Staff Backend Software Engineer - Commerce Foundations (100% Remote - Canada)

📋 Description

• • As a Staff Backend Software Engineer on the Commerce Foundations team at Hopper Inc., you will play a pivotal role in architecting and developing the core systems that power global travel commerce for major brands. This is a 100% remote position based in Canada, offering a unique opportunity to shape the future of travel technology.
• • The Commerce Foundations team is at the heart of Hopper Technology Solutions (HTS), responsible for building the scalable, resilient, and extensible systems that enable partners to launch world-class hotel and travel booking experiences. Your work will directly influence booking flows, search orchestration, checkout journeys, and the fundamental platform capabilities that underpin Stays and Packages across multiple partner portals worldwide.
• • In this Staff Engineer role, your responsibilities extend beyond feature development. You will be a technical leader, defining and implementing foundational architectural patterns that enable the entire engineering organization to scale effectively. You will collaborate closely with a cross-functional team of talented engineers, designers, and product managers to ensure our commerce engine remains at the forefront of the industry.
• • A key aspect of your role will be driving Architectural Strategy. You will move beyond designing individual features to architecting the underlying patterns for complex booking flows, seamless checkout journeys, and sophisticated multi-tenant configurations. This involves envisioning and implementing solutions that are both robust and adaptable to future needs.
• • You will provide Technical Stewardship, defining the technical direction and "North Star" for our Scala-based distributed systems. Your expertise will be crucial in guiding our evolution towards global scale, ensuring that our architectural choices promote maintainability, reliability, and performance.
• • A significant focus will be on Multi-Tenant Excellence. You will lead the charge in evolving our platform to prioritize "configuration over customization." This means building systems that can be easily adapted and launched by partners with minimal to zero-touch engineering, enabling them to offer world-class experiences efficiently.
• • Your role will also involve significant Mentorship & Influence. You will be expected to raise the technical bar for the entire engineering organization by conducting in-depth design reviews, mentoring other senior engineers, and actively fostering a culture of high ownership and effective asynchronous decision-making.
• • Your day-to-day will involve Architectural Sovereignty, where you will lead the design, build, and operation of API and full-stack solutions that serve as the definitive "source of truth" for Stays and Packages across all HTS partners. This requires a deep understanding of distributed systems and API design.
• • You will be instrumental in Systemic Improvement, proactively identifying and resolving engineering bottlenecks within the codebase and infrastructure that may hinder scalability. This involves a continuous drive for optimization and efficiency.
• • Operating with extreme autonomy, you will demonstrate High-Alignment Leadership. You will work closely with fellow engineers, designers, and PMs to ensure clear alignment on complex technical roadmaps, minimizing the need for constant meetings and fostering efficient collaboration.
• • You will engage in Cross-Functional Influence, collaborating with product teams, other Hopper teams, and external partner teams to guarantee that foundational logic is not only robust but also highly extensible to meet diverse partner requirements.
• • Embracing Asynchronous Excellence, you will drive decision-making through high-quality documentation and effective asynchronous communication, thriving in a culture that values focused work and minimal interruptions.
• • The core of our backend and distributed systems are built in Scala, leveraging functional programming patterns to ensure high concurrency, type safety, and reliability. Our cloud infrastructure is native to Google Cloud Platform (GCP), utilizing managed services like GKE, Pub/Sub, and Cloud Spanner for a resilient, multi-tenant architecture. Frontend portals are developed with React and TypeScript, necessitating well-defined API contracts and full-stack solutions.
• • This role demands Technical Fearlessness, a drive to dive into complex, potentially unknown codebases to untangle logic and implement elegant abstractions while maintaining a focus on delivering results quickly.
• • You will need strong Foundational Product Thinking, anchoring your conception of quality in the customer experience while understanding that a stable, predictable commerce engine is the bedrock of that experience.
• • Mastery of Distributed Systems is essential, requiring deep experience with or the ability to rapidly master distributed system development in Scala, with a keen understanding of consistency, availability, and latency trade-offs in a global context.
• • A Multi-Tenant Mindset is crucial, prioritizing "configuration over customization" and building modular systems that can support numerous partners with minimal manual intervention.
• • Finally, you should possess Pragmatic Vision, capable of discerning what needs to be perfect from the outset versus what can be iterated upon, effectively balancing long-term system health with the imperative for speed.