Navan

Staff Backend Software Engineer, Flights

New York, NY · Work style not stated

Apply on the employer’s site ↗See how well you match this job

You apply directly with the employer. ROLIVA does not submit applications from this page and is not the employer.

About the role

Description from the employer’s posting. Check the employer’s page for the current version.

EmployerNavan
LocationNew York, NY
Work styleWork style not stated
Employer posted3 months ago

At Navan, “It’s all about the user. All of them.” We’re passionate about providing a seamless one-stop experience for business travelers, no matter how they travel, where they stay, or where they’re going. Our engineers work closely with product managers, designers, and data scientists to build innovative tools and services that provide a frictionless, efficient, and enjoyable traveler experience.

This is a unique opportunity that combines the hyper-growth, fast-paced environment of a startup, with the perks, opportunity size, and impact of an established company. Our teams are at the forefront of the next-generation of modern airline retailing.

As a Staff Backend Software Engineer in the Flights group, you’ll play an essential part in building and scaling the next-generation flight platform, Navan’s flagship product that drives global business growth. This is a high-scale, complex environment where your work will impact customers worldwide. You’ll solve challenging problems, collaborate with engineers, product managers, and designers across the globe, and contribute to a platform trusted by major enterprises.

Show full description

As a technical leader and contributor on the Flights team, you will partner closely with other engineers to drive change and improve systems and developer experience. Although you will be at one of our highest levels of seniority, all individual contributors are expected to be hands-on and contribute code.

What You’ll Do:

Build at Scale: Act as a prolific individual contributor while providing technical leadership and mentorship to engineers across the team. Design and develop robust, high-performance architecture and services that support our flagship product globally.
Champion a Product Mindset: Cultivate a deep understanding of our customers' needs and strive for excellence in the customer experience, translating user insights into seamless, high-performance technical realities.
Solve Complex and Ambiguous Problems: Apply deep technical expertise and creativity to turn highly ambiguous problem spaces into clear, actionable technical solutions, addressing large-scale engineering challenges, and driving improvements in reliability, performance, and user experience.
Deliver End-to-End Business Impact: Own critical features end-to-end. Collaborate closely with product managers and designers, ship high-impact features, monitor their operational health, and ensure key technical decisions directly drive exceptional quality, user value, and positive business outcomes.
Collaborate Across Teams: Work effectively as part of a global, cross-functional team, partnering with fellow engineers, product managers, designers, and business leaders to deliver impactful solutions and elevate team performance.
Elevate Engineering Culture: Champion engineering excellence, setting the standard for code quality, scalability, documentation, and testing. Mentor team members to foster continuous growth and technical mastery.

What We're Looking For:

10+ years of experience building and scaling complex systems in fast-paced, high-growth, or large-scale environments.
A strong product mindset with genuine empathy for the user and a relentless drive to deliver an exceptional customer experience.
A proven track record as a hands-on coder who balances high-volume, high-quality code output with technical leadership.
In-depth experience with Java, Spring Boot, and AWS (or other cloud provider), including a deep understanding of JVM performance, optimization, and cloud architecture.
Strong expertise in distributed systems, microservices, and API design.
Ownership mentality with a record of delivering production-quality, maintainable code, and supporting features post-release through monitoring and troubleshooting.
Demonstrated ability to operate comfortably in highly ambiguous environments, thinking creatively to develop and implement solutions.
Collaborative team player able to work effectively with global, cross-functional partners.
Commitment to engineering excellence across the software development lifecycle.
Problem-solving mindset with a passion for tackling technically demanding and customer-impacting challenges.
Domain knowledge in the travel industry (flights, bookings, or inventory management) is a strong plus.
Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field, or equivalent hands-on experience.

The posted pay range represents the anticipated low and high end of the compensation for this position and is subject to change based on business need. To determine a successful candidate’s starting pay, we carefully consider a variety of factors, including primary work location, an evaluation of the candidate’s skills and experience, market demands, and internal parity.

For roles with on-target-earnings (OTE), the pay range includes both base salary and target incentive compensation. Target incentive compensation for some roles may include a ramping draw period. Compensation is higher for those who exceed targets. Candidates may receive more information from the recruiter.

Pay Range

$129,600—$288,000 USD

Navan uses AI-assisted Automated Employment Decision Tool (Metaview) to assist with evaluating resumes against job qualifications for this role. All final decisions are made by human recruiters and hiring managers.

Human oversight:Metaview does not automatically reject candidates or make final hiring decisions. Our recruiters and hiring managers review all outputs and make the final hiring decision regarding every application.

Your rights: If you prefer to have your application reviewed without AI assistance, you may request a human evaluation by entering your email here. Your decision to do so will not affect how your candidacy is evaluated.

Please refer to our Candidate Privacy Notice for more information about our processing of personal data, and your rights.

See how well you match this job Apply on the employer’s site ↗

Check your resume against this job Free, no sign-up. Nothing you paste is stored.

Staying safe while you apply

Never pay to apply, interview or accept an offer. ROLIVA never asks you for payment to apply to a job.
Apply only through the official “Apply on the employer’s site” button, on the employer’s own site, and check that a recruiter’s email uses that employer’s own domain rather than a free email address.
Be cautious of an offer made with no real interview, or pressure to decide quickly or share financial details early.

Does something look wrong with this listing? Use “Report broken link” in the role details, or read ROLIVA’s full job-safety guidance ↗.

Preparing for this role with ROLIVA

Check the fit.
Compare the requirements with the experience you have confirmed, including gaps.
Prepare honestly.
Build interview stories and application drafts from your own evidence.
Keep track.
Save the role and record your own application status and follow-ups.

Create a free workspace or log in.