexity of both B2B and B2C businesses, the challenge of operating globally, and the inspiration of a mission that truly matters. The work you do here directly contributes to unlocking the world for someone else, so you get to solve hard problems for a purpose you can believe in. 

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