Hopper

Staff Backend Software Engineer

Hopper3 days ago
Location

Netherlands - Remote

Workplace

Remote

Type

Full Time

Salary

USD 180,000 – 280,000

Level

Staff

Role

Backend Engineer

Posted

Jun 30, 2026

Full TimeRemoteStaff

The role

Summary

Staff Backend Software Engineer at Hopper, a leading travel fintech platform processing billions in annual transaction volume. This role focuses on building scalable backend systems and AI-assisted development workflows within Hopper Technology Solutions (HTS), a multi-tenant commerce engine serving 410M cardholders across major financial and travel partners. You'll architect distributed systems in Scala/GCP, mentor senior engineers, drive end-to-end feature delivery, and leverage AI tooling to accelerate development velocity while maintaining production excellence and reliability standards.

What you'll do

Architect and Optimize Backend Systems: Design and execute improvements to distributed backend infrastructure that enable both human engineers and AI agents to move fast and ship safely. Focus on creating scalable patterns and foundational architectures that support rapid partner experience launches across the HTS platform serving 410M cardholders and major global brands including Capital One, Nubank, and Air Canada.
End-to-End Feature Ownership: Own complete feature delivery from backend systems through partner-facing interfaces, primarily focusing on backend services while using AI tooling to operate across the full stack as needed. Drive features from concept through production, ensuring architectural decisions balance technical excellence with customer impact and business outcomes.
AI-Assisted Development Leadership: Direct and orchestrate AI agents and automated workflows to build and maintain complex distributed systems. Establish guardrails, feedback loops, and quality assurance processes that keep AI-assisted development productive and reliable. Develop critical judgment for when to delegate work to AI systems versus hands-on engineering intervention.
Cross-Functional Collaboration and Roadmap Definition: Work directly with product managers, business partners, and partner stakeholders to define, refine, and execute technical roadmap decisions. Communicate technical vision and tradeoffs asynchronously through thoughtful documentation and architectural specifications. Participate in low-process environments powered by trust and engineering autonomy.
Technical Leadership and Mentorship: Collaborate with groups of senior engineers, providing and receiving feedback for mutual growth. Lead through example and documentation rather than process, establishing coding patterns and development practices that scale across distributed systems. Help junior and mid-level engineers navigate complex architectural decisions.
Performance and Scalability Optimization: Drive continuous performance improvements and scalability enhancements across backend services handling billions of dollars in annual travel and fintech transactions. Identify bottlenecks, optimize query patterns, and implement caching strategies that support growth across the multi-tenant HTS platform.

What we look for

Technical

Distributed Systems Development in ScalaExpert-level or strong mastery-level willingness to rapidly learn Scala for building distributed systems. Deep understanding of functional programming paradigms, concurrency patterns, and libraries commonly used in Scala backend services. Experience with or familiarity with Scala frameworks and tooling for high-performance services.
Google Cloud Platform (GCP) ServicesProduction experience designing and deploying services on GCP, including Compute Engine, Cloud Run, Datastore, Pub/Sub, and BigQuery. Understanding of GCP-specific patterns for scalability, reliability, and cost optimization in cloud-native architectures.
AI-Assisted Development and LLM IntegrationHands-on experience orchestrating AI agents and large language models in production systems. Deep understanding of LLM strengths, limitations, and failure modes. Demonstrated ability to design feedback loops, validation mechanisms, and human-in-the-loop workflows that maintain code quality and system reliability.
Backend Architecture and API DesignStrong expertise in designing RESTful and event-driven APIs, database schemas, and backend service architectures that scale to millions of requests. Experience with rate limiting, caching strategies, database optimization, and asynchronous processing patterns.
Multi-Tenant Systems ArchitectureExperience building or working with multi-tenant platforms, including data isolation strategies, configuration management, feature flagging, and A/B testing infrastructure. Understanding of how to efficiently serve multiple customers with shared infrastructure.

Education

Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science or Related FieldFormal education in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Mathematics, Physics, or equivalent field demonstrating strong fundamentals in algorithms, data structures, and system design. (Equivalent professional experience may substitute for formal degree)
Continuous Learning in AI and Machine LearningEvidence of ongoing study in machine learning, AI systems, or LLM-based development through courses, certifications, or project experience. Understanding of how LLM outputs can be validated, integrated into production systems, and combined with traditional software engineering practices.

