Software Engineer (For independent contractors)

Required Skills & Experience

• Java: Proficient (primary programming language for the role).

• Perl: Comfortable or willing to learn.

• Data Engineering: Prior experience preferred.

• AWS: Prior experience preferred.

• AI: Some experience; willingness to learn and grow in this area, applying AI throughout the full SDLC.

• Booking.com Infrastructure: Experienced with internal systems, tools, and platform architecture. (Candidates should include specific references and details of their experience working with Booking.com infrastructure in their application).

• Full-Stack Versatility: Ideal candidate will have a combination of back-end, front-end, and data engineering experience.

• Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE): Prior experience as an FDE is a plus.

Core Responsibilities

Building Software Applications

• Build software applications by using relevant development languages and applying knowledge of systems, services, and tools appropriate for the business area.

• Write readable and reusable code by applying standard patterns and using standard libraries.

• Refactor and simplify code by introducing design patterns when necessary.

• Ensure the quality of the application by following standard testing techniques and methods that adhere to the test strategy.

• Maintain data security, integrity, and quality by effectively following company standards and best practices.

End-to-End System Ownership

• Own a service end-to-end by actively monitoring application health and performance, setting and monitoring relevant metrics, and acting accordingly when violated.

• Reduce business continuity risks and "bus factor" by applying state-of-the-art practices and tools, and writing the appropriate documentation such as runbooks and OpDocs.

• Reduce risk and obtain customer feedback by using continuous delivery and experimentation frameworks.

• Independently manage an application or service by working through deployment and operations in production.

Technical Incident Management

• Address and resolve live production issues by mitigating the customer impact within SLA.

• Improve the overall reliability of systems by producing long-term solutions through root-cause analysis.

• Keep track of incidents by contributing to postmortem processes and logging live issues.

Architectural Guidance

• Advise product teams toward a technical solution that meets the functional, nonfunctional, and architectural requirements by challenging the rationale for an application design and providing context in the wider architectural landscape.

• Set a clear direction for a technical capability by evaluating and aligning the target architecture improvements, reframing architectural designs, and decisions for varied stakeholders.

Software Systems Design

• Evaluate possible architecture solutions by taking into account cost, business requirements, technology requirements, and emerging technologies.

• Describe the implications of changing an existing system or adding a new system to a specific area, by having a broad, high-level understanding of the infrastructure and architecture of our systems.

• Help grow the business and/or accelerate software development by applying engineering techniques (e.g., prototyping, spiking, and vendor evaluation) and standards.

• Meet business needs by designing solutions that meet current requirements and are adaptable for future enhancements.

Critical Thinking

• Systematically identify patterns and underlying issues in complex situations, and find solutions by applying logical and analytical thinking.

• Constructively evaluate and develop ideas, plans, and solutions by reviewing them, objectively taking into account external knowledge, initiating ‘SMART’ improvements, and articulating their rationale.

Continuous Quality and Process Improvement

• Identify opportunities for process, system, and structural improvements (i.e., performance gains) by examining and evaluating current process flows, methods, and standards.

• Design and implement relevant improvements by defining adapted/new process flows, standards, and practices that enable business performance.

Effective Communication

• Deliver clear, well-structured, and meaningful information to a target audience by using suitable communication mediums and language tailored to the audience.

• Achieve mutually agreeable solutions by staying adaptable, communicating ideas in clear coherent language, and practicing active listening.

• Ask relevant (follow-up) questions to properly engage with the speaker and really understand what they are saying, by applying listening and reflection techniques.