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.
In this role you will:Lead the design and delivery of complex backend features, from initial scoping through deployment and ongoing production support
Contribute to technical design reviews and architecture discussions, collaborating with engineers and architects across teams
Write well-tested, readable, and maintainable code consistent with team quality standards; participate actively in code reviews and provide constructive feedback
Mentor and support the growth of less-experienced engineers through technical guidance, knowledge sharing, and pairing
Work closely with product managers and commercial partners to clarify requirements, surface trade-offs, and deliver reliable outcomes
Participate in on-call rotations: monitor system health, investigate production issues, and write clear bug tickets and documentation
Proactively identify opportunities to improve system performance, reduce complexity, and address technical debt in aging codebases
Contribute to sprint ceremonies — planning, refinement, retrospectives, and demos — and help improve team delivery processes over time
Use AI-assisted development tools responsibly to improve productivity, code quality, and delivery efficiency
Collaborate across engineering, data science, and business intelligence teams to deliver integrated solutions
Demonstrated experience designing, building, and operating backend systems in production environments
Strong proficiency in Java or a comparable backend language, with comfort working across distributed systems and service integrations
Experience with system design, performance optimization, and debugging in complex, multi-service environments
A collaborative working style: you communicate clearly, follow through on commitments, surface risks early, and ask good questions
Professional proficiency in written and spoken English
Curiosity and a willingness to challenge existing approaches with concrete, well-reasoned alternatives
You may also bring (not required — equivalent experience, training, or transferable skills considered):
Familiarity with ad tech systems, bidding logic, or monetization infrastructure
Experience with server-to-server data integrations or event-driven architectures
Experience working in an agile team environment with sprint-based delivery
Comfort with observability tooling, metrics, and production debugging workflows
A specific degree is not required. We welcome candidates from non-traditional educational backgrounds who demonstrate strong engineering fundamentals and a track record of delivering quality software.
Compensation:salary consists of three elements:
Base pay: from 3330 EUR up to 6660 EUR gross monthly.
In addition:
Significant yearly bonuses, approx 10 percent of annual salary.
Booking Holdings RSU (Restricted Stock Units) package, worth 20000 USD gross, with possibility to receive yearly refreshes.
Work from (almost) anywhere for up to 20 days per year
Funds for your career growth
Access to thousands of on-demand e-learnings
Generous additional Health Insurance
Flexible sick time off
Additional financial support for your sick leave
Additional day off on your birthday
Company-wide vacation week once a year (winter holidays)
Additional financial support during parental leave
Free lunch twice a week and daily snacks at the office
Free yoga twice a week
Paid volunteering time
No meeting Fridays
Office and team events such as summer camp, KAYAK birthday, winter party and more!
Company-paid therapy sessions through SpringHealth
Company-paid subscription to HeadSpace
Internal Communities
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.
If you need accommodations during the application or interview process, or on the job, we’re here to support you. Please reach out to your recruiter to request any accommodations.
#LI-MP1
Skills Required
- Experience designing, building, and operating backend systems in production environments
- Strong proficiency in Java or a comparable backend programming language
- Experience with distributed systems and service integrations
- Experience with system design, performance optimization, and debugging complex multi-service environments
- Professional proficiency in written and spoken English
- Collaborative communication and reliable follow-through
- Ad tech systems, bidding logic, or monetization infrastructure experience
- Server-to-server data integrations or event-driven architecture experience
- Agile, sprint-based team experience
- Experience with observability tooling, metrics, and production debugging workflows
KAYAK Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about KAYAK and has not been reviewed or approved by KAYAK.
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Leave & Time Off Breadth — Time off is positioned as generous, with team‑wide downtime, paid volunteer time, and location‑specific vacation allotments in certain offices. Public descriptions also highlight generous PTO and paid sick days.
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Healthcare Strength — Health coverage is described as comprehensive, including medical, dental, vision, and mental‑health support such as Headspace and access to counseling in some programs. Employer-verified listings also reference wellness resources and related benefits.
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Fair & Transparent Compensation — Compensation philosophy emphasizes Equal Pay and a commitment to closing the global pay gap. Some job postings disclose salary ranges and note equity or bonus eligibility, reinforcing transparency for certain roles and locations.
KAYAK Insights
What We Do
KAYAK, part of Booking Holdings (NASDAQ: BKNG), is the world's leading travel search engine. With billions of queries across our platforms, we help people find their perfect flight, stay, rental car, cruise, vacation package. We also support business travelers with KAYAK for Business, our free corporate travel solution and are transforming the in-travel experience with our app and new hotel and accommodation software. Want to join a talented team that’s eager to solve the world’s travel problems (and have a bit of fun)? As an employee of KAYAK, you’ll be part of a global network including OpenTable and a portfolio of travel metasearch brands like Swoodoo, checkfelix, momondo, Cheapflights, Mundi and Hotels Combined. So join us, and help others experience the world through dining and travel.
Why Work With Us
What's most unique about KAYAK is the way we empower our team to lead their best lives - in and out of the workplace. Our Work from Almost Anywhere policy is built for and by our team. It gives us the flexibility to choose where and how we work best.