Experience

Senior Backend Engineering in Fintech or Travel Tech5+ years building production backend systems, ideally 3+ years at the senior or staff level. Experience in fintech, travel, e-commerce, or other transaction-heavy domains. Demonstrated track record of shipping complex features end-to-end and handling high-transaction-volume systems.
Rapid Prototyping and DeliveryTrack record of moving fast and shipping features at pace, particularly in AI-augmented development environments. Ability to fearlessly dive into unfamiliar codebases and deliver results quickly without extensive onboarding periods or comprehensive documentation.
Cross-Stack Product ThinkingDemonstrated ability to operate across the full technology stack from backend systems to user-facing interfaces. Experience making architectural decisions anchored in customer experience and business outcomes rather than technical elegance alone. Comfort using AI tooling and frameworks to quickly become productive in unfamiliar technologies.
Asynchronous and Low-Process CollaborationExperience thriving in high-autonomy environments with minimal process overhead. Proven ability to communicate complex technical decisions through clear documentation, architecture decision records (ADRs), and async-first communication patterns.

Skills

Required skills

ScalaProduction experience with Scala for backend services, distributed systems, and concurrent programming. Proficiency with functional programming paradigms, pattern matching, and libraries like Akka, Play Framework, or other Scala-based frameworks.
Google Cloud Platform (GCP)Demonstrated expertise deploying and managing services on GCP with hands-on experience using Cloud Run, Compute Engine, Pub/Sub, Datastore, and BigQuery for production workloads.
Large Language Models and AI IntegrationHands-on experience integrating LLMs into production systems, prompt engineering, designing feedback loops for AI outputs, and building guardrails to ensure reliability and correctness in AI-assisted workflows.
Distributed Systems DesignDeep expertise designing scalable, fault-tolerant distributed systems including microservices architectures, event-driven patterns, eventual consistency, and handling high-throughput scenarios.
Database Design and OptimizationProduction experience optimizing database performance, query design, indexing strategies, and schema architecture for high-scale systems. Familiarity with both relational and NoSQL database patterns.
API Design and ProtocolsStrong expertise designing RESTful APIs, GraphQL, gRPC, or other service communication protocols. Understanding of versioning strategies, rate limiting, authentication, and backward compatibility patterns.
System Architecture and Technical LeadershipAbility to articulate architectural decisions, document tradeoffs explicitly, and communicate complex technical concepts clearly to both technical and non-technical stakeholders through written specifications and documentation.

Nice to have

Go, Python, or JavaExperience in additional backend languages such as Go, Python, or Java demonstrates language flexibility and ability to quickly pick up new technologies. Systems thinking and patterns transfer across languages.
React and TypeScriptFamiliarity with modern frontend frameworks and TypeScript, particularly React, enables effective full-stack collaboration and demonstrates ability to use AI tooling to rapidly move across technology boundaries.
Event-Driven Architecture and StreamingExperience building systems around event streaming platforms like Kafka, Pub/Sub, or Kinesis. Understanding of event sourcing, CQRS patterns, and handling real-time data flows across distributed systems.
Machine Learning and Data Science IntegrationExperience integrating machine learning models into production systems, working with data scientists on model serving, and understanding how algorithmic recommendations flow through distributed systems.
Multi-Tenant SaaS ArchitectureExperience building multi-tenant platforms with concerns around data isolation, tenant configuration, feature flagging, and efficient resource sharing across thousands of customers.
Product Thinking and Business AcumenDemonstrated ability to translate business requirements into technical solutions, understand unit economics, and make tradeoff decisions between feature velocity, technical debt, and scalability.

Compensation & benefits

Salary

USD 180,000 – 280,000 (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
ScalaTypeScriptPythonGoJava
Frameworks
Play FrameworkAkkaReactgRPC
Databases
Google Cloud DatastoreBigQueryCloud SQLCloud Firestore
Tools
Google Cloud Platform (GCP)Pub/Sub and Event StreamingAI and LLM Development ToolsFeature Flagging and Configuration ManagementMonitoring and ObservabilityVersion Control and CI/CD
Other
Machine Learning and AI IntegrationFintech Product UnderstandingAsynchronous Architecture and Eventual Consistency
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