Software Architect, KAYAK
Java
3 days a week in office (Friedrichshain, Berlin)
Travel search engine
Posted today
Travel search engine
1001+ employees
Posted today
3 days a week in office (Friedrichshain, Berlin)
1001+ employees
Company mission
To help millions of travelers around the globe make confident travel decisions.
Role
Who you are
- A minimum of 9 years of professional software development experience, with a significant portion dedicated to the large-scale distributed systems
- Expert-level mastery of the Java ecosystem and Spring Framework (Boot, Security)
- Expertise in designing for high-throughput data environments using PostgreSQL, MySQL, and Redis
- Good command of the English language
- Understanding of airline distribution standards, specifically NDC (New Distribution Capability) and legacy GDS (Amadeus, Sabre) protocols
- Knowledge of B2B integration patterns including SAML, OAuth2, OIDC, and SCIM for automated user lifecycle management via Okta, Workday, or Azure AD
- Previous experience with AI/LLM would be a plus
What the job involves
- KAYAK is seeking a Software Architect to serve as a principal technical authority within our backend engineering organization
- In this capacity, you will provide the technical vision and architectural governance required to sustain KAYAK’s industry-leading search and booking ecosystem
- You will be responsible for the integrity of a high-concurrency platform that facilitates integrations with over 200 global travel partners, 500,000 hotel properties, and 550 airlines
- As a Software Architect, your remit extends beyond individual feature delivery
- You will act as a force multiplier, identifying cross-cutting technical challenges, mentoring senior engineering talent, and ensuring that our enterprise-grade solutions for KAYAK for Business (K4B) remain resilient, scalable, and strategically aligned with our global expansion goals
- Ensure the search and booking logic maintains optimal performance under the rigorous demands of global enterprise clientele
- Lead the design of high-performance, fault-tolerant integration frameworks for third-party APIs (NDC, GDS, and proprietary provider protocols), prioritizing low-latency execution and high availability
- Serve as a primary consultant for multiple engineering squads, providing clarity on complex architectural trade-offs and ensuring technical consistency across the K4B ecosystem
- Spearhead initiatives to improve the engineering lifecycle, from establishing sophisticated observability patterns and CI/CD matures to refining internal standards for code quality and distributed system design
- Translate high-level business objectives into robust technical specifications, effectively communicating architectural risks and opportunities to executive leadership
Our take
KAYAK is a travel agency and metasearch engine owned and operated by Booking Holdings. KAYAK processes over 6 billion queries across its platforms each year for travel information - as one of the world’s leading travel search engines, KAYAK searches other sites to show travellers the information they need to find the right flights, hotels, rental cars and vacation packages. It offers a variety of tools and features such as KAYAK trips, explore, and price forecast.
There’s been speculation over the years about online travel companies getting into the hotel business, and KAYAK is no exception. The company is expanding its hospitality offerings beyond its traditional hotel referral and booking services, but despite speculation through the 2020s, has stopped short of opening hotels under its own brand, preferring to partner with preexisting companies on their hotel tech.
Since being acquired by Booking Holdings, the global leader in online travel, in 2013, KAYAK has continued to expand and innovate, enhancing the travel experience for users all around the world. And now KAYAK manages a portfolio of metasearch brands including SWOODOO, checkfelix, momondo, Cheapflights, Mundi and HotelsCombined. With the aim to make it easier for everyone to experience the world - it now operates sites in more than 70 countries and territories.
Steph
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
Insights
6% employee growth in 12 months
Company
Company benefits
- Work flexibly: Our global flexible work policy lets our teams decide if they head into one of our offices or work from anywhere else
- Team-wide time off: Most of our team disconnects at the same time each year to recharge and reconnect
- Global volunteer week: Take VTO (Volunteer Time Off) to support the organizations and charitable efforts you believe in
- Wellness: We take care of each other - providing opportunities and spaces to live that work-life balance
- Resource groups: Our five ERGs are employee-led groups for underrepresented communities and their allies
- Career growth: We provide opportunities for our team to develop their skills – or learn new ones – on their own terms
Company HQ
East Side of Stamford, Stamford, CT
Leadership
Steve Hafner
(Co-Founder & CEO)Previously Board Member of Trulia, Blade and SeatGeek and currently an Executive at OpenTable.
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