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

📋 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 a multitude of partners. This is a unique opportunity to influence the foundational patterns of a rapidly scaling, multi-tenant platform, moving beyond feature development to shape the very 'how' of our booking, search, and checkout processes.
• • You will be instrumental in designing and implementing scalable, resilient, and extensible systems that form the backbone of Hopper's B2B offering, Hopper Technology Solutions (HTS). HTS enables major global brands, including banks, airlines, and fintech leaders, to launch sophisticated travel booking experiences with significantly reduced custom engineering.
• • Your responsibilities will extend to defining the architectural strategy for our Scala-based distributed systems. This involves not just building new capabilities but also ensuring the long-term maintainability and robustness of our platform as we scale globally. You will be a key driver in our evolution towards a "configuration over customization" model, empowering partners to achieve world-class experiences with minimal manual intervention.
• • As a technical leader, you will contribute to the "North Star" vision for our backend services, ensuring alignment with functional programming principles for high concurrency, type safety, and reliability. This includes leading the design and operation of API and full-stack solutions that serve as the definitive source of truth for travel bookings across all HTS partners.
• • A significant aspect of your role will involve systemic improvement. You will proactively identify and address engineering bottlenecks within the codebase and infrastructure, ensuring our systems can handle increasing load and complexity. This requires a deep understanding of distributed systems and a proactive approach to problem-solving.
• • You will operate with a high degree of autonomy, fostering "high-alignment leadership" by working closely with a cross-functional team of engineers, designers, and product managers. This collaborative approach emphasizes asynchronous communication and high-quality documentation to drive complex technical roadmaps efficiently, minimizing the need for constant meetings.
• • Cross-functional collaboration is key. You will engage with product teams, other Hopper engineering teams, and external partner teams to ensure that foundational logic is not only robust but also highly extensible, accommodating diverse partner needs.
• • Embracing our culture of "asynchronous excellence," you will drive decision-making through well-crafted documentation and clear communication, thriving in an environment that values deep work and efficient collaboration.
• • The ideal candidate possesses "technical fearlessness," demonstrating a natural inclination to dive deep into complex, potentially unfamiliar codebases, untangle intricate logic, and implement elegant abstractions while maintaining a sharp focus on delivering results quickly.
• • Strong "foundational product thinking" is essential. While your ultimate goal is to build a stable and predictable commerce engine, your conception of quality will be anchored in the customer experience, understanding that a great user journey is underpinned by a robust backend.
• • Mastery of distributed systems is a core requirement. You should have deep experience with, or a proven ability to rapidly master, distributed system development in Scala, with a nuanced understanding of the trade-offs between consistency, availability, and latency in a global context.
• • A "multi-tenant mindset" is crucial, prioritizing the development of modular systems that can efficiently support numerous partners with minimal manual intervention, embodying the "configuration over customization" philosophy.
• • Finally, you will demonstrate "pragmatic vision," possessing the ability to discern what requires immediate perfection from what can be iterated upon, effectively balancing long-term system health with the imperative for speed and agility in a fast-paced startup environment.
• • This role offers the chance to shape the future of travel commerce technology, working on a platform that processes billions of dollars in transactions annually and serves millions of travelers worldwide.