Senior Backend Software Engineer

Senior Software Engineer, Backend — Booking Platform & APIs New York, NY | 4 days/week in office | $190K–$210K base + equity Build a company-level API from the ground up. We represent a client that is hiring for a Senior Software Engineer, Backend for a high-growth technology company building a new generation of commerce and distribution infrastructure. The company is a rapidly growing travel technology platform transforming how consumers discover and purchase premium experiences and how businesses distribute their inventory through digital channels. This is a senior hands-on IC role for an engineer who enjoys owning difficult backend problems—not a management role and not a pure architecture position. You'll be the primary technical builder for a new external API platform that will allow distribution partners and authorized AI agents to interact with live inventory and complete the full transaction lifecycle: Price → Hold → Book → Modify → Cancel This is a high-visibility opportunity where your technical decisions will influence how the company builds and scales its platform. Why this role is interesting The underlying engineering problems are difficult and highly transactional. You'll be working on systems where correctness matters: Preventing overselling and inconsistent inventoryDesigning for concurrency and consistencyHandling retries, timeouts, duplicates, and partial failuresBuilding idempotent transaction flowsDesigning versioned, externally consumed APIsCreating reliable reconciliation processesEvolving complex relational data modelsBuilding asynchronous workflows and integrationsMaking systems observable, measurable, and safe to operate You'll also help establish reusable patterns for third-party integrations, allowing other engineers to build new connectors without reinventing the underlying architecture and failure handling. What you'll own You'll own the API's day-to-day technical roadmap and design decisions while partnering with a Staff Engineer on foundational architecture. You'll: • Write production code and lead focused technical designs • Define API contracts and lifecycle states • Design data models and system invariants • Guide migrations and production rollouts • Establish patterns for integrations and connectors • Build testing, monitoring, tracing, alerting, and reliability into the platform • Work directly with Product and business stakeholders to translate requirements into durable technical solutions • Help raise the engineering bar through thoughtful reviews and mentorship Your work won't be buried inside one subsystem. You'll own an important company-level platform and see the impact of your decisions across the organization. Who we're looking for We're targeting a Senior or Senior+ backend/platform engineer with 6+ years of experience or an equivalent track record of impact. The strongest candidates will have experience with: Transactional systemsExternal/public APIsIntegration platformsInventory, orders, payments, reservations, fulfillment, or other correctness-critical workflowsRelational data modelingDistributed systems and asynchronous processingConcurrency and consistencyProduction reliability and observabilityYou don't need experience in the company's specific industry. You also do not need Ruby on Rails experience. What matters most is your backend engineering judgment, ability to own complex systems, and track record of shipping production software. Technology Ruby on Rails | Node.js | Postgres | AWS | Redis | Kafka | OpenSearch | Datadog | REST | OpenAPI | Webhooks The team also uses AI tools aggressively in its development workflow while maintaining high standards for engineering judgment, correctness, testing, and production ownership. What makes this different This is a great fit for someone who wants to make the jump from: "I own an important subsystem" to "I own one of the company's most important technical platforms." You'll have significant autonomy, direct visibility with senior stakeholders, and the opportunity to make foundational decisions around APIs, data models, integrations, and transaction processing. There is also a path toward Staff-level scope based on demonstrated impact. The details New York City — 4 days/week in office $190K–$210K base + equity Senior / Senior+ Individual Contributor No management responsibilities Hands-on backend engineering If you're a senior backend engineer who loves APIs, distributed systems, transactional correctness, data modeling, and hard integration problems, this is an opportunity I'd strongly encourage you to explore.