Staff Engineer, Travel

About this role

KAYAK, part of Booking Holdings (NASDAQ: BKNG), is a leading travel search engine. With billions of queries across our platforms, we help people find their perfect flight, stay, rental car and vacation package. We're also transforming business travel with a new corporate travel solution, KAYAK for Business. As an employee of KAYAK, you will be part of a travel company that operates a portfolio of global metasearch brands including momondo, Cheapflights and HotelsCombined, among others. From start-up to industry leader, innovation is in our DNA and every employee has an opportunity to make their mark. Our focus is on building the best travel search engine to make it easier for everyone to experience the world. KAYAK for Business (K4B) is a corporate travel platform used by large enterprises to manage travel at scale. As a Staff Engineer with Travel domain experience, you'll help shape how our platform connects to the world's travel providers - from modern direct integrations with airlines and hotels to the Global Distribution System infrastructure that underpins a significant share of global travel content. You'll work closely with a collaborative, cross-location engineering team and have real influence over the architecture and direction of a platform that matters to the people using it every day. This role is based in Berlin and requires commuting to the office 3 times a week. IN THIS ROLE, YOU WILL: - Design, evolve, and own significant parts of the K4B booking and integration architecture, including direct provider connections (flights, hotels, cars) and GDS-based integrations - Contribute to the team's shift toward a direct-first integration model, reducing reliance on legacy infrastructure while maintaining reliability for existing users - Take end-to-end ownership of integrations — from technical design through production — and ensure they are well-understood, well-maintained, and clearly documented - Incorporate AI tooling and modern engineering approaches into the team's architecture and development workflows - Collaborate with product, operations, and partner teams to clarify requirements, resolve ambiguity, and drive technical decisions forward - Mentor and support engineers on the team, contributing to a culture of shared learning and clear ownership - Participate in architecture design reviews and contribute to technical direction across the broader engineering organization PLEASE APPLY IF YOU HAVE: - +7 years of backend engineering, with a track record of designing and delivering complex, distributed systems. - Familiarity with travel industry concepts such as booking flows, ticketing, or fare structures (e.g., PNR, unused tickets, ancillaries) - Experience with Global Distribution System platforms (e.g., Amadeus, Sabre, Travelport) or direct airline/hotel integrations (NDC, AFOP) - Experience building and maintaining integrations with external APIs or third-party systems. - The ability to navigate ambiguity, ask the right questions, and bring clarity to complex technical problems - Experience working across teams and communicating technical decisions clearly to both technical and non-technical colleagues - Comfort working with a high degree of autonomy and ownership over your work IT’S A PLUS IF YOU HAVE: - Background in SOAP-based web services or legacy system modernization - Experience with fraud and payment systems in a booking or e-commerce context BENEFITS AND PERKS - Work from (almost) anywhere for up to 20 days per year - Focus on mental health and well-being: - Company-paid therapy sessions through SpringHealth - Company-paid subscription to HeadSpace - Company-wide week off a year - the whole team fully recharges (and returns without a pile-up of work!) - No meeting Fridays - Paid parental leave - Paid volunteer time - Focus on your career growth: - Development Dollars - Leadership development - Access to thousands of on-demand e-learnings - Travel Discounts - Employee Resource Groups - 6 weeks paid vacation + a day off for your birthday - Free lunch 2 days per week - Pension plan contributions - Public transportation subsidies - Bike leasing program - Monthly social events, Thursday happy hours, sports teams - An awesome office in Friedrichshain, Berlin INCLUSION At KAYAK, we want everyone to have the space to grow, share ideas and do great work. That's why we're focused on hiring the best talent from all walks of life and experiences, supporting them well and making sure no one feels like they have to fit a mold to belong here. Need any adjustments for the interview, application or on the job? No problem - just give us a heads-up. We've got you. #LI-AS1