AI Backend Software Engineer II - AI Application Platform

ph3Your New Company: /h3 pAt Booking.com, data drives our decisions. Technology is at our core. And innovation is everywhere. But our company is more than datasets, lines of code or A/B tests. We’re the thrill of the first night in a new place. The excitement of the next morning. The friends you make. The journeys you take. The sights you see. And the food you sample. Through our products, partners and people, we make it easier for everyone to experience the world. /p h3Your New Company: /h3 pAt Booking.com, data drives our decisions. Technology is at our core. And innovation is everywhere. But our company is more than datasets, lines of code or A/B tests. We’re the thrill of the first night in a new place. The excitement of the next morning. The friends you make. The journeys you take. The sights you see. And the food you sample. Through our products, partners and people, we make it easier for everyone to experience the world. /p h3Role Description /h3 pOur mission at Booking.com is to create visionary, innovative, and personalised travel experiences for millions of customers worldwide. Across our offices worldwide, we continue to innovate by solving some of the most complex challenges in travel and technology and plan for the exciting developments that lie ahead through strategic long-term investments in what we believe the future of travel can be. As a Software Engineer working on the AI Application Platform, you will work at the intersection of scalable backend systems and cutting-edge AI. You will have the opportunity to design and build the core platform that enables product teams to rapidly develop and deploy AI-powered experiences for millions of people. You will tackle complex performance and scaling challenges, shape the foundation of our AI infrastructure, and collaborate closely with ML engineers, data engineers, and data scientists to bring intelligent systems into production at scale. For more insights about the different business units and the scope of their projects and goals, please visit this page. /p h3Key Responsibilities Duties /h3 pImportant aspects of the job can include: /p ul liDesign and evaluate architecture solutions for AI infrastructure, rapidly prototyping to validate key assumptions and guide decision-making. /li liExplore, benchmark, and integrate new AI/ML tools and technologies to drive innovative engineering solutions that meet evolving business needs. /li liBuild and maintain scalable, reusable backend services that support real-time AI/ML inference, model deployment, and data pipelines. /li liCollaborate closely with ML engineers, data engineers, and data scientists to bring AI/ML models into production and optimize system performance. /li liTake end-to-end ownership of system reliability and operational excellence, including performance tuning, observability and incident management. /li liContinuously grow technical and interpersonal skills through hands‑on experience, knowledge sharing sessions, and industry events. /li /ul h3Role Qualifications Requirements /h3 pWe are looking for driven Software Engineers who enjoy solving problems, who initiate solutions and discussions and who believe that any challenge can be scaled with the right approach and tools. /p pWe have found that people who match the following requirements are the ones who fit us best: /p ul li3+ years of professional experience in software engineering, with a focus on backend or platform development. /li liExperience building distributed systems at scale, with a focus on performance tuning, observability, and reliability best practices. /li liExperience with scalable data storage systems (e.g. MySQL, Redis) and optimizing data access and caching for high-throughput applications. /li liProficiency in one or more server‑side programming languages such as Java, Scala, or Python. /li liExperience in feature engineering, integrating AI/ML models into production systems, and understanding model behavior, performance and constraints. /li liExperience building AI agents and components such as memory, context engineering, retrieval, and orchestration. /li liExperience working in cross‑functional teams alongside ML engineers, data scientists, and product stakeholders to bring AI/ML products to production. /li liExperience with containerization tools like Docker and Kubernetes, and deploying applications in cloud environments such as AWS or GCP. /li liAbility to navigate ambiguity, take ownership of complex problems, and drive them to resolution. /li liBachelor's or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related technical field, or equivalent industry experience. /li /ul h3Benefits Perks: Global Impact, Personal Relevance /h3 ul liAnnual paid time off and generous paid leave scheme including: parental (22-weeks paid leave), grandparent, bereavement, and care leave. /li liHybrid working including flexible working arrangements, working from home furniture and ergonomic support, and up to 20 days per year working from abroad (home country). /li liA beautiful sustainable HQ Campus in Amsterdam, that offers on‑site meals, coffee, and snacks, multi‑faith and breastfeeding rooms at the office. /li liCommuting allowance and bike reimbursement scheme. /li liDiscounts Wallet credits to spend on our products, upgrade to Booking.com Genius Level 3, and friends family Booking.com discount vouchers. /li liFree access to online learning platforms, development and mentorship programs. /li liGlobal Employee Assistance Program, free Headspace membership. /li /ul h3#ThinkInclusion: Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at Booking.com /h3 pDiversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) have been a core part of our company culture since day one. This ongoing journey starts with our very own employees, who represent over 140 nationalities and a wide range of ethnic and social backgrounds, genders and sexual orientations. Take it from our Chief People Officer, Paulo Pisano: “At Booking.com, the diversity of our people doesn’t just create a unique workplace, it also creates a better and more inclusive travel experience for everyone. /p pWe will ensure that individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable adjustments to participate in the interview process. Please contact us to request adjustments. /p ul liThis role does not come with relocation assistance, therefore candidates must be currently based in the Netherlands in order to be considered. /li /ul h3Key Skills /h3 pDocker, Kubernetes, AWS, GCP, Cost optimization, Flink, Stream processing, Spark, Batch processing, Weaviate, Pinecone, Milvus, Qdrant, Chroma,Vector search, Semantic search, Embeddings, MySQL, PostgreSQL, AWS RDS, Amazon Aurora, Oracle, MS SQL Server, Redis, AWS Elasticache, Memcached, Feature Engineering, Feature Store, Grafana, Prometheus, Arize, Dashboards and alerts, Python, Java, Scala, N8n, Temporal.io, Cadence, Workflow orchestration, Agent Orchestration, MCP, A2A,ACP, TAP, OAP, FCP, GPT, Claude, Grok, Llama, Gemini, Qwen, R1, Prompt Engineering, LLM Evals, RAG, Guardrails, Memory, Multimodal, Agentic system design, Agentic AI, system design, AI Agents design, Agentic design pattern, Context engineering, Scaling LLM inference, Search and Ranking, Recommendation Systems, Optimization and Causal Inference, LLMs and Natural Language Understanding, Computer Vision, Speech and Multimodal AI, Reinforcement Learning, Generative AI /p h3Pre-Employment Screening /h3 pIf your application is successful, your personal data may be used for a pre-employment screening check by a third party as permitted by applicable law. Depending on the vacancy and applicable law, a pre-employment screening may include employment history, education and other information (such as media information) that may be necessary for determining your qualifications and suitability for the position. /p /p #J-18808-Ljbffr