Staff Engineer, Travel

KAYAK part of Booking Holdings (NASDAQ: BKNG) is a leading travel search engine. With billions of queries across our platforms we help people find their perfect flight stay rental car and vacation package. Were also transforming business travel with a new corporate travel solution KAYAK for Business.

As an employee of KAYAK you will be part of a travel company that operates a portfolio of global metasearch brands including momondo Cheapflights and HotelsCombined among others. From start-up to industry leader innovation is in our DNA and every employee has an opportunity to make their mark. Our focus is on building the best travel search engine to make it easier for everyone to experience the world.

KAYAK for Business (K4B) is a corporate travel platform used by large enterprises to manage travel at scale. As a Staff Engineer with Travel domain experience youll help shape how our platform connects to the worlds travel providers - from modern direct integrations with airlines and hotels to the Global Distribution System infrastructure that underpins a significant share of global travel content. Youll work closely with a collaborative cross-location engineering team and have real influence over the architecture and direction of a platform that matters to the people using it every day.

This role is based in Berlin and requires commuting to the office 3 times a week.

In this role you will:

• Design evolve and own significant parts of the K4B booking and integration architecture including direct provider connections (flights hotels cars) and GDS-based integrations

• Contribute to the teams shift toward a direct-first integration model reducing reliance on legacy infrastructure while maintaining reliability for existing users

• Take end-to-end ownership of integrations from technical design through production and ensure they are well-understood well-maintained and clearly documented

• Incorporate AI tooling and modern engineering approaches into the teams architecture and development workflows

• Collaborate with product operations and partner teams to clarify requirements resolve ambiguity and drive technical decisions forward

• Mentor and support engineers on the team contributing to a culture of shared learning and clear ownership

• Participate in architecture design reviews and contribute to technical direction across the broader engineering organization

Please apply if you have:

• 7 years of backend engineering with a track record of designing and delivering complex distributed systems.

• Familiarity with travel industry concepts such as booking flows ticketing or fare structures (e.g. PNR unused tickets ancillaries)

• Experience with Global Distribution System platforms (e.g. Amadeus Sabre Travelport) or direct airline/hotel integrations (NDC AFOP)

• Experience building and maintaining integrations with external APIs or third-party systems.

• The ability to navigate ambiguity ask the right questions and bring clarity to complex technical problems

• Experience working across teams and communicating technical decisions clearly to both technical and non-technical colleagues

• Comfort working with a high degree of autonomy and ownership over your work

Its a plus if you have:

• Background in SOAP-based web services or legacy system modernization

• Experience with fraud and payment systems in a booking or e-commerce context

Benefits and Perks

• Work from (almost) anywhere for up to 20 days per year

• Focus on mental health and well-being:

  • Company-paid therapy sessions through SpringHealth

  • Company-paid subscription to HeadSpace

  • Company-wide week off a year - the whole team fully recharges (and returns without a pile-up of work!)

  • No meeting Fridays

• Paid parental leave

• Paid volunteer time

• Focus on your career growth:

  • Development Dollars

  • Leadership development

  • Access to thousands of on-demand e-learnings

• Travel Discounts

• Employee Resource Groups

• 6 weeks paid vacation a day off for your birthday

• Free lunch 2 days per week

• Pension plan contributions

• Public transportation subsidies

• Bike leasing program

• Monthly social events Thursday happy hours sports teams

• An awesome office in Friedrichshain Berlin

Inclusion

At KAYAK we want everyone to have the space to grow share ideas and do great work. Thats why were focused on hiring the best talent from all walks of life and experiences supporting them well and making sure no one feels like they have to fit a mold to belong here.

Need any adjustments for the interview application or on the job No problem - just give us a heads-up. Weve got you.

#LI-AS1

Required Experience:

Staff IC