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 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 at our core 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.
We are looking for a strong Java backend developer to implement new features and maintain KAYAK’s world-leading search and booking technology. We integrate with over 200 travel partners and link to over 500,000 hotels and 550 airlines. You will be an essential part of a high powered team that keeps all of this running smoothly – helping millions of people find the best hotels and the best ways to fly from A to B every day!
In this role you will be expected to work from our Berlin office at least 3 days per week.
In this role, you will:Optimize search and booking logic to handle the demands of greatest global corporate clients
Build and maintain high-performance integrations with third-party APIs (airlines, hotel and rentalcars providers)
Take full ownership of your designs: from initial concept to deployment while maintaining high standards for code quality and performance
Participate in code reviews and architectural steering to ensure the K4B project remains modular and reusable as KAYAK expands its enterprise footprint
Bachelor’s degree or higher in Computer Science or related field
6+ years of experience in JAVA
Hands-on experience with the Spring ecosystem (Spring/Spring Boot) and working knowledge of relational (SQL) and NoSQL databases (e.g., PostgreSQL, MySQL, Redis).
Strong English communication skills
Ability to design and implement engineering initiatives with minimal guidance
Prior experience in the travel domain is beneficial — familiarity with airline distribution and standards (GDS such as Amadeus/Sabre/Travelport, NDC) and their integration with booking/reservation systems.
Experience with B2B systems or identity/HR integrations is beneficial — e.g., SCIM, SAML/OAuth, SSO, user provisioning/deprovisioning, and connecting HRIS/IDP platforms (Workday, Okta, Active Directory) to product services.
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
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
Skills Required
- Bachelor's degree or higher in Computer Science or a related field
- 6+ years of experience with Java
- Hands-on experience with Spring and Spring Boot
- Working knowledge of relational SQL databases and NoSQL databases
- Strong English communication skills
- Ability to design and implement engineering initiatives with minimal guidance
- Prior travel-domain experience, including airline distribution, GDS, NDC, or booking and reservation systems
- Experience with B2B systems or identity and HR integrations, including SCIM, SAML, OAuth, SSO, Workday, Okta, or Active Directory
- Ability to work from the Berlin office at least three days per week
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.







