{"id":11068,"url":"https://alion.io/job/kayak-senior-software-engineer","title":"Software Engineer, Ads (Backend)","company":{"id":3573,"name":"KAYAK","domain":"kayak.com","url":"https://alion.io/company/kayak","size_band":null,"is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"Ashby","truth_index":{"grade":"C","score":69,"open_postings":4,"ghost_share":0.25,"stale_share":0.5,"repost_share":0.25,"time_to_fill_p50_days":38,"computed_at":"2026-10-16T05:45:00Z"}},"role":"Backend","role_family":"Backend","seniority":null,"employment_type":"full_time","work_mode":"hybrid","remote_scope":null,"remote_scope_basis":null,"remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"structured","locations":["Cambridge, United States","Concord, United States"],"countries":["US"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":{"min":110000,"max":125000,"currency":"USD","period":"year","gross":null,"usd_annual":125000},"salary_estimate":null,"experience_years_min":null,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":true,"technologies":[{"name":"Agile","optional":false},{"name":"Java","optional":false}],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-06-26T22:15:14Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-10-08","last_verified_at":"2026-10-17T03:48:31Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":112,"trust":{"level":"ghost","repost_count":3,"flags":["repost"],"days_open":111},"description":"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.\nAs 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.\nIn this role you will:\nDesign and build backend features, from scoping through deployment and ongoing production support, with guidance from senior engineers and tech leads on more complex or ambiguous problems\n\nTake part in technical design reviews and architecture discussions, asking good questions and contributing ideas\n\nWrite well-tested, readable, and maintainable code consistent with team quality standards; participate actively in code reviews, both giving and receiving feedback\n\nWork with product managers and commercial partners to understand requirements and deliver reliable outcomes\n\nParticipate in on-call rotations: monitor system health, investigate production issues, and write clear bug tickets and documentation\n\nLook for opportunities to improve system performance, reduce complexity, and pay down technical debt in aging codebases\n\nTake part in sprint ceremonies - planning, refinement, retrospectives, and demos - and contribute ideas for improving team delivery\n\nUse AI-assisted development tools responsibly to improve productivity, code quality, and delivery efficiency\n\nCollaborate with engineers, data scientists, and business intelligence teams to deliver integrated solutions\n\nGrow your skills through mentorship, pairing, and feedback from more senior engineers\n\nPlease apply if you have:\nExperience designing, building, and operating backend systems, gained through professional roles, internships, or substantial personal or academic projects\n\nWorking proficiency in Java or a comparable backend language\n\nA foundational understanding of system design and debugging, and comfort working in distributed or multi-service environments\n\nA collaborative working style: you communicate clearly, follow through on commitments, surface risks early, and ask good questions\n\nProfessional proficiency in written and spoken English\n\nCuriosity and a willingness to learn new tools, systems, and approaches, and to challenge existing approaches with well-reasoned alternatives\n\nYou may also bring (not required - equivalent experience, training, or transferable skills considered):\nFamiliarity with ad tech systems, bidding logic, or monetization infrastructure\n\nExperience with server-to-server data integrations or event-driven architectures\n\nExperience working in an agile team environment with sprint-based delivery\n\nExposure to observability tooling, metrics, or production debugging workflows\n\nA specific degree is not required. We welcome candidates from non-traditional educational backgrounds who demonstrate strong engineering fundamentals and a genuine eagerness to grow.\nBenefits and Perks\nWork from (almost) anywhere for up to 20 days per year\n\nFocus on mental health and well-being:\nCompany-paid therapy sessions through SpringHealth\n\nCompany-paid subscription to HeadSpace\n\nCompany-wide week off a year - the whole team fully recharges (and returns without a pile-up of work!)