Back End Lead Software Engineer

About Agoda

At Agoda, we bridge the world through travel. Our story began in 2005, when two lifelong friends and entrepreneurs, driven by their passion for travel, launched Agoda to make it easier for everyone to explore the world. We are part of Booking Holdings (NASDAQ: BKNG), with a diverse team of over 7,000 people from 90 countries, working together in offices around the globe. Every day we connect people to destinations and experiences with our deals across millions of hotels, holiday properties, flights and experiences worldwide.

Get to Know our Team

In Agoda’s Back End Engineering department we build scalable, fault‑tolerant systems and APIs that host our core business logic. Our systems cover inventory, pricing, product information, customer data, communications, partner data, booking, payments and more. These mission‑critical systems change frequently, with dozens of releases per day, so we employ state‑of‑the‑art CI/CD, testing techniques and self‑healing capabilities. We use languages such as Scala and Go and technologies like Kafka and Aerospike, following agile development practices.

In this Role

• Architect and develop highly scalable, mission‑critical backend systems, owning major parts of Agoda’s platform from long‑term vision down to implementation.
• Write exemplary code, raise the engineering bar, and provide hands‑on technical leadership that positively impacts 40+ engineers.
• Define architecture for critical systems and lead large‑scale cross‑team initiatives that improve service quality, code quality and technical design.
• Drive organization‑wide excellence in observability, testing, debugging and software quality through strong engineering fundamentals and data‑informed decisions.
• Identify and implement optimizations across the stack to improve cost, efficiency, delivery velocity and developer happiness.
• Foster inclusive collaboration, unblock teams, influence technical roadmaps and clearly communicate complex technical trade‑offs to business stakeholders and senior leadership.

What You’ll Need to Succeed

• 10+ years of software engineering experience with deep hands‑on technical expertise and strong architectural leadership.
• Proven ability to design and evolve architecture across multiple teams, platforms or critical system domains.
• Strong experience owning production services end‑to‑end, from design and development to deployment, monitoring and long‑term evolution.
• Demonstrated success leading large‑scale technical initiatives in complex engineering organizations.
• Expertise in software quality practices, testing strategy, engineering metrics, observability, debugging, system reliability and operational excellence.
• Strong backend engineering skills, with proficiency in Kotlin, Scala or Java.
• Broad engineering understanding beyond backend, including awareness of trade‑offs across frontend, mobile and data analytics.
• Curiosity and passion for staying up to date with new technologies, technical improvements and open‑source advancements.
• Ability to perform deep research, evaluate complex problems and make sound technical decisions.
• Strong communication skills, with the ability to explain complex technical details and trade‑offs to stakeholders at all levels.
• Proven ability to influence technical direction without relying solely on formal authority.
• Track record of mentoring engineers, fostering collaboration and building a culture of feedback and continuous improvement.
• Comfortable working both independently and collaboratively, balancing strategic thinking with hands‑on execution.
• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering or a related field.

What We Offer

Full Relocation and Onboarding Support

• Visa sponsorship for you and your family.
• Flights, settling‑in allowance and temporary housing.
• Dedicated relocation and settling‑in advisors.
• Relocation buddy program and community events.

Family Expat Benefits

• Partner and children support (school search, legal etc.).
• International health insurance.
• Flexible home visit support.

Agoda Perks

• Hybrid working (Bangkok HQ).
• Professional growth and learning budget.
• Employee resource groups for every culture and background.

Equal Opportunity Employer

At Agoda, we pride ourselves on being a company represented by people of all different backgrounds and orientations. We prioritize attracting diverse talent and cultivating an inclusive environment that encourages collaboration and innovation. Employment at Agoda is based solely on a person’s merit and qualifications. We are committed to providing equal employment opportunity regardless of sex, age, race, color, national origin, religion, marital status, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, citizenship, veteran or military status and other legally protec