Senior Backend Engineer - Lodging and Cars

Backend Engineer · Senior · Full Time · Remote

Argentina - Remote · RemoteUSD 120k – 180k1mo ago
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Role

What you'll do.

Join Hopper's Lodging and Cars Supply team as a Senior Backend Engineer to architect and scale a global hotel and car rental ecosystem handling high-volume, real-time transactions. This role combines technical depth in microservices architecture with product ownership, requiring expertise in Scala/JVM languages, distributed systems, and integration protocols to deliver reliable booking fulfillment across complex partner ecosystems. Ideal candidates demonstrate strong system design fundamentals, remote-first collaboration skills, and a commercial mindset focused on travel technology innovation in a well-funded, pre-IPO startup environment.

Responsibilities

  • Technical Integration Architecture: Execute end-to-end technical integrations with external lodging, cars, and Global Distribution System (GDS) partners while navigating complex communication protocols, distributed data schemas, and multi-format data interchange standards. Design integration patterns that maintain system resilience and data consistency across diverse partner ecosystems.
  • High-Performance Backend Development: Write clean, performant, and maintainable code in Scala or other JVM languages (Java, Kotlin) to build and evolve mission-critical lodging services. Focus on building scalable, high-throughput microservices that meet rigorous engineering standards while supporting billions of dollars in annual transaction volume.
  • Production Troubleshooting and System Optimization: Explore and troubleshoot existing complex codebases to conduct deep-dives into infrastructure components. Resolve production issues in distributed system environments using observability tools and systematic debugging approaches to maintain system health under high load.
  • Cross-functional Collaboration and Delivery: Partner with Product Managers and Operations teams to decompose business requirements into technical tasks, estimate delivery timelines, and align technical architecture with commercial objectives. Communicate technical trade-offs and feasibility assessments to non-technical stakeholders in a remote-first environment.
  • Feature Ownership Lifecycle: Take full ownership of the complete development lifecycle for new product features, encompassing technical design, implementation, automated testing, staging validation, and production deployment. Ensure smooth feature rollouts with appropriate monitoring and rollback capabilities.
  • Resilient Service Design: Contribute to the design and implementation of highly resilient, low-latency microservices that ensure a seamless booking experience for customers during peak demand periods. Apply distributed systems patterns such as circuit breakers, bulkheads, and graceful degradation to maintain service availability.
  • Code Review and Performance Leadership: Participate in thorough peer code reviews as both reviewer and reviewee, identifying opportunities to optimize scalability, performance, and system health. Champion engineering excellence and establish best practices for the platform.

Qualifications

What we look for.

Technical

  • Scala or JVM Language Proficiency

    Strong proficiency in Scala, Java, or Kotlin with demonstrated experience building scalable, high-throughput production services. Ability to write idiomatic, performant code that leverages JVM ecosystem strengths.

  • Microservices Architecture Experience

    Proven track record of owning technical implementation, testing, and deployment of features within a microservices architecture. Deep understanding of service decomposition, inter-service communication patterns, and distributed transaction management.

  • Distributed Systems Expertise

    Practical experience with distributed systems concepts including eventual consistency, synchronization patterns, and failure modes. Hands-on experience with service communication methods including gRPC, Pub/Sub (Kafka, RabbitMQ, Google Cloud Pub/Sub), and RESTful APIs.

  • Production Systems Debugging

    Proficiency with observability and monitoring tools (logging, metrics, tracing) to diagnose production issues. Experience troubleshooting complex distributed systems and optimizing performance under high-load conditions.

  • Integration Protocol Knowledge

    Familiarity with complex data integration patterns, XML/JSON transformation, protocol handling (SOAP, REST, gRPC), and working with external APIs in the travel or e-commerce domains.

Education

  • Computer Science or Related Field

    Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Mathematics, or a related technical field, or equivalent professional experience demonstrating deep systems knowledge.

Experience

  • Senior Backend Engineering Experience

    5+ years of professional software engineering experience with at least 2+ years in a senior individual contributor or senior engineer role. Demonstrated progression from mid-level to senior responsibilities including mentoring, architecture influence, and high-stakes feature ownership.

  • Scale and Performance Optimization

    Proven experience working with systems handling significant transaction volume, high concurrency, or real-time data processing. Track record of optimizing system performance and managing technical debt in complex codebases.

  • Remote-First Collaboration

    Experience thriving in asynchronous, distributed team environments with strong written communication skills. Demonstrated ability to self-organize, maintain high standards without close supervision, and drive projects to completion independently.

  • Travel or E-commerce Domain Knowledge

    Professional experience in travel technology, e-commerce, or fintech domains. Understanding of booking systems, inventory management, rate optimization, or supplier integration adds significant value but is not strictly required.