\n\nNo meeting Fridays\n\nPaid parental leave\n\nGenerous paid vacation + time off for your birthday\n\nPaid volunteer time\n\nFocus on your career growth:\nDevelopment Dollars\n\nLeadership development\n\nAccess to thousands of on-demand e-learnings\n\nTravel Discounts\n\nEmployee Resource Groups\n\nCompetitive retirement and health plans\n\nFree lunch 2 days per week\n\nFun quarterly events such as boat trips, arcades, ski trips, Thursday happy hours, and more\n\nCOMPENSATION\nThere are a variety of factors that go into determining a salary range, including but not limited to external market benchmark data, geographic location, and years of experience sought/required. The range for this Massachusetts-based role is $110,000 - 125,000 USD, not inclusive of annual bonus and recurring RSU grants.\nWe offer a competitive base salary and benefits including: health benefits; flexible spending account; retirement benefits; life insurance; paid time off (including PTO, paid sick leave, medical leave, bereavement leave, floating holidays and paid holidays); and parental leave benefits.\nInclusion\nAt 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.\nNeed any adjustments for the interview, application or on the job? No problem - just give us a heads-up. We've got you.","description_format":"text","description_chars":5097,"description_truncated":false,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":null,"management_years_min":null,"team_size_min":null,"manages_managers":false,"education":null,"security_clearance":false,"languages":[{"language":"English","level":"All levels","optional":false}]},"benefits":["Life insurance","Parental leave","Retirement plans"],"hiring_locations":[{"name":"United States","iso":"US","kind":"country"}],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":false,"industries":["Price Comparison","Travel Technology"],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-06-26T22:15:14Z"},{"event":"close","at":"2026-09-04T08:00:55Z"},{"event":"reopen","at":"2026-09-24T20:59:33Z"},{"event":"close","at":"2026-10-01T04:17:06Z"},{"event":"reopen","at":"2026-10-02T13:37:27Z"},{"event":"close","at":"2026-10-05T22:03:45Z"},{"event":"reopen","at":"2026-10-08T21:05:55Z"}],"visa":[],"liveness":{"score":5,"band":"cold","label":"Long shot","p_open":1,"p_active":0.167,"p_room":0.28,"age_days":111,"expected_fill_days":38,"reasons":["conf:3","repost:3","velocity","ghost","win:tail","crowd:"],"computed_at":"2026-10-16T05:45:00Z"},"pay":{"stated_usd_annual":125000,"is_top_pay":false},"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/kayak-senior-software-engineer","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/kayak-senior-software-engineer.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-10-17T04:01:55Z","cache_seconds":300,"methodology":"https://alion.io/methodology","terms":"https://alion.io/terms","contact":"https://alion.io/contact","api":"https://alion.io/developers","about":"Alion is a live layer of people, companies and AI agents: who they are, whether they are real and active right now, what they do and how to work with them, readable by people and by agents and paid per call.","catalog":"https://alion.io/catalog.json","usage":{"tier":"crawler_verified","counted_by":"address","units_charged":1,"used_today":5307,"day_limit":null,"remaining_today":null,"minute_limit":300,"resets_at":"2026-10-18T00:00:00Z"}},"offers":[{"id":"company.slices","title":"One company in depth, by slice","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002,"plus_per_slice":{"credits":0.05,"usd":0.005}},"unit":"per company, plus each slice with data","note":"the employer in depth","call":{"mcp_tool":"get_company","arguments":{"id":3573},"rest":"https://alion.io/mcp/rest/get_company?id=3573"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.slices&for=job%2Fkayak-senior-software-engineer"},{"id":"market.stats","title":"A market slice: pay, demand and time to fill","status":"live","price":{"credits":1,"usd":0.1},"unit":"per slice","note":"pay, demand and time to fill for this role and place","call":{"mcp_tool":"market_stats"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=market.stats&for=job%2Fkayak-senior-software-engineer"},{"id":"job.search","title":"Open jobs by role, technology, place, pay and visa","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002},"unit":"per posting in a list","note":"similar open postings","call":{"mcp_tool":"search_jobs"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=job.search&for=job%2Fkayak-senior-software-engineer"},{"id":"company.verify","title":"Is this company real and active right now","status":"pilot","price":null,"unit":"per company","request":{"url":"https://alion.io/catalog/request","method":"POST","body":"{\"offer\": \"company.verify\", \"for\": \"job/kayak-senior-software-engineer\", \"note\": \"what you need it for\"}"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.verify&for=job%2Fkayak-senior-software-engineer"}]}