Senior Software Engineer - Reservations

OpenTable; Toronto; Hybrid; CAD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid workplace model

2 days in‑office per week

Private health and dental insurance

Paid time off

Job summary

OpenTable, part of Booking Holdings, is seeking a backend-focused engineer to design, build, and operate high‑throughput services across C#/.NET and Java in a hybrid Toronto role. You will improve caching, database efficiency, and scale transaction-heavy architectures while maintaining low latency.

The role bridges C#/.NET and Java ecosystems and collaborates with Product, TPM, and platform partners to raise engineering standards and reliability. Two days on-site weekly in downtown Toronto.

Qualifications

• 5+ years designing and operating production backend services (C#/.NET or Java).
• 3+ years optimizing data access and caching with PostgreSQL/SQL Server and Redis.
• 3+ years implementing event-driven architectures using Apache Kafka.
• Proven track record of fault-tolerant, scalable distributed systems with observability.
• Experience crafting automated unit and integration tests for critical workflows.

Responsibilities

• Design, build, and operate low-latency backend services across C#/.NET and Java.
• Architect distributed system mechanisms for reliability and multi-region routing.
• Translate product requirements into incremental engineering milestones with teams.
• Write thorough automated tests and drive observability and code reviews.
• Lead triage and post-incident reviews for production issues.
• Incorporate AI-assisted tooling to accelerate delivery and testing.

Skills

C# / .NET

Java

Relational databases

Distributed systems

Automated testing

Tools

PostgreSQL

SQL Server

Redis

Apache Kafka

Job description

This hybrid role requires working in the office two days per week.

With millions of diners, 70,000+ restaurant partners and 25+ years of experience, OpenTable, part of Booking Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: BKNG), is an industry leader with a passion for helping restaurants thrive. Our world-class technology empowers restaurants to focus on what matters most – their team, their guests, and their bottom line – while enabling diners to discover and book the perfect restaurant for every occasion.

Every employee at OpenTable has a tangible impact on what we do and how we do it. You’ll also be part of a global team and its portfolio of metasearch brands. Hospitality is all about taking care of others, and it defines our culture.

About the job

The Diner Core Reservation team builds and operates the high-throughput, multi-region distributed systems powering every critical step of the diner reservation lifecycle. In this role, you will design and deliver resilient backend services that support slot locking, booking, modifications, and downstream event publication across OpenTable web, mobile, and partner integrations. You will bridge our C#/.NET and Java ecosystems to raise engineering standards, improve caching and database efficiency, and scale transaction-heavy architectures without sacrificing reliability or low latency. This is a hybrid opportunity (two days per week on-site) based out of our downtown Toronto, Ontario office.

Responsibilities

• Design, build, and operate resilient, low-latency backend services and APIs across C#/.NET and Java to support mission-critical diner reservation lifecycles.
• Architect robust distributed system mechanisms—including retry logic, rollbacks, failure modes, and multi-region routing—to safeguard correctness and business continuity.
• Deconstruct ambiguous product requirements and initiatives into decoupled, incremental engineering milestones in close alignment with Product, TPM, and platform partners.
• Champion rigorous software craftsmanship by authoring thorough automated tests, driving observability best practices, and conducting constructive design and code reviews.
• Lead rapid triage, root‑cause resolution, and blameless post‑incident reviews for high‑severity production anomalies.
• Incorporate AI‑assisted development tooling responsibly to accelerate code delivery, broaden test coverage, and streamline system diagnostics.

Minimum Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience designing, building, and operating production backend services using C#/.NET, Java, or an equivalent object‑oriented ecosystem.
• 3+ years of experience engineering data access layers and query optimizations with relational databases (e.g., PostgreSQL, SQL Server) and distributed caches (e.g., Redis).
• 3+ years of practical experience implementing event‑driven architectures and streaming pipelines using platforms such as Apache Kafka.
• Demonstrated track record of delivering fault‑tolerant, horizontally scalable distributed systems with production observability, tracing, and metric instrumentation.
• Hands‑on experience architecting and maintaining comprehensive testing suites, with emphasis on automated unit and integration tests for critical business workflows.

Preferred Qualifications

• Direct experience architecting high‑concurrency booking, inventory, marketplace, or transaction‑heavy platforms.
• Working knowledge of payment processing pipelines and financial reservation workflows, including authorization holds, deposits, or prepayments.
• Demonstrated background navigating service modernizations, decomposing monolithic architectures into distributed microservices, or managing cross‑region state replication.
• Proven ability to mentor peer engineers, establish software delivery standards, and drive technical alignment across cross‑functional stakeholders.

This posting is for an existing vacancy.

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
• Annual company‑wide week off a year - the whole team fully recharges (and returns without a pile‑up of work!)
• Paid parental leave
• Generous paid vacation + time off for your birthday
• Focus on your career growth:
• Access to thousands of on‑demand e‑learnings
• Travel Discounts
• Employee Resource Groups
• 20 days of paid time off
• Private health and dental insurance
• Life and Disability insurance

The best connections happen face‑to‑face, whether you’re sitting down to dinner or having coffee with a coworker. That’s why OpenTable has adopted a hybrid workplace model. This role aligns with that approach, with an expectation of coming into the office two days a week—giving employees the best of both worlds: in‑person collaboration and flexibility.

There are a variety of factors that go into determining a compensation range, including but not limited to external market benchmark data, geographic location, and years of experience sought/required.

We offer a competitive base salary and benefits including: health benefits, retirement benefits, life insurance, paid time off (including PTO, paid sick leave, medical leave, bereavement leave, floating holidays and paid holidays); and parental leave benefits. This role is eligible to be considered for an annual bonus and equity grant.