Senior Backend Engineer

Vogo is a global travel platform that brings all types of accommodations into one place, making it easy for travelers to find the perfect stay. From private homes and beachfront villas to city apartments and hotels, Vogo offers one of the most extensive selections of properties worldwide and simplifies the entire search experience. Behind the scenes, Vogo’s technology analyzes millions of listings and billions of data points to surface the best options for every trip. Launched out of Wilbur Labs in 2018, Vogo quickly became one of the fastest growing travel startups ever, surpassing $1 billion in gross bookings in just two years. The company is led by a team of seasoned travel industry leaders. About This Role Vogo is seeking a versatile, highly skilled Senior Backend Engineer to join our engineering organization. In this role, you’ll help ensure high performance, reliability, and scalability, and contribute to the architecture and direction of our systems. Our backend systems are the backbone of the traveler experience, and this role plays a critical part in scaling our platform to support millions of users and high-volume transactions. The ideal candidate will own key backend initiatives and help shape engineering culture, collaborating closely with product, engineering, and leadership to build the services and APIs that power our platform. This role will report directly to the Head of Engineering. This is a full‑time hybrid position, based in Dallas. Role & Responsibilities Design, architect, and implement robust APIs and services using Node.js, PostgreSQL, and Redis Optimize complex SQL queries and schemas to ensure lightning‑fast performance across large datasets Leverage AI coding tools (Claude, GitHub Copilot, Cursor, etc.) as a core part of your development workflow, and contribute to integrating AI/LLM‑powered features into our platform Tackle high‑scale engineering challenges to ensure reliability and efficiency under heavy traffic Collaborate cross‑functionally with product, engineering, and leadership teams on backend features Proactively identify and resolve technical debt; lead refactoring projects to future‑proof our stack Participate in team standups, code reviews, and deployment processes Mentor and support other engineers, helping to elevate team‑wide technical excellence Take ownership of projects and drive initiatives from concept to production Minimum Qualifications 8+ years of backend software engineering experience Strong experience with Node.js and PostgreSQL (or equivalent relational databases) Strong SQL skills – able to write, debug, and optimize complex queries on large datasets Demonstrated AI fluency — actively uses AI tools in day‑to‑day engineering work Experience working on high‑volume, consumer‑facing platforms Solid understanding of backend architecture, distributed systems, and scalability principles Experience with DevOps practices and cloud infrastructure (preferably Google Cloud or AWS), including CI/CD, monitoring, and infrastructure as code Entrepreneurial mindset with a self‑driven, ownership mentality Excellent collaboration and communication skills Preferred Qualifications & Prior Experience Experience in the travel, marketplace, or e-commerce space Experience scaling systems to millions of daily users Experience building and deploying machine learning models using Vertex AI or similar platforms (e.g., SageMaker, Azure ML) Experience with React and Next.js Contributions to open‑source projects or tech communities Competitive salary + equity 100% company‑paid health benefits for base plan coverage, with the option to upgrade to higher‑tier plans 401(k) with company match Annual wellness stipend (gym + other wellness activities) Monthly house cleaning stipend Annual travel allowance Monthly cell phone & internet usage stipend #J-18808-Ljbffr