Lead Software Engineer (Level 5) | BackEnd (Gurugram based)

Agoda Company Pte. Ltd.; Gurugram District; On-site; INR 4,200,000 - 6,600,000; Full time

Job summary

Agoda Company Pte. Ltd., Gurugram-based, is seeking a Lead Backend Engineer to own critical distributed systems end-to-end and drive architectural direction for a global travel platform.

The role requires 11+ years of backend experience with Java/Scala/Kotlin/Go, API design, and microservices, plus hands-on coding and mentoring across teams in a fast-paced environment.

Qualifications

• 11+ years of backend experience in production environments.
• Proven track record delivering complex distributed systems.
• Strong expertise in Java, Scala, Kotlin, or Go.
• Experience in API design and microservices architecture.
• Hands-on coding and leadership across teams.

Responsibilities

• Lead architecture, design, and development of complex distributed systems at scale.
• Own the technical direction and delivery of critical backend platforms.
• Set API standards and software architecture across teams.
• Drive large, multi-service initiatives with cross-functional stakeholders.
• Mentor engineers to raise technical capability and code quality.
• Maintain production systems through active coding and problem solving.

Skills

Distributed systems

Backend engineering

Technical leadership

Code reviews

Mentoring

Tools

Java

Scala

Kotlin

Go

Kafka

Aerospike

Job description

Lead Software Engineer (Level 5) | BackEnd (Gurugram based)

Gurugram

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.

Today, we are part of Booking Holdings [NASDAQ: BKNG], with a diverse team of over 7,000 people from 90 countries, working together in offices around the globe. Every day, we connect people to destinations and experiences, with our great deals across our millions of hotels and holiday properties, flights, and experiences worldwide.

No two days are the same at Agoda. Data and technology are at the heart of our culture, fueling our curiosity and innovation. If you’re ready to begin your best journey and help build travel for the world, join us.

About the Team

At Agoda, our Backend Engineering organization builds high-scale, fault-tolerant distributed systems that power a global travel platform serving millions of users daily. Our systems span mission-critical domains including inventory, pricing, booking, payments, and customer/partner platforms.

We operate with high availability, low latency, and zero-downtime expectations, leveraging technologies like Scala, Go, Java, Kotlin, Kafka, and Aerospike, supported by strong practices in CI/CD, automation, and observability, and engineering excellence.

We ship fast — with dozens of daily releases — and design systems that are resilient, scalable, and continuously evolving.

The Opportunity

As a Lead Backend Engineer, you will own critical systems end-to-end, drive technical direction, and lead large initiatives. You will combine architecture, execution, and technical leadership to build scalable, reliable, and high-quality solutions that power Agoda's global platform. You will influence engineering decisions beyond your immediate team, mentor engineers, shape development practices, and help raise the organization’s technical bar.

What You’ll Do

• Lead the architecture, design, and development of complex distributed systems at scale.
• Own the technical direction, delivery, and evolution of critical systems and platforms.
• Drive system design, API standards, software architecture, and engineering best practices across teams.
• Lead complex technical initiatives involving multiple services, teams, and stakeholders.
• Make key technical decisions, balancing business priorities with scalability, reliability, and maintainability goals.
• Remain an active contributor to production systems through regular coding, code reviews, system design, and technical problem-solving, balancing hands-on execution with leadership responsibilities.
• Mentor and coach engineers, helping raise technical capability, code quality, and engineering standards.
• Drive continuous improvements in development processes, engineering effectiveness, and agile ways of working.
• Align stakeholders and drive execution across cross-functional teams.
• Lead production stability, incident management, root-cause analysis, and long-term reliability improvements.
• Proactively identify opportunities to improve products, platforms, developer productivity, and customer experience

What We’re Looking For

11+ Years experience building and operating large-scale backend systems in production environments.

Proven experience delivering complex distributed systems at scale.

Strong expertise in Java, Scala, Kotlin, or Go.

Strong software architecture skills with a track record of driving architectural decisions within and across teams.

Proven experience leading technical initiatives, projects, or engineering teams with end-to-end ownership.

Recent and ongoing hands‑on coding experience in production environments is required.

Deep expertise in:

• Distributed systems and architecture
• API design and microservices
• Performance, scalability, and system reliability

System design for high-throughput, highly available applications

Nice to Have

Experience building or owning large-scale platforms across multiple services or domains.

Experience designing and operating event-driven architectures using technologies such as Kafka.

Experience with cloud-native architectures on AWS or GCP. Strong understanding of CI/CD, DevOps, automation, and modern software delivery practices.

Experience driving cross-team technical initiatives, platform modernization, or large-scale migrations.

Familiarity with high-volume data systems, Spark, Hadoop, or related data platform technologies.

Experience working in global product organizations with distributed engineering teams.

Disclaimer

We do 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.

At Agoda, we pride ourselves on being a company represented by people of all different backgrounds and orientations. We prioritize attracting diverse talent and cultivating an inclusive environment that encourages collaboration and innovation. Employment at Agoda is based solely on a person’s 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.

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