Software Engineer - Data & Machine Learning Platform

It wasn’t so long ago that booking a trip to see the Eiffel Tower, stroll down New York’s iconic Madison Avenue or feel the sand between our toes on Copacabana Beach was simply a matter of a few taps on our smartphone. In fact, that’s what we do at Booking.com. We make it easier for everyone to experience the world. And while that world may feel distant right now, we are seeing a growth in domestic travel, as well as preparing for the anticipated traveling boom that is soon to return. Across our offices worldwide, we continue to innovate. To solve for some of the most complex challenges in travel and technology, and to plan for the exciting developments that lie ahead. With strategic long-term investments into what we believe the future of travel can be, we are opening up new career opportunities that will have a strong impact on our mission. We are united in the belief that our very human desire to explore the planet’s beauty and discover more about other people and cultures will endure. The world is waiting for us. Together, we will be ready.

At Booking.com, data drives our decisions. To do it more effectively we are building a platform for data scientists. Our Machine Learning Platform is behind what makes Booking able to deliver personal experiences and you will be a part of its development helping to support multiple areas of the business as they use ML to tackle some of the hardest problems that we face, from detecting fraud to recommending which properties you should check for your next stay.

This is a fantastic opportunity for a seasoned software engineer to get involved in ML/AI. The team you will join develops both the way data scientists interact with the Machine Learning Platform and built-in facilities for them to monitor performance and quality of their work. You will have the opportunity to interact with data scientists as customers and will be involved in development all the way through the data consumed and produced by ML/AI models.

What you will be Doing:

As a Software Engineer at Booking’s Machine Learning Platform, you are responsible for the development, performance, and scaling of our internal ML Platform website as well as internal systems for ML/AI specific monitoring. You will work independently and will also be responsible for making technical decisions within a team.

As a Backend Engineer in Booking.com you will:

• Be part of a squad-like, multi-disciplinary team.
• Own and lead technical aspects of every project you are a part of.
• Design, build, and monitor scalable and high-performance services to solve business needs.
• Set up necessary CI/CD pipelines, adding appropriate tests for your services.
• Work mainly with Java, JavaScript, but also with Python and Scala.

Important aspects of the job include:

• Take initiative to address the larger technical needs of the product you work on and always keep the customer at the center of everything you do.
• Advocate for best engineering practices within the team.
• Act as an intermediary for problems, with both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Contribute to the growth of Booking.com through interviewing, on-boarding, or other recruitment efforts.
• Represent Booking.com values, both within the company and in the external community.

What We are Looking For:

We are looking for driven Developers who enjoy solving problems, who initiate solutions and discussions and who believe that any challenge can be scaled with the right mindset and tools.

We have found that people who match the following requirements are the ones who fit us best:

• Minimum of 3 years software development experience; using 2 or more server side programming languages. Preferably Java, Python, Javascript (Node.js), Scala, C# or C++.
• Proficiency with Git and remote debugging of applications.
• Previous experience with distributed systems (e.g. microservice architectures)
• Practical experience with containerized application deployment systems, particularly Kubernetes and Docker.
• Demonstrable experience with Relational databases (e.g. MySQL);.
• Demonstrable experience with NoSQL databases (e.g. ElasticSearch) and distributed event platforms (e.g. Kafka) is a plus.
• Proven experience in owing and leading technical projects.
• Experience with BigData or ML systems is a significant plus (Hadoop, Flink, Argo).
• Preferably a university degree in Mathematics or Software Engineering.
• Excellent communication: written and spoken (with English as the main language across the organization).

What we will Offer:

• Contributing to a high scale, complex, world renowned product and seeing real-time impact of your work on millions of travelers worldwide.
• Working in a fast-paced and performance driven culture.
• Opportunity to utilize technical expertise, leadership capabilities and entrepreneurial spirit.
• Promote and drive impactful and innovative engineering solutions.
• Technical, behavioural and interpersonal competence advancement via on-the-job opportunities, experimental projects, hackathons, conferences and active community participation.
• Competitive compensation and benefits package.

Should you require accommodation to meet the essential functions of this job, please let us know.