Skills

Required

  • Scala or Java Backend Development

    Production-grade development in Scala, Java, or Kotlin with understanding of JVM ecosystem, performance tuning, and concurrency models.

  • Distributed Systems Design

    Architectural knowledge of microservices patterns, service mesh concepts, distributed transactions, and failure recovery mechanisms.

  • gRPC and Pub/Sub Messaging

    Practical implementation experience with gRPC services and asynchronous messaging systems (Kafka, RabbitMQ, Google Cloud Pub/Sub).

  • REST API Development and Integration

    Designing and consuming REST APIs, implementing proper error handling, versioning strategies, and third-party API integration.

  • Production Debugging and Troubleshooting

    Using logging frameworks, metrics collection, and distributed tracing tools to diagnose and resolve production issues in complex systems.

  • Automated Testing and Quality Assurance

    Writing unit tests, integration tests, and end-to-end tests. Experience with testing frameworks and test automation strategies in microservices environments.

  • System Design and Architecture

    Technical capability to evaluate trade-offs, design scalable systems, and make sound architectural decisions aligned with business requirements.

  • Cross-functional Communication

    Ability to articulate technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders, estimate timelines accurately, and collaborate effectively in remote-first environments.

Preferred

  • Scala Ecosystem Expertise

    Nice to have

    Advanced experience with Scala, including functional programming paradigms, actors model (Akka), or reactive frameworks (Play, Lagom).

  • Travel or Booking System Experience

    Nice to have

    Previous work in travel technology platforms, hotel or airline systems, or e-commerce booking engines. Understanding of GDS (Global Distribution System) integrations, inventory management, and rate logic is a plus.

  • Cloud Platform Proficiency

    Nice to have

    Experience deploying and managing microservices on cloud platforms (AWS, Google Cloud Platform, or Azure). Familiarity with containerization (Docker, Kubernetes) and infrastructure-as-code tools.

  • Fintech Systems Knowledge

    Nice to have

    Experience with financial systems, payment processing, or fintech platforms. Understanding of compliance requirements, transaction integrity, and audit trails.

  • API Gateway and Service Mesh

    Nice to have

    Experience with API gateway patterns, service mesh technologies (Istio, Linkerd), and managing complex service-to-service communication at scale.

  • Database Performance Optimization

    Nice to have

    Hands-on experience optimizing database queries, indexing strategies, and handling eventual consistency in distributed database systems.

  • Open Source Contribution

    Nice to have

    Contributions to open-source JVM projects, travel or fintech libraries, or active participation in relevant engineering communities.

Tech stack

Languages

ScalaJavaKotlin

Frameworks

AkkaPlay FrameworkSpring BootLagom

Databases

PostgreSQLApache CassandraRedisDynamoDB or Google Firestore

Tools

gRPCApache KafkaRabbitMQ or Google Cloud Pub/SubDocker and KubernetesPrometheus and GrafanaELK Stack (Elasticsearch, Logstash, Kibana)Jaeger or ZipkinGit and GitHub/GitLab

Other

REST API DesignEvent-Driven ArchitectureCI/CD PipelinesDistributed Tracing and APMLoad Testing and Performance Benchmarking

Compensation

Pay and benefits.

Base·USD 120,000 – 180,000

Equity·Stock options

Full posting

Original listing.

About the Role

Join the Lodging and Cars Supply team at the heart of our lodging and cars business unit, where you will be instrumental in scaling a global hotel and cars ecosystem that handles high-volume, real-time transactions.

As a senior-level individual contributor, you will navigate a complex microservices environment to deliver reliable booking fulfillment, integrate new lodging and cars partners into our core stack, and optimize system monitoring. This role is designed for a self-directed engineer who excels at system exploration and immediate technical execution within an established, high-growth travel environment.

What would your day-to-day look like

  • Execute end-to-end technical integrations with external lodgings, cars and GDS partners while navigating complex communication protocols and distributed data schemas.

  • Write clean, performant code in Scala or other JVM languages to maintain, evolve, and uphold rigorous engineering standards for mission-critical lodging services.

  • Explore and troubleshoot existing complex codebases to deep-dive into infrastructure and resolve production issues in a distributed system environment.

  • Partner with Product Managers and Operations to decompose business requirements into technical tasks and estimate delivery timelines.

  • Take full ownership of the development lifecycle for new product features, from initial technical implementation and testing to production deployment.

  • Contribute to the design of highly resilient, low-latency services to ensure a seamless booking experience for customers under high load.

  • Participate in thorough code reviews and identify opportunities to optimize scalability, performance, and system health.

An ideal candidate has

  • Strong proficiency in Scala or other JVM languages, such as Java or Kotlin, with a focus on building scalable, high-throughput services.

