Senior Software Engineer I - GenAI/NLP

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. Leadership/Team Quote: The opening is for the Generative AI NLP Team in the Central Tech department. The team is responsible for enabling ML decisioning for personalized recommendations across the site, and taking a key role in the new GenAI project - The Trip Planner. You’ll work with top notch engineers and data scientists from the team on bringing it to the next level and enabling optimal user experience. Role Description: The NLP (Natural Language Processing) Service handles a variety of tasks performed by LLMs, enabling functionalities like natural conversational flows, personalized GenAI-driven content, processing unstructured natural language inputs, and more. It is designed to understand user text, performing tasks such as intent classification, content moderation, and structured data extraction. Key Job Responsibilities and Duties: Leading the design of complex systems, ensuring scalability, maintainability, and high performance. Making architectural decisions that align with business requirements and technical constraints. Providing guidance and mentorship to junior and mid-level engineers. Conducting code reviews, sharing best practices, and helping develop the technical skills of the team. Writing clean, maintainable, and efficient code. Ensuring code quality by implementing tests and adhering to coding standards and design patterns. Working closely with cross-functional teams, including product managers, and other engineering teams, to align technical development with business goals. Staying up-to-date with the latest technologies and best practices. Actively contributing to improving processes, performance, and technical solutions. Driving innovation within the team or organization. Qualifications & Skills: Minimum of 6 years software development experience; using Python as a server side programming language. Python is a must have, other languages such as Java, Scala, C, C#, etc. are an advantage Previous experience with distributed systems, such as Hadoop Demonstrable experience with MySQL or similar relational databases Hands on experience of developing in and contributing to open source data technologies is an advantage Experience of working on products that impact a large customer base is an advantage Preferably a university degree in Mathematics or Software Engineering Excellent communication; written and spoken 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: Annual paid time off and generous paid leave scheme including: parent, grandparent, bereavement, and care leave Hybrid working including flexible working arrangements, and up to 20 days per year working from abroad (home country) Industry leading product discounts - up to 1400 per year - for yourself, including automatic Genius Level 3 status and Booking.com wallet credit 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 not come with relocation 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.