Senior Backend Engineer - Lodging and Cars
Backend Engineer · Senior · Full Time · Remote
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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 mission-critical microservices powering a global hotel and car rental ecosystem handling billions in annual transactions. You'll own end-to-end technical integrations with external lodging and GDS partners, write high-performance Scala/JVM code, and troubleshoot complex distributed systems while collaborating with product and operations teams in a remote-first environment. This role demands a self-directed engineer with strong microservices expertise, proven ability to handle technical ambiguity, and a track record of delivering scalable, low-latency services in high-volume booking environments.
Responsibilities
- Execute End-to-End Technical Integrations: Design and implement comprehensive integrations with external lodging, car rental, and GDS (Global Distribution System) partners. Navigate complex communication protocols, manage distributed data schemas, and ensure seamless data flow between Hopper's core platform and third-party systems handling high-volume real-time transactions.
- Develop High-Performance Backend Services: Write clean, performant code in Scala or other JVM languages (Java, Kotlin) to build, maintain, and evolve mission-critical lodging services. Focus on rigorous engineering standards, scalability, and reliability for a platform serving hundreds of millions of travelers globally with strict latency and throughput requirements.
- Troubleshoot and Resolve Production Issues: Independently explore and diagnose issues within complex, existing codebases across distributed microservices environments. Conduct deep-dive investigations into infrastructure problems, identify root causes in production systems, and implement lasting solutions that prevent recurrence.
- Collaborate on Requirements Decomposition: Partner with Product Managers and Operations teams to translate business requirements into well-scoped technical tasks. Provide accurate delivery time estimates, evaluate technical feasibility, and ensure alignment between business objectives and engineering execution within agile sprint cycles.
- Own Feature Development Lifecycle: Take full ownership of new product features from initial architecture and technical implementation through rigorous testing and production deployment. Ensure features meet performance, reliability, and scalability standards while maintaining backward compatibility and system health.
- Design Resilient, Low-Latency Services: Architect highly resilient microservices optimized for low-latency responses under extreme load conditions. Implement circuit breakers, retry logic, caching strategies, and monitoring to deliver seamless booking experiences for customers during peak travel periods and flash sales.
- Participate in Code Reviews and Optimization: Conduct thorough peer code reviews, provide constructive technical feedback, and identify opportunities to optimize system scalability, performance, and overall health. Mentor junior engineers on best practices for distributed systems design and microservices architecture patterns.
Qualifications
What we look for.
Technical
Scala or JVM Language Proficiency
Advanced proficiency in Scala with demonstrated ability to build scalable, high-throughput services. Alternatively, strong expertise in Java or Kotlin with proven experience architecting production systems that handle millions of requests per second.
Microservices Architecture Expertise
Proven track record of owning complete technical implementations within microservices architectures. Experience designing bounded contexts, managing inter-service communication, handling distributed transactions, and implementing service versioning strategies.
Distributed Systems Knowledge
Practical hands-on experience building and troubleshooting distributed systems. Proficiency with service communication protocols including gRPC, REST, and event-driven Pub/Sub messaging patterns. Understanding of eventual consistency, CAP theorem, and distributed tracing.
Production Deployment and Testing
Demonstrated experience with complete development lifecycle including writing comprehensive unit and integration tests, implementing CI/CD pipelines, managing blue-green deployments, and monitoring production systems. Familiarity with container orchestration and infrastructure-as-code concepts.
System Monitoring and Observability
Experience implementing robust monitoring solutions using tools like Datadog, New Relic, or ELK stack. Proficiency with structured logging, metrics collection, distributed tracing, and alerting strategies to maintain system health and quickly identify anomalies.
Technical Ambiguity Navigation
Ability to independently explore unfamiliar codebases and existing infrastructure to quickly understand system architecture. Skill in making informed technical decisions with incomplete information and executing on complex problems within established systems.
Education
Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science or Related Field
Academic foundation in computer science, software engineering, or equivalent field with strong fundamentals in data structures, algorithms, and system design principles.
Equivalent Professional Experience
Candidates without formal degrees may substitute equivalent professional experience, demonstrating mastery of core backend engineering concepts through portfolio, open-source contributions, or self-directed learning.
Experience
5+ Years Backend Software Engineering
Minimum five years of professional experience developing backend systems, with demonstrated progression to senior-level individual contributor responsibilities. Evidence of ownership, mentorship, and architectural contributions.
