Staff JAVA Engineer, Platform Team
Job description
About the role
You will architect and evolve the shared backend platform that underpins multiple product lines at KAYAK. This role focuses on designing the frameworks and runtime systems that enable other engineering teams to ship with speed and confidence. You will simplify complex distributed infrastructure into pragmatic, standardized patterns that the entire organization can adopt. You will act as a technical leader, shaping direction for Java-based services and ensuring platform reliability at scale. You will mentor engineers and translate intricate platform challenges into clear guidance for cross-functional teams. Your work will directly impact the velocity and safety of software delivery across the company. You will help modernize deployment models, observability, and service communication to support future growth.
Key facts
What you'll do
Design and evolve shared backend platform capabilities, frameworks, and runtime patterns that can be adopted consistently across engineering teams.
Help drive backend platform direction around Java code structure, service architecture, and standardisation of common runtime patterns such as Spring Boot-based services.
Improve deployment quality and developer velocity by shaping better CI/CD workflows, PR quality gates, and production-ready release practices.
Contribute to platform roadmap items such as Webgates, multi-cluster deployment, faster pod startup, on-demand test environments, secure service-to-service communication and AI driven observability.
Mentor engineers through design reviews, architecture guidance, and hands-on technical leadership on complex platform initiatives.
Collaborate closely with product and infrastructure teams to define standards that make platform consumption intuitive and reliable.
Champion observability, reliability, and operational excellence across containerized JVM-based workloads in production.
Influence architectural decisions that balance scalability, performance, and maintainability for long-term platform health.
Drive improvements in testing strategies, deployment gates, and environment management to reduce risk and accelerate feedback.
Support the delivery of new platform features that unlock faster innovation for downstream product engineering teams.
Evaluate emerging patterns and tools, translating them into concrete platform enhancements that can be standardized globally.
Partner with SRE and platform operations to ensure robust, secure, and cost-effective runtime behavior across critical services.
Requirements
6+ years of backend or platform engineering experience preferably in Java, or a similar ecosystem, with strong experience designing and operating distributed systems at scale.
Deep hands-on experience with Kubernetes and cloud-native infrastructure.
Strong understanding of backend service architecture, API and service design, and the tradeoffs involved in building shared engineering platforms.
Experience improving CI/CD practices, deployment quality gates, release engineering, and test quality in production systems.
A strong observability and reliability mindset, with practical experience in monitoring, troubleshooting, and improving operational excellence.
A track record of leading through influence, writing and reviewing technical proposals, and aligning multiple teams around platform direction and standards.
Strong communication skills and the ability to collaborate effectively with engineering leaders, product teams, and cross-functional stakeholders.
Experience with Spring/Spring Boot and modern JVM performance practices is a plus.
Experience with multi-cluster deployment models, zero-trust service communication, Kubernetes-hosted developer environments, or ephemeral test environments is a plus.
Practical notes
This role will be required to work from our Kaunas office 3 days per week.
Compensation
Base
pay: from 4500 EUR up to 6667 EUR gross monthly.
Significant yearly bonuses, approx 10 percent of annual salary.
Booking Holdings RSU (Restricted Stock Units) package, worth 20000 USD gross, with possibility to receive yearly refreshes.
Benefits and Perks
Work from (almost) anywhere for up to 20 days per year
Funds for your career growth
Access to thousands of on-demand e-learnings
Generous additional Health Insurance
Flexible sick time off
Additional financial support for your sick leave
Additional day off on your birthday
Company-wide vacation week once a year (winter holidays)
Additional financial support during parental leave
Free lunch twice a week and daily snacks at the office
Free yoga twice a week
Paid volunteering time
No meeting Fridays
Office and team events such as summer camp, KAYAK birthday, winter party and more!
Company-paid therapy sessions through SpringHealth
Company-paid subscription to HeadSpace
Internal Communities
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