Senior Software Development Engineer - Content Platform

11105 Expedia, Inc.; Chicago (IL); On-site; USD 171,500 - 240,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical coverage

Dental coverage

Vision coverage

Paid time off

Employee Assistance Program

Wellness and travel reimbursement

Travel discounts

IATAN membership

Job summary

Expedia Group in Chicago is seeking a Senior Software Development Engineer (Content) to design and evolve backend services powering our content and product catalog. You will work in a DevOps model, shaping APIs, data models, and scalable architectures across domains.

The role emphasizes end‑to‑end delivery, collaboration with product and architecture teams, and leading architecture directions, with opportunities to apply AI/ML concepts to enhance content quality and developer efficiency.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of relevant professional experience.
• Experience owning backend or full‑stack services in production.
• Proven experience designing service‑oriented or microservice architectures.
• Proficiency in Kotlin or Java and databases including Redis, Cassandra, ScyllaDB.

Responsibilities

• Design, build, and evolve complex services and APIs for content and catalog experiences.
• Lead system design and LLD for content/catalog services.
• Drive end‑to‑end delivery for multi‑service features.
• Collaborate with product, architecture, and partner engineering teams to define technical requirements.
• Improve CI/CD pipelines, observability, operational readiness, and incident response for content systems.
• Safely integrate AI/ML‑enabled solutions into content workflows.

Skills

Backend systems

Microservices

API design

Data modeling

CI/CD concepts

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or related field

Tools

Kotlin

Java

Redis

Cassandra

ScyllaDB

Job description

At Expedia Group, we help travelers explore the world, one journey at a time. As a global travel company powered by passionate people, trusted partnerships, and leading technology, we connect travelers, partners, and advertisers through our consumer brands, B2B network, and travel advertising business. Here, you’ll do meaningful work that helps millions of people discover, book, and experience travel with more ease, confidence, and joy. Our five Behaviors - Traveler First, Think Big, Operate with Excellence, Ownership Mindset, and Succeed Together - help foster a supportive environment where people can grow their careers and have the flexibility, benefits, and support to do their best work. Join us and build for travelers everywhere.

Senior Software Development Engineer (Content)

Introduction to the team: 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. Within Expedia Product & Technology, our Content organization enables Expedia Group to acquire, enrich and distribute hundreds of millions of assets (images, texts, attributes, videos, etc.) used across our various brands and lines of businesses. While planning your next trip on Expedia Group websites or mobile applications, every step of your experience was enhanced by our Content! Our team is dedicated to delivering highly scalable software solutions in an agile development environment, using state‑of‑the‑art technologies. Our culture provides a safe environment to spark creativity and encourage continuous learning and growth. Much of our development is on back‑end services. We work in a DevOps model where developers are involved in all aspects of software development from design to test, implementation, deployment, monitoring and support.

In this role, you will

• Design, build, and evolve complex services, APIs, and data models that power Expedia Group’s content and product catalog experiences, ensuring high availability, reliability, and performance.
• Lead system design and low‑level design (LLD) efforts for content and catalog services, including API design, contracts, and data modeling that enable scalable and reusable solutions across multiple domains.
• Drive end‑to‑end delivery for multi‑service features, from technical discovery and design through implementation, testing, deployment, and operational support, raising the engineering bar for the team.
• Collaborate closely with product, architecture, and partner engineering teams to define technical requirements and deliver content capabilities that are reusable across lines of business and markets.
• Champion engineering excellence by improving CI/CD pipelines, observability, operational readiness, and incident response for content systems, while mentoring other engineers in best practices.
• Safely integrate and operate AI/ML‑enabled and AI‑assisted solutions into content workflows and services, applying AI/ML concepts to real‑world products and improving content quality, coverage, and developer productivity.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or a related technical field; or Equivalent related professional experience.
• 8+ years of relevant professional experience.
• Several years of professional software development experience owning one or more backend or full‑stack services in a production environment, including design, implementation, testing, deployment, and operations.
• Proven experience designing and implementing service‑oriented or microservice architectures for complex content or catalog‑like domains, including API design, data modeling, and low‑level/system design.
• Proficiency in one or more modern programming languages (Kotlin or Java preferred) and associated frameworks, plus strong skills working with relational or NoSQL databases (Redis/Valkey, Cassandra and ScyllaDB preferred), including schema design and data access patterns for content systems.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience designing and operating large‑scale, high‑throughput content, catalog, or similar distributed systems with strong focus on performance, availability, resiliency, and cost efficiency.
• Demonstrated leadership in driving architecture and technical direction across multiple services or a domain, including evolving APIs, contracts, data models, and integration patterns in partnership with architecture and product.
• Strong track record of improving engineering efficiency and reliability through automation, CI/CD optimization, test strategy, observability, and operational excellence for mission‑critical services.
• Familiarity with AI‑driven systems, tools, or workflows and applying AI/ML concepts to real world products, including safely integrating AI/ML‑enabled solutions into existing content services and pipelines.
• Experience applying AI or ML techniques to content‑centric or data‑rich systems (for example, classification, enrichment, deduplication, or recommendation) to enhance content quality, coverage, and developer effectiveness.
• Experience leveraging translation, localization and internationalization tools and technologies.

Benefits and perks

• medical coverage
• dental, and vision coverage
• paid time off
• an Employee Assistance Program
• wellness and travel reimbursement
• travel discounts
• International Airlines Travel Agent Network (IATAN) membership

The total cash range for this position in Chicago is $171,500.00 to $240,000.00. Employees in this role have the potential to increase their pay up to $274,500.00, 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.

Equal Opportunity 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, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.

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.

About Expedia Group

Expedia Group includes three flagship consumer brands - Expedia, Hotels.com, and Vrbo - along with a leading B2B travel business and travel advertising offerings. Across our brands and business, we help travelers explore the world with confidence and ease.

Expedia Group (NASDAQ: EXPE) powers travel for everyone, everywhere through our global platform. Driven by the core belief that travel is a force for good, we help people experience the world in new ways and build lasting connections. We provide industry‑leading technology solutions to fuel partner growth and success, while facilitating memorable experiences for travelers. 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™. For more information, visit www.expediagroup.com.