Hopper
Senior Backend Engineer - Lodging and Cars
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Senior Backend Engineer - Lodging and Cars
About Lodging and Cars Supply Role
Join the Lodging and Cars Supply team at the heart of our lodging and cars business unit, where you will be instrumental in scaling a global hotel and cars ecosystem that handles high-volume, real-time transactions.
As a senior-level individual contributor, you will navigate a complex microservices environment to deliver reliable booking fulfillment, integrate new lodging and cars partners into our core stack, and optimize system monitoring. This role is designed for a self-directed engineer who excels at system exploration and immediate technical execution within an established, high-growth travel environment.
What Would Your Day-to-Day Look Like?
- Execute end-to-end technical integrations with external lodging, cars, and GDS partners, navigating complex communication protocols and distributed data schemas.
- Write clean, performant code in Scala or other JVM languages to maintain, evolve, and uphold mission-critical lodging services while adhering to rigorous engineering standards.
- Explore and troubleshoot existing complex codebases, undertaking deep dives into infrastructure to resolve production issues in a distributed system environment.
- Partner with Product Managers and Operations to decompose business requirements into technical tasks while estimating delivery timelines.
- Take full ownership of the development lifecycle for new product features, from technical implementation and testing to production deployment.
- Contribute to the design of highly resilient, low-latency services ensuring a seamless booking experience for customers, even under high load.
- Participate in thorough code reviews to identify opportunities for improved scalability, performance, and system health.
Requirements for an Ideal Candidate
- Strong proficiency in Scala or other JVM languages (e.g., Java, Kotlin), focusing on scalable, high-throughput services.
- Proven track record of owning the technical implementation, testing, and deployment of features within a microservices architecture.
- Practical experience working with distributed systems and standard communication methods such as gRPC, Pub/Sub, and REST.
- Ability to quickly onboard and arrive at solutions independently, handling technical ambiguity, and executing technical plans within existing infrastructure.
- Excellent communication skills with a bias for action, enabling effective collaboration with cross-functional squads in a remote-first environment.
- Strong professional curiosity for the travel tech industry coupled with a commercial mindset, goal-driven towards delivering reliable booking fulfillment.
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Perks and Benefits of Working with Hopper
- A well-funded and proven startup with large ambitions, offering competitive salary and pre-IPO equity packages.
- 100% coverage of premiums for eligible employees through Vitality Health employee insurance.
- Automatic contributions to a Smart Pension upon starting with Hopper.
- Generous parental leave benefits, exceeding industry standards.
- FlexDesk co-working space access on demand and work-from-home stipend.
- Carrot Cash travel stipend.
- Unlimited paid time off.
- Entrepreneurial culture that encourages innovation and risk-taking.
- Open communication channels between management and company leadership.
- Small, dynamic teams allowing for massive individual impact.
More About Hopper
At Hopper, we are dedicated to becoming the leading global travel platform, powering the Hopper mobile app, website, and B2B business (HTS – Hopper Technology Solutions). Leveraging massive data volumes and advanced machine learning algorithms, we combine a world-class travel agency offering with proprietary fintech solutions to provide travelers with transparency, flexibility, and savings.
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Our platform serves hundreds of millions of travelers globally, continuously capturing market share worldwide. With over 120 million app installs, we are particularly popular among Gen Z and millennials (70% of our users fall into these demographics).
Featuring beyond travel app recognition, Hopper has evolved into a travel fintech provider, e-commerce platform, and global travel agency, powering some of the world’s largest brands. Our Hopper Technology Solutions (HTS) B2B division leverages our fintech offerings to empower partners’ direct channels.
Hopper has partnered with major brands like Capital One, Nubank, Air Canada, and many others, making it a pioneer in integrating leading travel solutions.
Here are some key highlights:
- Billions of dollars of travel and travel fintech products are sold annually through Hopper and HTS.
- Fintech solutions, such as Cancel for Any Reason and Flight Disruption Assistance, boast exceptionally strong customer satisfaction (CSAT) due to transparent terms and instant resolutions.
- Around 29% of app customers purchase a fintech product when booking, significantly increasing repeat purchases.
- HTS, now a major revenue driver (constituting over 75% of the business), supports significant industry growth, serving the $1 trillion online shopping sector.
Hopper has received global acclaim:
- Named the #1 most innovative company in the travel industry by Fast Company.
- #3 largest online travel agency in North America.
- $750 million+ in private capital raised, backed by leading institutional investors globally.
Hopper’s mission is to make travel easier and more affordable for everyone while pushing boundaries in the modern travel ecosystem.
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