Senior Software Engineer - Policy Platform

About us: At 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 encounter. The journeys you take. The sights you see. And the memories you make. Through our products, partners and people, we make it easier for everyone to experience the world

About the team: Booking.com (USA), Inc, one of the support companies in the United States, is seeking a full time Senior Software Engineer in Washington, DC for the Policy Platform team of the Data and Machine Learning department. The teams in our track engineer the automation behind Booking's Data Governance and Compliance ecosystem. We build scalable solutions to discover and classify assets (including ML/AI), enforce data protection policies, and provide Legal and Compliance stakeholders with real-time visibility into the company's risk posture.

Role Description: As a Senior Software Engineer and technical leader, you will architect the foundational infrastructure for our data ecosystem, replacing manual stewardship with high-performance Policy-as-Code solutions. This role sits at the intersection of backend engineering and global governance, challenging you to build a scalable automation engine capable of detecting risks and enforcing protection standards across the enterprise in real-time. You will serve as a primary bridge between multidisciplinary stakeholders and the engineering organization, translating complex privacy requirements into production-grade software. Your mission is to ensure our data platform scales responsibly by engineering the intelligent tools that transform abstract policy into executable, automated code.

Key Job Responsibilities and Duties:

• Lead Technical Execution: Combine hands-on coding with ownership of impactful projects while supporting and elevating other team members.
• Drive Business Impact: Solve complex business problems, work cross-functionally, and lead initiatives to improve development processes and unlock new opportunities.
• Architect High-Scale Systems: Design and maintain low-latency services that guarantee performance even when traffic scales to hundreds of thousands of requests per second.
• Ensure Reliability & Quality: Maintain critical system uptime, troubleshoot effectively, profile production applications for bottlenecks, and lead incident management.

Important aspects of the job include:

• Take initiative to address the larger technical needs of the product you work on and always keep the customer at the center of everything you do.
• Drive successful technical and business-related initiatives that improve productivity, performance, and quality.
  Possess a 'can do' attitude, acting proactively to address technical needs rather than reacting to them.
• Act as a humble thought leader who leads by example, gaining respect through actions rather than title.
• Advocate for a collaborative working environment-turning "my ideas" into "our ideas."
• Proactively share knowledge, mentor, and coach team members to help colleagues grow.
• Contribute to the growth of Booking.com through interviewing, on-boarding, or other recruitment efforts.
• Represent Booking.com values, both within the company and in the external community.

Role Qualifications and Requirements:

• Engineering Foundation: 5+ years of experience as a Software Engineer with strong programming skills in at least two server-side languages; Java, Kotlin, Python and NodeJS specific knowledge is an advantage.
• Strategic Data Governance: Expertise in implementing and enforcing governance frameworks (data catalogs, lineage, GDPR/CCPA) at an organizational level, shifting focus from simple compliance to architectural integrity and security.
• Advanced System Architecture: Proven track record of architecting complex, large-scale distributed systems. You define architectural standards and guide teams in designing observable, reliable systems capable of processing high-volume metadata across diverse assets.
• Technical Leadership: Proven experience in owning and leading technical projects, with the ability to partner with non-technical leadership (Legal, Risk) to influence strategy, negotiate complex requirements, and drive alignment on technical solutions.
• Operational Excellence: Demonstrated ability to keep critical systems up and running, with a strong grasp of reliability, troubleshooting, and incident management.
• Business Acumen: Ability to understand the business deeply, grasp and explain complex concepts, and make pragmatic technical decisions.

Benefits & Perks - Global Impact, Personal Relevance:

Booking.com's Total Rewards Philosophy is not only about compensation but also about benefits. We offer a competitive compensation and benefits package, as well unique-to-Booking.com benefits which include:

• Medical, life, and disability insurance*
• Annual paid time off and generous paid leave scheme including: parent, grandparent, bereavement, sick, and care leave.
• Industry leading product discounts for yourself, friends, and family, including automatic Genius Level 3 status.
• Free access to online learning platforms, mentorship programs, and a complimentary Headspace membership.
• Collaborative, friendly and diverse culture.
• Referral Program.
• This role does come with relocation assistance.
• This role does not come with visa assistance.
• For Washington, DC this role will have a salary range of: $218,100 - $243,200.
• Additional Annual or Quarterly bonus potential (role dependent).
• *Please note that while our philosophy is the same in every location, benefits may differ by office/country.

Should you require accommodation to meet the essential functions of this job, please let us know.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) at Booking.com:

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion 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 build an outstanding workplace, it also creates a better and more inclusive travel experience for everyone. Inclusion is at the heart of everything we do. It's a place where you can make your mark and have a real impact in travel and tech."

We ensure that colleagues with disabilities are provided the adjustments and tools they need to participate in the job application and interview process, to perform crucial job functions, and to receive other benefits and privileges of employment.

Application Process:

• Let's go places together: How we Hire.
• This role does come with relocation assistance.
• This role does not come with visa assistance.

Booking.com is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace and is an affirmative action employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability, age, or veteran status. We strive to move well beyond traditional equal opportunity and work to create an environment that allows everyone to thrive.

Pre-Employment Screening

If 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.