Senior Director, Travel Engineering

Navan is building the next generation of travel technology.

A few times in the past sixty years, the foundations of this industry have been reset. Computerized reservation systems changed everything in the 1960s. Electronic tickets and online booking transformed how people bought travel in the 1990s and 2000s.

We are now in the middle of another one of those moments.

Airlines and hotels are rebuilding how they create, price, sell, and service travel. Static data and legacy workflows are giving way to dynamic, API-driven models. The change is complex, uneven, and very real. Navan is one of the few companies with both the technical capability and the industry partnerships to help turn this transition into working software at scale.

We are hiring a Senior Director of Engineering to lead the teams responsible for critical lines of business across air and lodging. You will drive organizational leadership, technical direction, and execution, while also representing Navan in detailed conversations with the providers shaping where the ecosystem goes next.

What You’ll Do

• Strategic Leadership: Own the technical direction and roadmap for critical lines of business across air and lodging domains.
• Scale the Function: Hire, develop, and mentor a high-performing organization of engineering managers and senior individual contributors across global regions.
• Industry Partnership: Work directly with airlines, hotels, and industry groups to influence API standards and push for consistent, modern technical approaches.
• Architect Core Systems: Drive the scalability, reliability, and extensibility of backend systems that handle complex real-world constraints and high-volume transactions.
• AI Integration: Lead the implementation of AI-driven workflows, leveraging Navan’s proprietary travel data to provide context-rich outcomes that go beyond generic models.
• Cross-Functional Partnership: Partner closely with Product, Design, and Operations to deliver large, ambitious, cross-team initiatives that redefine the traveler experience.
• Operational Excellence: Modernize long-standing technical assumptions into flexible models, ensuring rapid progress is balanced with the quality and trust required by enterprise customers.

What We’re Looking For

• Experience: Extensive background in building and operating large-scale backend systems, with a proven track record of managing managers and scaling multi-team organizations.
• Technical Breadth: Deep expertise in complex distributed systems and the ability to engage deeply with engineers on architectural details.
• Execution Excellence: A record of delivering ambitious, cross-functional outcomes in ambiguous environments where you help shape the direction.
• Domain Curiosity: While travel experience is a strong plus, you must have a relentless desire to go "under the hood" to understand how the industry actually works rather than treating it as a black box.
• Global Collaboration: Ability to communicate clearly and work effectively across diverse cultures and time zones (SF, London, Tel Aviv, India, and beyond).
• Stakeholder Influence: The ability to represent Navan in high-stakes conversations with external industry providers, building credibility through technical depth.
• Strong Ownership: A "builder" mindset with the follow-through necessary to place your teams at the center of a rare industry transformation.

The posted pay range represents the anticipated low and high end of the compensation for this position and is subject to change based on business need. To determine a successful candidate’s starting pay, we carefully consider a variety of factors, including primary work location, an evaluation of the candidate’s skills and experience, market demands, and internal parity.

For roles with on-target-earnings (OTE), the pay range includes both base salary and target incentive compensation. Target incentive compensation for some roles may include a ramping draw period. Compensation is higher for those who exceed targets. Candidates may receive more information from the recruiter.

Pay Range

$226,800—$504,000 USD