  • A proven track record of owning the technical implementation, testing, and deployment of features within a microservices architecture.

  • Practical experience with distributed systems and service communication methods including gRPC, Pub/Sub, and REST.

  • The ability to onboard quickly and handle technical ambiguity by independently exploring and executing technical plans within existing infrastructure.

  • Excellent communication skills and a "bias for action" to effectively collaborate with cross-functional squads in a remote-first environment.

  • A professional curiosity for the travel tech industry and a commercial mindset focused on delivering reliable booking fulfillment.

Perks and benefits of working with us:

Well-funded and proven startup with large ambitions, competitive salary and the upsides of pre-IPO equity packages.
Carrot Cash travel stipend.
Flexdesk All Access Pass & Work-from-home stipend.
Entrepreneurial culture where pushing limits and taking risks is everyday business.
Open communication with management and company leadership.
Small, dynamic teams = massive impact.

 

🇦🇷 Contractor Disclosure: Argentina 🇦🇷

This position is offered as an Independent Contractor role (Locación de Servicios) based in Argentina, supporting the Hopper Cloud / HTS (Hopper Technology Solutions) business unit. The successful candidate will engage with Hopper as an independent service provider and will not be considered a legal employee under Argentine Labor Law. Consequently, the contractor is solely responsible for their own equipment, workspace, and compliance with all local tax and social security obligations, including registration and payments under the Monotributo or Régimen General (AFIP). This engagement is governed by a commercial service agreement and does not carry eligibility for company-sponsored benefits, statutory 13th-month salary (Aguinaldo), or paid vacation (Vacaciones pagas) typical of a traditional employment relationship.

More about Hopper

At Hopper, we are on a mission to become the leading travel platform globally – powering Hopper’s mobile app, website and our B2B business, HTS (Hopper Technology Solutions). By leveraging massive amounts of data and advanced machine learning algorithms, Hopper combines its world-class travel agency offering with proprietary fintech products to bring transparency, flexibility and savings to travelers globally. We have developed several unique fintech solutions that address everything from pricing volatility to trip disruptions – helping people travel better and save more on their trips.

 

The Hopper platform serves hundreds of millions of travelers globally and continues to capture market share around the world. he Hopper app has been downloaded over 120 million times and has become largely popular among younger travelers – with 70% of its users being Gen Z and millennials.

 

While everyone knows us as the Gen Z and Millennial travel app, Hopper has evolved to become much more than that. In recent years, we’ve grown into a travel fintech provider, commerce platform, and global travel agency that powers some of the world’s largest brands.

 

Through HTS, our B2B division, the company supercharges its partners’ direct channels by integrating our fintech products on their sites or powering end-to-end travel portals. Today, our partners include leading travel brands like Capital One, Nubank, Air Canada, and many more.

 

Here are just a few stats that demonstrate the company’s recent growth:

 

Billions of dollars worth of travel and travel fintech are sold through Hopper and HTS’ channels every year.

 

Our fintech products – including Cancel for Any Reason and Flight Disruption Assistance – have exceptionally strong CSAT because the terms are always clear, and customers receive instant, no-questions-asked resolutions.

 

Almost 30% of our app customers purchase at least one fintech product when making a booking; and consumers are 1.6x more likely to repurchase if they add fintech to their booking vs if they booked just travel.

 

Given the success of its fintech products, Hopper launched a B2B initiative, HTS (Hopper Technology Solutions), which represents more than 75% of the business.

 

Through HTS, any travel provider (airlines, hotels, banks, travel agencies, etc.) can integrate and seamlessly distribute Hopper’s fintech or travel inventory on their direct channels. As its first HTS partnership, the company partnered with Capital One to co-develop Capital One Travel, a new travel portal designed specifically for cardholders. Other HTS partners include Air Canada, Uber, CommBank, Nubank, Flair Airlines and many more.

 

Hopper has been named the #1 most innovative company in travel by Fast Company Hopper has been downloaded over 120 million times and continues to have millions of new installs each month. Hopper is now the #3 largest online travel agencies in North America and 70% of our app customers are Gen-Z and millennials travelers.

 

Hopper has raised over $750 million USD of private capital and is backed by some of the largest institutional investors and banks in the world. HTS is primed to continue its growth as the leading travel ecommerce provider in a $1 trillion online shopping category. The Hopper app and website will also continue to be the preferred travel provider for Gen Z and Millennials.

 

Come take off with us!

At Hopper, we leverage AI-driven tools to assist our team in efficiently reviewing applications. These tools help us assess qualifications fairly and objectively. By submitting your application, you acknowledge the use of these automated screening technologies.

#LI-REMOTE

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