Engineering Manager, Back End (Bangkok based, relocation provided)

Agoda; Helsinki; On-site; EUR 90,000 - 140,000; Full time

Job summary

Agoda is seeking an Engineering Manager in Helsinki who can be hands-on, technically excellent, and a strong leader. You will guide one or more engineering teams, coach engineers, and own delivery of scalable, high‑quality software across infrastructure, backend, data, and client layers.

You will develop people, hire top talent, and implement data-driven decisions, while maintaining a strong focus on architecture, performance, and reliability in a fast-paced environment.

Qualifications

• Proficiency in at least one core language (Java/Scala/C#).
• Experience with large-scale distributed systems and architecture.
• Operational ownership and ownership mindset in previous roles.
• Strong understanding of garbage collection, threading and low-level concepts.
• DevOps culture with CI/CD and automation.
• Good security awareness and data-driven decision making.
• Experience leading engineering teams with 5+ direct reports.

Responsibilities

• Be hands-on – write and review code; coach and guide engineers.
• Maintain passion for scalable, elegant solutions and modern architecture.
• Do full stack engineering spanning infrastructure to backend and data layers.
• Develop people; attract top talent and integrate them into the business.

Skills

Java

Scala

C#

System architecture

Distributed systems

DevOps

CI/CD

Security

Agile

Leadership

KPIs

Tools

Kafka

Aerospike

Job description

About Agoda

At Agoda, we bridge the world through travel. Our story began in 2005, when two lifelong friends and entrepreneurs, driven by their passion for travel, launched Agoda to make it easier for everyone to explore the world.

Get to Know our Team

In Agoda’s Back End Engineering department, we build scalable, fault‑tolerant systems and APIs that host our core business logic. Our systems cover inventory and pricing, product information, customer data, communications, partner data, booking systems, payments, and more. These mission‑critical systems change frequently with dozens of releases per day, so we must employ state‑of‑the‑art CI/CD and testing techniques to ensure continuous uptime. We also make our systems self‑healing, responding gracefully to extreme loads or unexpected input. To accomplish this, we use languages such as Scala and Go, data technologies like Kafka and Aerospike, and agile development practices. Our team empowers individuals from around the world and gives them the resources to be successful.

The Opportunity

The Engineering Manager role at Agoda is one of the most significant and challenging roles at the company. The right candidate is both extremely hands‑on, technically excellent, and possesses strong leadership and people‑development skills. We are looking for world‑class development managers to lead one or more of our engineering teams.

In this Role, you'll get to:

• Be hands‑on – our developers write and review code, and engineering managers coach and guide their engineers.
• Maintain a love of engineering and a passion for building elegant, scalable solutions. Staying informed about industry trends is important, as is having strong opinions on architecture, engineering, and maintenance.
• Do full stack engineering – experience across infrastructure, client‑side, back‑end, performance, data, and other layers is required.
• Develop people – inspiring your team to reach their potential, bringing top talent into the business, and integrating them effectively.

What you'll Need to Succeed

• Extremely proficient in at least one programming language (Java, Scala, C#).
• Strong experience in system architecture for complex, scalable, fault‑tolerant distributed systems.
• Demonstrable experience as a system owner with operational responsibility.
• Proficient in lower‑level engineering concepts such as garbage collection, context switching, and threading.
• DevOps culture: agility, leanness, automation, CI/CD.
• Good understanding of application security.
• Passionate about technology and the Internet.
• Experience working in a successful agile development team.
• Experience leading engineering teams with 5+ direct reports.
• Ability to operate autonomously: make decisions, set KPIs, and exhibit ownership.
• Practices data‑driven decision making.

It's Great if you have

• Proficiency in more than one programming language.

Equal Opportunity Employer

At Agoda, we pride ourselves on being a company represented by people of all different backgrounds and orientations. We prioritize attracting diverse talent, cultivating an inclusive environment that encourages collaboration and innovation, and hiring based on merit and qualifications. We are committed to providing equal employment opportunity regardless of sex, age, race, color, national origin, religion, marital status, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, citizenship, veteran or military status, and other legally protected characteristics.

Disclaimer

Agoda does not accept any terms or conditions, nor do we recognize any agency’s representation of a candidate, from unsolicited third‑party or agency submissions. If we receive unsolicited or speculative CVs, we reserve the right to contact and hire the candidate directly without any obligation to pay a recruitment fee.