Principal Software Development Engineer

Traveltechessentialist; Washington; On-site; USD 231,000 - 324,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, vision insurance

Paid time off

Wellness & travel reimbursement

Travel discounts

Job summary

Expedia Group is seeking a Principal Software Development Engineer to lead architectural vision across multi-domain platforms that power travel experiences. You will drive API design, data modeling, and system scalability while mentoring engineering teams and championing responsible AI/ML deployment.

In this role, you will collaborate with cross-functional partners to deliver resilient, business-aligned technology and optimize engineering processes for performance and reliability.

Qualifications

• 12+ years of professional software experience.
• Proven track record in large-scale system architecture and delivery.
• Experience designing secure, scalable software systems.
• Familiarity with AI-driven systems and ML concepts.
• Strong leadership and mentoring abilities.

Responsibilities

• Lead architectural vision, design, and delivery of complex software solutions across domains.
• Drive system design, API development, and data modeling for secure, high-performing platforms.
• Guide engineering teams, promoting technical excellence across projects.
• Safely integrate AI/ML-enabled solutions with responsible deployment practices.
• Improve operational excellence with robust development processes.

Skills

Large-scale architecture

Technical decision making

Security & scalability

AI/ML concepts

Leadership & mentoring

Full stack engineering

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or related field

Tools

Pinecone

Weaviate

FAISS

PyTorch

TensorFlow

TorchServe

TensorFlow Serving

BentoML

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 know that 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.

Principal Software Development Engineer

Expedia Technology teams partner with our Product teams to create 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 that drive loyalty and traveler satisfaction.

The Air Shopping Platform organization owns the end‑to‑end platform that powers Flight Search, Pricing, and Shopping across all Expedia Group points of sale, partnering closely with product, analytics, and connectivity teams. We are responsible for building a reliable, highly performant, scalable, and cost‑effective platform that delivers fast and relevant flight offers to the shopping experiences via Flight Search, Flight Details, and additional supporting APIs. The team is primarily accountable for driving flight transaction growth at Expedia Group across many, concurrent workstreams.

In this role, you will:

• Lead the architectural vision, design, and delivery of complex software solutions across multiple technical domains.
• Drive system design, API development, and data modeling to ensure secure, maintainable, and high-performing platforms.
• Guide and mentor engineering teams, fostering technical excellence and innovation across projects and domains.
• Safely integrate and operate AI/ML-enabled solutions that improve outcomes, championing best practices in responsible AI deployment.
• Optimize operational excellence by implementing robust software development practices and scalable engineering processes.
• Collaborate with cross-functional partners to deliver resilient, business-aligned technology solutions and support continuous improvement.

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or a related technical field; or equivalent related professional experience.
• 12+ years of relevant professional experience.
• Demonstrated expertise in large-scale system architecture, technical decision making, and delivery of complex multi-domain solutions.
• Proven track record in designing and operating secure, high-quality, and scalable software systems.
• Familiarity with AI-driven systems, tools, or workflows and applying AI/ML concepts to real world products.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience leading architectural transformation and modernization initiatives for large, distributed systems.
• Demonstrated success guiding engineering organizations through periods of significant growth, change, or complexity.
• Expertise in full stack engineering with proven ability to operate across multiple technical domains and platforms.
• Track record of championing data-driven decision making and operational excellence for mission-critical systems.
• Experience building and deploying neural search and embedding-based retrieval systems, including vector databases (e.g., Pinecone, Weaviate, FAISS), semantic search architectures, and large-scale similarity search at scale with sub-100ms latency requirements.
• Strong experience with deep learning frameworks (PyTorch, TensorFlow) for production ML systems, including designing and deploying ranking models, personalization engines, and real-time inference pipelines with knowledge of model serving patterns (e.g., TorchServe, TensorFlow Serving, BentoML) and online/offline evaluation frameworks.

The total cash range for this position in Seattle is $231,000.00 to $323,500.00. Employees in this role have the potential to increase their pay up to $369,500.00, which is the top of the range, based on ongoing, demonstrated, and sustained performance in the role.

Starting pay for this role will vary based on multiple factors, including location, available budget, and an individual’s knowledge, skills, and experience. Pay ranges may be modified in the future.

Expedia Group is proud to offer a wide range of benefits to support employees and their families, including medical/dental/vision, paid time off, and an Employee Assistance Program. To fuel each employee’s passion for travel, we offer a wellness & travel reimbursement, travel discounts, and an International Airlines Travel Agent (IATAN) membership. View our full list of benefits.

Accommodation requests

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. CST: 2029030-50

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, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability, age, or veteran status. This employer participates in E-Verify. The employer will provide the Social Security Administration (SSA) and, if necessary, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) with information from each new employee's I-9 to confirm work authorization.