Senior Software Development Engineer, Media Solutions

Senior Software Development Engineer, Media Solutions

Introduction to team

Expedia Media Solutions Engineering is dedicated to building innovative solutions for travel advertisers enabling them to use Expedia's network of leading travel brands and global sites. We have revolutionized the way brands reach and connect with online travel consumers, emerging as a leader in online advertising sales among travel and e-commerce brands. With a growing product portfolio offering a multitude of advertising and sponsorship opportunities, our Media Solutions team at Expedia has created a viable marketing platform for advertising partners to reach the 112 million worldwide monthly unique visitors that visit Expedia Group sites. 
 

We connect brands with hundreds of millions of travel consumers across our global network of leading travel e-commerce brands. Our products scale across the enter Expedia Group portfolio, with more than 200 branded sites in 75 countries and 35 languages. 

In this role, you will: 

• Architect and Implement High-Throughput Backend Services: Design and implement scalable, high-performance backend services in Kotlin to handle millions of search queries and orchestrate multiple data sources

• Manage Real-Time Data Flows: Work with Redis, Elasticsearch, and Apache Kafka to optimize search relevance, ensure low-latency performance, and handle real-time data processing

• Leverage Large-Scale Data Lakes: Produce and consume data at scale, ensuring efficient storage, retrieval, and processing within Data Lake environments

• Develop APIs: Implement APIs to integrate with various services, enabling smooth communication between the front-end and backend systems

• Ensure Reliability and Scalability: Contribute to system architecture, implement fault tolerance, and leverage efficient data processing techniques to deliver robust and scalable solutions

• Build Engaging User-Facing Interfaces: Create and maintain user-friendly interfaces with React, collaborating with designers to ensure responsive layouts and a seamless user experience

• Optimize Front-End Performance: Manage application state effectively, reduce load times, and enhance UX for smooth interaction and high performance

• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Partner with product managers, designers, and other engineers to drive features from concept to production, ensuring timely and high-quality deliveries

• Implement CI/CD Pipelines: Set up and maintain continuous integration and continuous deployment processes to facilitate quick, reliable releases and high code quality

• Troubleshoot and Resolve: Investigate and fix issues in both backend and frontend systems to minimize downtime and maximize user satisfaction

• Mentor and Guide: Support junior engineers through code reviews, best practices, and technical mentorship to foster growth and maintain development standards

• Drive System Architecture: Ensure that the overall architecture—spanning backend services and frontend applications—is optimized for scale, performance, and reliability

• Stay Current: Keep pace with emerging technologies and advocate for their adoption where they can add value to the business or development process

Experience and qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a related field; a Master’s degree is a plus

• Technical Expertise: 7+ years of experience in software engineering, with a focus on designing and building scalable systems

• Participation in at least 2 multi-quarter projects as part of a decentralized team

• Formal mentorship of at least 3 individuals, and end-to-end technical design leadership for at least 3 projects

• Contributions to the engineering community via blog posts, open-source work, tech talks, or similar

• Ability to identify business problems at the team and project levels, designing solutions that are easily testable and observable. 

• Strong understanding of how team goals align with larger business objectives

• Ad Technology expertise 

• In-depth knowledge of Ad Tech platforms, tools, and processes

• Familiarity with ad servers, Demand-Side Platforms (DSPs), Supply-Side Platforms (SSPs), and real-time bidding (RTB) platforms

• Strong experience in Kotlin or other JVM-based languages (e.g., Java) for building scalable systems

• Hands-on production experience with Redis, Elasticsearch, and Apache Kafka

• Understanding of microservices architecture and event-driven design patterns

• Proficiency in React for building modern, responsive web applications

• Strong grasp of RESTful APIs, system design principles, and data flow between frontend and backend services

• Cloud and DevOps skills

• Experience with AWS, GCP, or Azure, plus containerization tools (Docker, Kubernetes)

• Familiarity with CI/CD pipelines and test automation for both frontend and backend systems

• Excellent communication skills for cross-team collaboration and stakeholder alignment

• Ability to influence technical decisions and drive best practices within the team

• Background in building or optimizing search orchestration systems or large-scale distributed systems

• Familiarity with personalization or recommendation engines 

• Experience with performance monitoring and observability tools (e.g. DataDog)

• Experience in optimizing front-end performance, managing state effectively, and enhancing overall user experience