Software Development Engineer II (Backend)

Traveltechessentialist; United Kingdom; Hybrid; GBP 60,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading travel technology company in the UK is seeking a Software Development Engineer II (Backend) to design and maintain high-throughput distributed services. The ideal candidate should have experience in Java or similar languages and cloud infrastructures, with a focus on optimizing system performance. Join this innovative team to enhance the customer journey through cutting-edge technology and contribute to a supportive and collaborative workplace culture.

Benefits

Flexible work model

Career development resources

Exciting travel perks

Qualifications

• 3+ years of professional software development experience, or 2+ years post-degree experience.
• Hands-on experience in software development using Java or similar object-oriented programming languages.
• Proven experience building and operating scalable distributed systems.

Responsibilities

• Design and maintain high-throughput distributed services for pricing solutions.
• Implement caching mechanisms to enhance performance and optimize resource utilization.
• Mentor team members and share technical knowledge.

Skills

Java

Scala

Kotlin

AWS

Redis

Kafka Streams

Agile methodologies

Education

Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science

Master's Degree

Tools

AWS Cloud Infrastructure

Microservices

Job description

Expedia Group brands power global travel for everyone, everywhere. We design cutting-edge tech to make travel smoother and more memorable, and we create groundbreaking solutions for our partners. Our diverse, vibrant, and welcoming community is essential in driving our success.

Why Join Us?

To shape the future of travel, people must come first. Guided by our Values and Leadership Agreements, we foster an open culture where everyone belongs, differences are celebrated, and when one of us wins, we all win.

We provide a full benefits package, including exciting travel perks, generous time‑off, parental leave, a flexible work model (with some pretty cool offices), and career development resources, all to fuel our employees' passion for travel and ensure a rewarding career journey. We’re building a more open world. Join us.

Software Development Engineer II (Backend)

Expedia Product & Technology builds innovative products, services, and tools to deliver high‑quality experiences for travelers, partners, and our employees. A singular technology platform powered by data and machine learning provides secure, differentiated, and personalized experiences for the traveler and our partners that drive loyalty and customer satisfaction.

The Expedia Group Pricing pillar is tasked with giving the customer a simple, clear, accurate, transparent pricing experience throughout their shopping and booking journeys. We do this by putting the customer first, creating capabilities and experiences that can be shared and presented to the customer that meet the travelers’ expectations in locally relevant ways and adhere to regulatory norms.

The pricing platform supports millions of users every year in finding suitable travel products using technologies such as Java, Scala, Kotlin, Spring, MSSQL, DynamoDB, Redis, etc. We encourage experimentation with new technologies while maintaining a healthy balance between short‑term and long‑term goals. We deeply care about building a great experience to delight our customers. Our goal is to enhance every traveler’s experience and make it better!

In this role, you will:

• Design, develop, and maintain high‑throughput, low‑latency distributed services that deliver efficient, optimal pricing solutions at scale.
• Implement robust caching mechanisms to enhance application performance, reduce latency, and optimize system resource utilization.
• Participate actively in architecture reviews, writing thorough and well‑supported technical documentation, and conducting detailed code reviews.
• Mentor team members, sharing knowledge and expertise to foster a culture of continuous technical growth and collaboration across teams.
• Identify opportunities for optimizing existing solutions and proactively propose enhancements that improve system efficiency and reliability.
• Analyze complex problems, deconstruct them into manageable milestones, and collaboratively deliver sustainable technical solutions.
• Understand and influence alignment between business objectives, technical architecture, and internal/external stakeholder priorities.

Experience and qualifications:

• Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science or equivalent (3+ years of professional software development experience), or Master's Degree (2+ years post‑degree experience).
• Hands‑on experience in software development using Java or similar object‑oriented programming languages, or Scala or Kotlin or similar functional languages.
• Proven experience building and operating scalable distributed systems and services within AWS cloud infrastructure or similar technologies.
• Designed and implemented distributed, event‑driven systems using Kafka Streams, AWS Kinesis, or similar.
• Optimize for low‑latency and high‑throughput processing (1M+ TPS) microservices.
• Implemented auto‑scaling, blue‑green deployments, and canary releases and Build and maintain SLAs, SLOs, and SLIs for critical services.
• Strong practical knowledge and experience developing robust caching solutions, utilizing technologies such as Redis, Couchbase, Memcached, or similar distributed caching tools.
• Experience working successfully on Agile development teams with a minimum of 5 engineers, understanding modern agile methodologies, version control systems, continuous integration, and continuous delivery practices.
• Understanding of relational and NoSQL databases, data structures, API patterns, and service‑oriented architectures.
• Commitment to technical excellence, test‑driven development practices, and proactive monitoring.
• Exceptional analytical and problem‑solving skills, high‑quality coding standards, and a sense of ownership and accountability for delivered solutions.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, capable of thriving and collaborating within a globally distributed team environment.

If you need assistance with any part of the application or recruiting process due to a disability, or other physical or mental health conditions, please reach out to our Recruiting Accommodations Team through the Accommodation Request.

We are proud to be named as a Best Place to Work on Glassdoor in 2024 and be recognized for award‑winning culture by organizations like Forbes, TIME, Disability:IN, and others.

Expedia Group’s family of brands includes: Brand Expedia®, Hotels.com®, Expedia® Partner Solutions, Vrbo®, trivago®, Orbitz®, Travelocity®, Hotwire®, Wotif®, ebookers®, CheapTickets®, Expedia Group™ Media Solutions, Expedia Local Expert®, CarRentals.com™, and Expedia Cruises™. © 2024 Expedia, Inc. All rights reserved. Trademarks and logos are the property of their respective owners.

Employment opportunities and job offers at Expedia Group will always come from Expedia Group’s Talent Acquisition and hiring teams. Never provide sensitive, personal information to someone unless you’re confident who the recipient is. Expedia Group does not extend job offers via email or any other messaging tools to individuals with whom we have not made prior contact. Our email domain is @expediagroup.com. The official website to find and apply for job openings at Expedia Group is careers.expediagroup.com/jobs.

Expedia is committed to creating an inclusive work environment with a diverse workforce. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, disability or age.