Software Engineer II (For Independent Contractors)

Details

A Software Engineer II owns the execution of technical elements in the Booking.com technology stack, products, and processes. The role is responsible for implementing technical solutions based on business requirements, estimating effort and impact, and delivering high-quality, maintainable software. The engineer works with colleagues in other roles to design, prioritize, and implement technical tasks across product features, infrastructure automation, frameworks, tooling, and services.

Responsibilities

Building Software Applications

• Build software applications using relevant development languages, systems, services, and tools.
• Write readable and reusable code using standard patterns and libraries.
• Refactor and simplify code by introducing design patterns when necessary.
• Ensure application quality through standard testing techniques and methods aligned with the test strategy.
• Maintain data security, integrity, and quality by following company standards and best practices.

End-to-End System Ownership

• Own services end to end by monitoring application health and performance, setting relevant metrics, and responding to violations.
• Reduce business continuity risks and bus factor by applying appropriate practices and tools and writing documentation such as runbooks and OpDocs.
• Reduce risk and obtain customer feedback through continuous delivery and experimentation frameworks.
• Independently manage applications or services through deployment and production operations.

Technical Incident Management

• Address and resolve live production issues while mitigating customer impact within SLA.
• Improve system reliability through root-cause analysis and long-term solutions.
• Contribute to postmortems and maintain records of live issues.

Architectural Guidance and Software Systems Design

• Advise product teams on technical solutions that meet functional, nonfunctional, and architectural requirements.
• Evaluate and align target architecture improvements and reframe architectural designs and decisions for stakeholders.
• Evaluate architecture options based on cost, business requirements, technology requirements, and emerging technologies.
• Describe the implications of modifying existing systems or adding new systems.
• Apply engineering techniques such as prototyping, spiking, and vendor evaluation.
• Design adaptable solutions that meet current and future business requirements.

Critical Thinking and Continuous Improvement

• Identify patterns and underlying issues in complex situations and develop solutions using logical and analytical thinking.
• Objectively review and improve ideas, plans, and solutions.
• Identify opportunities for process, system, and structural improvements, including performance gains.
• Design and implement improved process flows, standards, and practices.

Communication

• Deliver clear, well-structured information using suitable communication methods and language for the audience.
• Reach mutually agreeable solutions through adaptability, clear communication, and active listening.
• Ask relevant follow-up questions to understand stakeholders and speakers effectively.

Requirements

• Experience building and maintaining software applications.
• Knowledge of software development languages, systems, services, and tools.
• Knowledge of reusable code, standard patterns, standard libraries, and design patterns.
• Experience with test automation and software quality practices.
• Understanding of data security, integrity, and quality.
• Experience with application monitoring, metrics, deployment, production operations, and service ownership.
• Knowledge of continuous delivery, experimentation frameworks, incident management, root-cause analysis, and postmortems.
• Understanding of software architecture, system design, technical requirements, and emerging technologies.
• Strong logical thinking, problem-solving, communication, and active-listening skills.