Software Development Engineer III, Advertising Technology

Expedia Group brands power global travel for everyone, everywhere. We design cutting-edge tech to make travel smoother and more memorable, and we create groundbreaking solutions for our partners. Our diverse, vibrant, and welcoming community is essential in driving our success.

Why Join Us? To shape the future of travel, people must come first. Guided by our Values and Leadership Agreements, we foster an open culture where everyone belongs, differences are celebrated and know that when one of us wins, we all win.

We provide a full benefits package, including exciting travel perks, generous time-off, parental leave, a flexible work model (with some pretty cool offices), and career development resources, all to fuel our employees' passion for travel and ensure a rewarding career journey. We’re building a more open world. Join us.

Software Development Engineer III, Advertising Technology

Introduction to the team

Expedia Group Advertising builds the platforms and experiences that connect advertisers with millions of travelers across the globe. Our mission is to help partners reach the right traveler with the right message at the right time — through intuitive advertiser experiences, high-performance ad delivery systems, and intelligent, AI-powered optimization.

We’re seeking a Software Development Engineer III to join our Advertising Technology team. You’ll build and operate real-time ad delivery systems that power ad ranking, auctions, bidding, and budget enforcement at scale. These services sit on the critical path of ad delivery, where low latency, correctness, and reliability directly impact revenue, advertiser ROI, and traveler experience.

You’ll work with Product, Machine Learning, Data Science, and Platform teams to integrate with APIs and microservices, bring ML-driven signals into high-throughput backend services, and scale the platform as the business grows.

In this role, you will:

• Optimize bidding, ranking and pacing for guaranteed and non-guaranteed ad delivery to surface more relevant ads and expand advertiser reach to travelers

• Build and scale systems that support ad serving and ad selection across Expedia Group’s advertising network

• Apply strong software design principles, algorithms, and data structures to build scalable, low-latency, high-throughput services.

• Work closely with Product, ML data scientists and data teams on features such as relevance optimization, targeting, and performance modeling

• Advocate for high-quality code, automated testing, and strong observability practices

• Participate in operational reviews and drive continuous improvement

• Mentor junior engineers, lead design discussions, and help elevate the technical bar of the team

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor's or Master’s degree in Computer Science or a related technical field

• 5+ years of experience in backend software development

• Experience working with data-driven systems, ML-powered features, or A/B experimentation platforms

• Strong proficiency in at least one modern programming language (e.g., Java, Kotlin)

• Experience building and deploying backend APIs (e.g. gRPC) and streaming or batch data processing services (e.g., Flink, Spark) in cloud environments

• Solid understanding of distributed systems, data flows, and operational best practices

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience with search and retrieval systems, including relevance ranking, vector databases, embeddings, or AI/semantic search

• Experience designing and implementing agent-to-agent (A2A) and multi-agent AI systems

• Background in ads, marketplaces, e-commerce, or travel platforms

The total cash range for this position in Chicago is $136,000.00 to $190,500.00. Employees in this role have the potential to increase their pay up to $217,500.00, which is the top of the range, based on ongoing, demonstrated, and sustained performance in the role.

The total cash range for this position in Seattle is $146,000.00 to $204,500.00. Employees in this role have the potential to increase their pay up to $233,500.00, which is the top of the range, based on ongoing, demonstrated, and sustained performance in the role.

Starting pay for this role will vary based on multiple factors, including location, available budget, and an individual’s knowledge, skills, and experience. Pay ranges may be modified in the future.

Expedia Group is proud to offer a wide range of benefits to support employees and their families, including medical/dental/vision, paid time off, and an Employee Assistance Program. To fuel each employee’s passion for travel, we offer a wellness & travel reimbursement, travel discounts, and an International Airlines Travel Agent (IATAN) membership. View our full list of benefits.

Accommodation requests If you need assistance with any part of the application or recruiting process due to a disability, or other physical or mental health conditions, please reach out to our Recruiting Accommodations Team through the Accommodation Request.

We are proud to be named as a Best Place to Work on Glassdoor in 2024 and be recognized for award-winning culture by organizations like Forbes, TIME, Disability:IN, and others.

Expedia Group's family of brands includes: Brand Expedia®, Hotels.com®, Expedia® Partner Solutions, Vrbo®, trivago®, Orbitz®, Travelocity®, Hotwire®, Wotif®, ebookers®, CheapTickets®, Expedia Group™ Media Solutions, Expedia Local Expert®, CarRentals.com™, and Expedia Cruises™. © 2024 Expedia, Inc. All rights reserved. Trademarks and logos are the property of their respective owners. CST: 2029030-50

Employment opportunities and job offers at Expedia Group will always come from Expedia Group’s Talent Acquisition and hiring teams. Never provide sensitive, personal information to someone unless you’re confident who the recipient is. Expedia Group does not extend job offers via email or any other messaging tools to individuals with whom we have not made prior contact. Our email domain is @expediagroup.com. The official website to find and apply for job openings at Expedia Group is careers.expediagroup.com/jobs.

Expedia is committed to creating an inclusive work environment with a diverse workforce. 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. This employer participates in E-Verify. The employer will provide the Social Security Administration (SSA) and, if necessary, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) with information from each new employee's I-9 to confirm work authorization.