2+ Years Microservices Architecture
Specific experience building, scaling, and maintaining microservices-based platforms in production environments. Experience with service discovery, API gateway patterns, and managing inter-service dependencies at scale.
Experience with High-Volume Transactions
Track record working on systems handling high-volume, real-time transactions with strict latency requirements. Preferably in travel, fintech, e-commerce, or similar industries where reliability and performance are mission-critical.
Remote-First Collaboration Experience
Demonstrated ability to thrive in distributed, asynchronous work environments. Experience with remote-first communication tools, self-direction, and proactive collaboration across time zones.
Skills
Required
Scala Programming
Strong proficiency in Scala language including functional programming paradigms, case classes, pattern matching, and type system mastery for building production-grade microservices.
JVM Ecosystem Mastery
Deep understanding of JVM internals, garbage collection, memory management, and profiling tools. Experience with JVM-based frameworks and libraries for backend development.
gRPC and Service Communication
Hands-on expertise implementing service-to-service communication using gRPC for high-performance, low-latency interactions. Understanding of protocol buffers, streaming patterns, and performance optimization.
RESTful API Design
Proficiency designing and implementing RESTful APIs with proper HTTP semantics, versioning strategies, and best practices. Experience with API documentation and client integration.
Pub/Sub Messaging Systems
Practical experience with event-driven architecture using message brokers such as Kafka, RabbitMQ, or cloud-native pub/sub services. Understanding of event ordering, exactly-once semantics, and consumer group management.
Distributed Systems Design
Ability to design systems addressing challenges of distributed computing: eventual consistency, fault tolerance, network partitions, and distributed tracing. Familiarity with CAP theorem and its practical implications.
Code Quality and Testing
Mastery of writing testable code with comprehensive unit tests, integration tests, and end-to-end test strategies. Experience with test frameworks, mocking libraries, and testing best practices for distributed systems.
Production System Troubleshooting
Exceptional ability to diagnose and resolve production issues in complex systems. Proficiency using monitoring dashboards, logs analysis, profiling tools, and systematic debugging methodologies.
Preferred
Java or Kotlin Experience
Nice to haveProficiency in Java or Kotlin as alternative JVM languages, allowing flexibility in polyglot microservices environments and compatibility with existing code bases.
Travel or Fintech Industry Background
Nice to havePrior experience working on travel technology platforms, booking systems, or fintech products. Understanding of travel industry workflows, GDS integrations, or payment processing complexity.
Cloud Platform Expertise
Nice to haveExperience with major cloud providers (AWS, Google Cloud Platform, or Azure) including services like Lambda, Cloud Run, managed databases, and infrastructure scaling patterns.
Kubernetes and Container Orchestration
Nice to haveFamiliarity with Kubernetes, Docker, and containerization strategies for deploying microservices at scale. Experience with service meshes like Istio for advanced traffic management.
Database Optimization
Nice to haveExpertise optimizing both relational and NoSQL databases for high-throughput scenarios. Experience with query optimization, indexing strategies, sharding, and replication for distributed systems.
Real-Time Data Processing
Nice to haveExperience building real-time data pipelines using tools like Spark, Flink, or Kafka Streams. Understanding of stream processing patterns and low-latency analytics.
API Gateway Patterns
Nice to haveExperience designing and implementing API gateway solutions for managing cross-cutting concerns like authentication, rate limiting, request routing, and protocol translation.
Open Source Contributions
Nice to haveActive contributions to backend-related open source projects demonstrating engagement with the broader engineering community and commitment to quality software development.
Tech stack
Languages
Frameworks
Databases
Tools
Other
Compensation
Pay and benefits.
Base·USD 250,000 – 350,000
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.
Unlimited PTO.
Carrot Cash travel stipend.
Access to co-working space on demand through FlexDesk AND Work-from-home stipend.
Please ask us about our very generous parental leave, much above industry standards!.
Entrepreneurial culture where pushing limits and taking risks is everyday business.
Open communication with management and company leadership.
Small, dynamic teams = massive impact.
100% employer paid Medical, Dental and Vision coverage for employees.
Access to Disability & Life insurance.
Health Reimbursement Account (HRA).
DCA/ FSA and access to 401k plan.
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!
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