Software Development Engineer III, Advertising Technology

At Expedia Group, we help travelers explore the world, one journey at a time. As a global travel company powered by passionate people, trusted partnerships, and leading technology, we connect travelers, partners, and advertisers through our consumer brands, B2B network, and travel advertising business. Our five Behaviors—Traveler First, Think Big, Operate with Excellence, Ownership Mindset, and Succeed Together—foster a supportive environment where people can grow their careers and have the flexibility, benefits, and support to do their best work.

About 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.

Responsibilities

• 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.

Requirements

• 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.

Location

This role is available in Seattle, WA, under a flexible work model requiring employees to be in the office at least three days a week. Relocation assistance is not offered for this role.

Pay

The total cash range for this position in Seattle is $146,000.00 to $204,500.00, with potential to increase up to $233,500.00 based on ongoing, demonstrated, and sustained performance. In Chicago, the range is $136,000.00 to $190,500.00, with potential to increase up to $217,500.00. Starting pay varies based on location, available budget, and an individual’s knowledge, skills, and experience.

Benefits

• Medical, dental, and vision coverage.
• Paid time off.
• Employee Assistance Program.
• Wellness and travel reimbursement.
• Travel discounts.
• International Airlines Travel Agent Network (IATAN) membership.