Staff Backend Software Engineer

About the job

Did you know Hopper's technology powers some of the largest travel portals in the world? Our Hopper Technology Solutions (HTS) platform drives travel purchases for major global brands - from banks to airlines to fintech leaders. This platform is a configurable, multi-tenant travel commerce engine, enabling partners to launch world-class hotel and travel booking experiences faster, with less custom engineering.

The platform is built. What comes next is growth - and that's what this team owns. We have 410M cardholders across our banking partners and we've barely scratched the surface. The work is about making partner cards genuinely more competitive: connecting cardholder behavior to the right offers at the right time, giving partners real insight into what drives incremental spend, and building the intelligence layer that compounds across the network as we scale. We're moving Commerce from a travel vendor to a strategic card partner - and the engineering work is what makes that real.

We're looking for a staff software engineer who builds great products and has figured out how to use AI to do it at a pace that wasn't possible a year ago. You're not using AI to auto-complete your code - you're orchestrating agents, building feedback loops, and shipping features end-to-end in a fraction of the time it used to take. You understand the strengths and weaknesses of LLMs, and you've developed the taste to know when to trust the output and when to intervene.

Tech stack

• Backend: Scala, GCP services
• Frontend: React + TypeScript
• We value stack-agnostic thinking. If you've built great systems in Go, Python, Java, or anything else, and you pick things up fast - that's what matters.

What your day-to-day would look like

• Identify and execute improvements to the codebase that make it easier for both humans and AI agents to move fast and ship safely.
• Work with a group of senior engineers in a low-process environment powered by trust and autonomy.
• Drive decisions and consensus asynchronously with thoughtful documentation and specs.
• Own features end-to-end - from the backend systems to the partner-facing surface. You'll primarily work on the backend, but expect to use AI tooling to move across the stack as needed. We care that you can ship a complete feature, not that you can write production-grade React from memory.
• Architect scalable solutions and foundational patterns that let us efficiently launch new partner experiences.
• Work directly with PMs and business partners to define and refine our roadmap. Your voice and technical vision matter.
• Collaborate with a diverse group of people, giving and receiving feedback for growth.

An ideal candidate has

• A natural drive to fearlessly dive into an unknown codebase and deliver results fast.
• Strong product thinking - your conception of quality and architecture is anchored in the customer experience, not in technical elegance for its own sake.
• The ability to direct AI agents and automated workflows to build and maintain complex systems, and the judgment to know when to step in and when to let them run.
• Experience designing the guardrails and feedback loops that keep AI-assisted development productive and reliable.
• Experience with, or a mastery-level willingness to learn, distributed system development in Scala.
• The ability to articulate not just how you'd solve a problem, but why, and what tradeoffs you're accepting.

Perks and Benefits of working with us

• Well-funded and proven startup with large ambitions, competitive salary and the upsides of pre-IPO equity packages.
• Unlimited PTO.
• Carrot Cash travel stipend.
• Access to co-working space on demand through FlexDesk AND Work-from-home stipend.
• Please ask us about our very generous parental leave, much above industry standards!.
• Entrepreneurial culture where pushing limits and taking risks is everyday business.
• Open communication with management and company leadership.
• Small, dynamic teams = massive impact.
• 100% employer paid Medical, Dental and Vision coverage for employees.
• Access to Disability & Life insurance.
• Health Reimbursement Account (HRA).
• DCA/ FSA and access to 401k plan.

More about Hopper

At Hopper, we are on a mission to become the leading travel platform globally - powering Hopper's mobile app, website and our B2B business, HTS (Hopper Technology Solutions). By leveraging massive amounts of data and advanced machine learning algorithms, Hopper combines its world-class travel agency offering with proprietary fintech products to bring transparency, flexibility and savings to travelers globally. We have developed several unique fintech solutions that address everything from pricing volatility to trip disruptions - helping people travel better and save more on their trips.

The Hopper platform serves hundreds of millions of travelers globally and continues to capture market share around the world. he Hopper app has been downloaded over 120 million times and has become largely popular among younger travelers - with 70% of its users being Gen Z and millennials.

While everyone knows us as the Gen Z and Millennial travel app, Hopper has evolved to become much more than that. In recent years, we've grown into a travel fintech provider, commerce platform, and global travel agency that powers some of the world's largest brands.

Through HTS, our B2B division, the company supercharges its partners' direct channels by integrating our fintech products on their sites or powering end-to-end travel portals. Today, our partners include leading travel brands like Capital One, Nubank, Air Canada, and many more.

Here are just a few stats that demonstrate the company's recent growth:

Billions of dollars worth of travel and travel fintech are sold through Hopper and HTS' channels every year.

Our fintech products - including Cancel for Any Reason and Flight Disruption Assistance - have exceptionally strong CSAT because the terms are always clear, and customers receive instant, no-questions-asked resolutions.

Almost 30% of our app customers purchase at least one fintech product when making a booking; and consumers are 1.6x more likely to repurchase if they add fintech to their booking vs if they booked just travel.

Given the success of its fintech products, Hopper launched a B2B initiative, HTS (Hopper Technology Solutions), which represents more than 75% of the business.

Through HTS, any travel provider (airlines, hotels, banks, travel agencies, etc.) can integrate and seamlessly distribute Hopper's fintech or travel inventory on their direct channels. As its first HTS partnership, the company partnered with Capital One to co-develop Capital One Travel, a new travel portal designed specifically for cardholders. Other HTS partners include Air Canada, Uber, CommBank, Nubank, Flair Airlines and many more.

Hopper has been named the #1 most innovative company in travel by Fast Company Hopper has been downloaded over 120 million times and continues to have millions of new installs each month. Hopper is now the #3 largest online travel agencies in North America and 70% of our app customers are Gen-Z and millennials travelers.

Hopper has raised over $750 million USD of private capital and is backed by some of the largest institutional investors and banks in the world. HTS is primed to continue its growth as the leading travel ecommerce provider in a $1 trillion online shopping category. The Hopper app and website will also continue to be the preferred travel provider for Gen Z and Millennials.

Come take off with us!

At Hopper, we leverage AI-driven tools to assist our team in efficiently reviewing applications. These tools help us assess qualifications fairly and objectively. By submitting your application, you acknowledge the use of these automated screening technologies.

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