Architect - Staff Software Engineer

About the Position

Architect - Staff Software Engineer

We are seeking an Architect - Staff Software Engineer with 8+ years of experience in software engineering and architecture to join our team in Gdańsk, Poland.

Responsibilities

• Own the end-to-end architecture of an assigned system or customer journey step, maintaining assessments and roadmaps.
• Produce and maintain architectural documentation including C4 models, Architecture Decision Records (ADRs), ERDs, and sequence diagrams.
• Serve on the Architecture Board as the decision authority for the assigned slice.
• Lead vendor and technology evaluations, validate proposals, and manage technology choices with documented rationale.
• Evaluate and drive adoption of AI patterns as a design ingredient, maintaining an inventory of AI components and risk profiles.
• Engage with product, commercial, and operations stakeholders to translate business intent into technical requirements.
• Own and enforce engineering standards including API design, observability, security, data handling, and AI usage.
• Define SLIs and SLOs, review reliability trends, and partner with Engineering Managers on improvement goals.
• Coordinate with adjacent Architects to eliminate duplication and integration debt.
• Teach architectural patterns, engineering standards, and AI guidelines across the organization.
• Provide technology and design input to Engineering Managers and teams on architecture decisions and integration patterns.

Requirements

• 8+ years of hands-on software engineering experience, with at least 3 years in architecture or principal engineering spanning multiple teams or systems.
• Proven track record owning end-to-end architecture for cross-cutting or platform domains such as infrastructure, observability, developer platforms, or shared services.
• Deep experience designing and evolving distributed systems: service boundaries, integration patterns, event-driven architectures, and API design.
• Ability to produce and maintain living architectural documentation including C4 models, ADRs, ERDs, and sequence diagrams.
• Experience defining and enforcing engineering standards across multiple teams with measurable adoption outcomes.
• Ability to engage non-technical stakeholders and translate business intent into technical requirements and trade-offs.
• Strong communication and influencing skills to drive architectural decisions through persuasion and documented rationale.
• Experience working in governed, multi-team environments with Architecture Boards, decision escalation paths, and structured ADR practices.
• Familiarity with modern frontend architecture patterns including React, SSR, Next.js, and Backend for Frontend (BFF) to assess design decisions and collaborate with frontend teams.

Nice to Have

• Experience with scaled agile frameworks such as SAFe or LeSS in architect or principal engineering roles.
• Hands-on experience designing or productionising AI/ML systems including LLM integrations, RAG pipelines, and agentic workflows.
• Familiarity with travel, e-commerce, or marketplace platform architectures, especially search, booking, or payments.
• Experience building or operating internal developer platforms, golden paths, or shared engineering toolchains.
• Contribution to technology radars, vendor evaluation frameworks, or engineering standards programs.
• Experience defining and operationalising SLOs at the platform level, including instrumentation, alerting, and reliability reviews.

We Offer

• Opportunity to work with a leading company in the travel industry.
• Be part of a dedicated guild of Solutions Architects.
• Competitive benefits and career growth opportunities.

About the Company

Wakacje.pl is a leading company in the travel industry, providing innovative solutions to enhance customer experiences. Our team is dedicated to delivering high-quality services and products, and we are looking for passionate and skilled professionals to join us.

Data Protection Information

The data controller is Wakacje.pl S.A., located at Grunwaldzka 413, 80-309 Gdańsk. The data will be processed to evaluate the candidate's qualifications for the specific position, assess the candidate's abilities and skills necessary for the job, select the appropriate person or persons for employment, and for communication related to the recruitment process. The legal basis for data processing is the necessity to participate in the recruitment process at Wakacje.pl. The recipients of your data, i.e., the entities to whom we may transfer your data in accordance with applicable law, will be entities processing data on behalf of the Wirtualna Polska capital group, which includes Wirtualna Polska Holding S.A. based in Warsaw, Wakacje.pl S.A., and its subsidiaries (http://inwestor.wp.pl/o-holdingu/spolki-grupy/). You have the right, among others, to withdraw consent to data processing, the right to access personal data, and the right to request correction, deletion, or restriction of data processing, as well as the right to object in situations provided by law. We have described these rights and the ways to exercise them in a detailed information clause for candidates, which can be found on the www.karierawakacje.pl website.