Hopper

Senior Backend Engineer - Lodging and Cars

Hopper2 days ago
Location

New York - Remote

Workplace

Remote

Type

Full Time

Salary

USD 250,000 – 350,000

Level

Senior

Role

Backend Engineer

Posted

Jul 1, 2026

Full TimeRemoteSenior

The role

Summary

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.

What you'll do

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.

What we look for

Technical

Scala or JVM Language ProficiencyAdvanced 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 ExpertiseProven 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 KnowledgePractical 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 TestingDemonstrated 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 ObservabilityExperience 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 NavigationAbility 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 FieldAcademic foundation in computer science, software engineering, or equivalent field with strong fundamentals in data structures, algorithms, and system design principles.
Equivalent Professional ExperienceCandidates 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 EngineeringMinimum 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 ArchitectureSpecific 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 TransactionsTrack 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 ExperienceDemonstrated ability to thrive in distributed, asynchronous work environments. Experience with remote-first communication tools, self-direction, and proactive collaboration across time zones.

Skills

Required skills

Scala ProgrammingStrong proficiency in Scala language including functional programming paradigms, case classes, pattern matching, and type system mastery for building production-grade microservices.
JVM Ecosystem MasteryDeep understanding of JVM internals, garbage collection, memory management, and profiling tools. Experience with JVM-based frameworks and libraries for backend development.
gRPC and Service CommunicationHands-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 DesignProficiency designing and implementing RESTful APIs with proper HTTP semantics, versioning strategies, and best practices. Experience with API documentation and client integration.
Pub/Sub Messaging SystemsPractical 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 DesignAbility 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 TestingMastery 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 TroubleshootingExceptional ability to diagnose and resolve production issues in complex systems. Proficiency using monitoring dashboards, logs analysis, profiling tools, and systematic debugging methodologies.

Nice to have

Java or Kotlin ExperienceProficiency in Java or Kotlin as alternative JVM languages, allowing flexibility in polyglot microservices environments and compatibility with existing code bases.
Travel or Fintech Industry BackgroundPrior experience working on travel technology platforms, booking systems, or fintech products. Understanding of travel industry workflows, GDS integrations, or payment processing complexity.
Cloud Platform ExpertiseExperience 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 OrchestrationFamiliarity with Kubernetes, Docker, and containerization strategies for deploying microservices at scale. Experience with service meshes like Istio for advanced traffic management.
Database OptimizationExpertise 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 ProcessingExperience building real-time data pipelines using tools like Spark, Flink, or Kafka Streams. Understanding of stream processing patterns and low-latency analytics.
API Gateway PatternsExperience designing and implementing API gateway solutions for managing cross-cutting concerns like authentication, rate limiting, request routing, and protocol translation.
Open Source ContributionsActive contributions to backend-related open source projects demonstrating engagement with the broader engineering community and commitment to quality software development.

Compensation & benefits

Salary

USD 250,000 – 350,000 (annual)

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Hopper

Hopper

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Hopper is a travel booking app and online marketplace, leveraging data-driven technology to predict prices and help users book hotels, flights, and car rentals at the best rates.

Montreal, QC, CanadaFounded 2006hopper.com

Tech Stack

Languages
ScalaJavaKotlin
Frameworks
Play FrameworkAkkagRPCSpring Boot
Databases
PostgreSQLRedisApache CassandraMongoDB
Tools
KafkaDockerKubernetesDatadogGit and GitHubJenkins or GitLab CI
Other
Protocol BuffersREST API DesignSystem Design and ArchitectureDistributed TracingOAuth 2.0 and API Security
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