Senior Software Development Engineer - GenAI Platform

Traveltechessentialist; Chicago (IL); On-site; USD 171,500 - 240,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical/dental/vision insurance

Paid time off

Travel discounts

Wellness reimbursement

International travel agent program membership

Job summary

A leading travel technology company based in Chicago is seeking a Senior Software Developer to join the GenAI Platform team. The ideal candidate will design and maintain scalable backend services using Python and FastAPI, safely integrating generative AI applications. This position requires over 8 years of experience, a strong background in cloud services, and the ability to contribute to innovative tech solutions. Generous benefits, including travel perks, are provided.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of relevant experience in backend services and APIs.
• Proficiency in Python and experience with FastAPI or similar.
• Experience in cloud environments like AWS.

Responsibilities

• Design, build, and maintain Python/FastAPI backend services.
• Integrate services with internal and external tech providers.
• Maintain technical documentation for platform services.

Skills

Python

FastAPI

System design

Data modeling

API design

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or related field

Tools

AWS

Elasticsearch

Aurora PostgreSQL

Job description

Overview

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.

Contractual note 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.

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.

The Senior Software Developer role is part of the GenAI Platform team. The GenAI Platform team builds and operates Expedia Group’s shared generative AI platform – tooling, services, and guardrails – that enable product and ML teams to safely experiment with, deploy, and scale GenAI-powered experiences across our brands. You will lead the design, delivery, and evolution of scalable GenAI services and multi-agent infrastructure that power secure, observable GenAI capabilities across Expedia Group. By shaping multi-agent platform architecture, codifying guardrails and best practices, and partnering closely with product and domain engineering teams, you will accelerate how internal teams build, integrate, and safely operate AI-enabled experiences for travelers and partners at global scale.

In this role, you will:

• Design, build, and operate Python/FastAPI backend services and APIs that power GenAI Platform capabilities such as RAG managers, data planes, and vector store services, with strong focus on system design, API design, and data modeling.
• Implement clean, maintainable, and well-tested code using modern engineering practices including code reviews, CI/CD pipelines, automated testing, monitoring, alerting, and participating in on-call rotations where applicable.
• Integrate platform services with internal and external LLM providers, Elasticsearch-based vector stores, and Aurora PostgreSQL as part of scalable, reliable RAG and retrieval workflows across multiple domains.
• Contribute to and evolve GenAI platform guardrails and safety features (authentication, API key management, workload-to-workload authentication, evaluation and observability hooks) so AI-enabled applications are secure, responsible, observable, cost-aware, and safely integrate and operate AI/ML‑enabled solutions that improve outcomes.
• Partner closely with staff and principal engineers, product managers, applied scientists, and other engineering teams to refine requirements, shape platform architecture (including multi-tenant vector stores and workflow integrations), and deliver incremental, production-ready value.
• Create and maintain clear technical documentation (design docs, runbooks, implementation guides, and how-tos) that enables other teams to successfully adopt, extend, and build on GenAI Platform services and paved roads.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or a related technical field; or Equivalent related professional experience.
• 8+ years of relevant professional experience, including building and operating backend services and APIs with end-to-end ownership from design through deployment and ongoing operational support.
• Proven proficiency in Python and experience developing production-grade web services using FastAPI or similar modern frameworks (such as Flask, Django, or other async service frameworks), with solid understanding of system design, API design, and data modeling.
• Experience building and running backend APIs in public or hybrid cloud environments, with hands-on exposure to core cloud services (AWS preferred) and at least one data store technology (relational, NoSQL, or search), such as Aurora PostgreSQL or Elasticsearch.
• Familiarity with AI-driven systems, tools, or workflows and applying AI/ML concepts to real world products, including exposure to LLM-powered capabilities, embeddings, or RAG patterns, or demonstrated ability to ramp up quickly using internal GenAI Platform tools and documentation.

Preferred Qualifications

• Deep experience building and operating Python-based backend APIs at scale on AWS or similar cloud providers, including performance tuning, resilience patterns, and advanced API and data modeling for high-traffic or multi-tenant services.
• Hands-on experience with RAG and vector store tooling (for example, LangChain, LlamaIndex, LangGraph) and evaluation or observability frameworks (such as LangSmith or Langfuse), including safely integrating and operating AI/ML‑enabled solutions that improve outcomes.
• Experience integrating and optimizing LLM-powered systems end to end, including prompt and retrieval design, embeddings management, Elasticsearch vector search, Aurora PostgreSQL schemas, and platform-level guardrails such as auth, quota, and evaluation hooks.
• Background building internal platforms, SDKs, or shared services adopted by multiple product teams, including clear documentation, paved road patterns, and close collaboration with cross-functional partners (product management, applied science, and engineering).
• Experience designing or implementing workflow and agent orchestration–based solutions (for example, using n8n, Flowise, or similar) to build multi-tool or multi-agent GenAI applications, and familiarity with AI-driven platform architectures and safety-by-design practices.

Benefits include medical/dental/vision, paid time off, an Employee Assistance Program, wellness and travel reimbursement, travel discounts, and a membership to an international travel agent program. The official website to find and apply for job openings is careers.expediagroup.com/jobs.

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.

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. The official career site is careers.expediagroup.com/jobs