Senior Engineering Manager

KAYAK

Senior Engineering Manager at KAYAK leading engineering teams to modernize backend infrastructure and deploy strategies. Focused on building efficient systems for global travel search engine services.

Posted 7/2/2026full-timeKaunas • 🇱🇹 LithuaniaSenior💰 €7,080 - €7,900 per monthWebsite

Tech Stack

Tools & technologies

CloudDistributed SystemsJavaKubernetesMicroservicesSpringSpring BootSpringBoot

About the role

Key responsibilities & impact

Lead and mentor a team of senior backend engineers and principals, providing technical guidance, performance feedback, and career development support.
Own the team’s technical roadmap, aligning priorities with engineering leadership to support the broader platform strategy.
Drive adoption of modern backend infrastructure practices to improve reliability, scalability, and developer velocity.
Champion backend architecture decisions by leading design reviews and collaborating with technical leaders across engineering.
Set and enforce engineering best practices for coding, testing, code coverage, and deployment quality.
Manage day-to-day team operations by removing blockers, balancing the backlog, and maintaining high standards for reliability and security.
Collaborate with engineering managers from other teams and cross-functional stakeholders to resolve dependencies and support product teams across the company.
Monitor team health and delivery metrics, identifying risks early and adjusting priorities as needed.
Recruit and onboard backend engineering talent to support the platform roadmap.

Requirements

What you’ll need

8+ years of backend or platform software development experience, with strong knowledge of distributed systems and service architecture.
Experience leading or managing backend engineers, including senior engineers or technical leaders, with a strong track record in performance management, coaching, and team development.
Hands-on experience with Kubernetes and cloud-native infrastructure.
Solid understanding of modern CI/CD practices, deployment quality, release engineering, and operating production systems at scale.
Strong knowledge of API design, microservices patterns, and backend frameworks. Java and Spring Boot experience are a plus but not a necessity.
Confidence with observability and monitoring tooling, with a track record of improving production reliability and operational excellence.
Strong project leadership skills and the ability to prioritise across competing roadmap, technical debt, and cross-team demands.
Excellent communication skills, with experience collaborating across cross-functional teams and influencing technical decisions beyond your own team.
Professional proficiency in written and spoken English.
A degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a related field — or equivalent practical experience.

Benefits

Comp & perks

Work from (almost) anywhere for up to 20 days per year
Funds for your career growth
Access to thousands of on-demand e-learnings
Generous additional Health Insurance
Flexible sick time off
Additional financial support for your sick leave
Additional day off on your birthday
Company-wide vacation week once a year (winter holidays)
Additional financial support during parental leave
Free lunch twice a week and daily snacks at the office
Free yoga twice a week
Paid volunteering time
No meeting Fridays
Office and team events such as summer camp, KAYAK birthday, winter party and more!
Company-paid therapy sessions through SpringHealth
Company-paid subscription to HeadSpace
Internal Communities

ATS Keywords

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Applicant Tracking System Keywords

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Hard Skills & Tools

Distributed SystemsService ArchitectureMicroservices PatternsJavaSpring Boot

Soft Skills

Performance ManagementCoachingExcellent Communication