Staff Software Engineer, Meta AI

About the Position

Staff Software Engineer, Meta AI

Join KAYAK, a leading travel search engine and part of Booking Holdings (NASDAQ: BKNG), as a Staff Software Engineer, Meta AI. You will be instrumental in building and maintaining reliable production software for KAYAK’s travel-search and trip-planning experiences. This role requires commuting to the Concord, MA office 3 times a week.

Responsibilities

In this role, you will:

• Design, implement, and maintain reliable production software for KAYAK’s travel-search and trip-planning experiences.
• Build and evolve APIs and services supporting AI-assisted search, conversational travel planning, itineraries, and related user experiences.
• Investigate technical problems, assess trade-offs, and choose practical solutions that improve reliability, performance, and maintainability.
• Write automated tests and contribute to quality across unit, integration, and end-to-end testing.
• Participate in code reviews and technical discussions, providing constructive feedback focused on correctness, clarity, and maintainability.
• Work with engineers, product managers, and designers to clarify requirements and deliver useful, accessible user experiences.
• Contribute to features such as ASK AI, smart filters, AI-generated hotel review summaries, Explore, and related search experiences.
• Help make AI-assisted features dependable, transparent, and useful to travelers.
• Learn unfamiliar systems and share knowledge with teammates through documentation, pairing, and technical discussions.
• Monitor and improve production behavior through effective debugging, observability, and root-cause analysis.
• Contribute to the evolution of development tools, engineering processes, and delivery practices.

Requirements

• Experience building and maintaining production software.
• Proficiency in Java or another relevant programming language.
• Familiarity with APIs, data structures, and software-design principles.
• Experience testing software and investigating defects or production issues.
• The ability to explain technical decisions clearly in writing and conversation.
• The ability to take ownership of assigned work while asking for input or support when needed.
• Experience contributing to projects from design through implementation, release, and maintenance.
• Equivalent practical experience is welcome in place of a specific degree or educational path.

Nice to Have

• Experience with distributed systems, search, personalization, or other high-volume consumer products.
• Experience with AI, machine learning, or large language model applications.
• Experience with relational databases or other structured data stores.
• Experience working on web products, mobile products, or travel-related products.
• Experience improving accessibility, reliability, or usability.
• Experience working with Java and Spring.
• Experience with cloud services, CI/CD pipelines, and automated testing frameworks.

We Offer

• Work from (almost) anywhere for up to 20 days per year.
• Focus on mental health and well-being:
  • Company-paid therapy sessions through SpringHealth
  • Company-paid subscription to HeadSpace
  • Company-wide week off a year - the whole team fully recharges (and returns without a pile-up of work!)
  • No meeting Fridays
  • Paid parental leave
  • Generous paid vacation + time off for your birthday
  • Paid volunteer time
• Focus on your career growth:
  • Development Dollars
  • Leadership development
  • Access to thousands of on-demand e-learnings
• Travel Discounts
• Employee Resource Groups
• Competitive retirement and health plans
• Free lunch 2 days per week
• Fun quarterly events such as boat trips, arcades, ski trips, Thursday happy hours, and more.

Compensation

The range for this Massachusetts-based role is $160,000-180,000, not inclusive of annual bonus and recurring RSU grants. We offer a competitive base salary and benefits including: health benefits; flexible spending account; retirement benefits; life insurance; paid time off (including PTO, paid sick leave, medical leave, bereavement leave, floating holidays, and paid holidays); and parental leave benefits.

About the Company

KAYAK, part of Booking Holdings (NASDAQ: BKNG), is a leading travel search engine. With billions of queries across our platforms, we help people find their perfect flight, stay, rental car, and vacation package. We’re also transforming business travel with a new corporate travel solution, KAYAK for Business.

As an employee of KAYAK, you will be part of a travel company that operates a portfolio of global metasearch brands including momondo, Cheapflights, and HotelsCombined, among others. From start-up to industry leader, innovation is in our DNA, and every employee has an opportunity to make their mark. Our focus is on building the best travel search engine to make it easier for everyone to experience the world.

Inclusion

At KAYAK, we want everyone to have the space to grow, share ideas, and do great work. That's why we're focused on hiring the best talent from all walks of life and experiences, supporting them well, and making sure no one feels like they have to fit a mold to belong here.

Need any adjustments for the interview, application, or on the job? No problem – just give us a heads-up. We've got you.

#LI-AS1