Sr. Software Engineer, Backend at Navan

<p>Navan is building the next generation of intelligent travel experiences, where loyalty, personalization, and AI agents help travelers make better decisions before, during, and after every trip. As a Senior Software Engineer (Backend), you’ll drive the technical vision, architecture, and execution for the highly available, distributed services that form the backbone of Navan’s global travel and expense platform.</p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><strong>What You’ll Do:</strong></span></p> <ul> <li><strong>Architect Core Backend Systems:</strong> Design, build, and scale high-performance, fault-tolerant microservices that process millions of travel and expense transactions globally.</li> <li><strong>Lead Technical Initiatives:</strong> Drive complex, cross-functional engineering projects from conception to deployment, making critical architectural trade-offs and setting technical standards for the wider backend organization.</li> <li><strong>Optimize Performance &amp; Reliability:</strong> Build robust APIs, asynchronous event-driven architectures, and scalable data pipelines with a relentless focus on low latency, high availability, and operational excellence.</li> <li><strong>Collaborate Cross-Functionally:</strong> Partner closely with product management, engineering leadership, data, and platform teams to translate ambiguous business requirements into cohesive, enterprise-grade technical solutions.</li> <li><strong>Raise the Engineering Bar:</strong> Champion maintainable code, thoughtful abstractions, and rigorous testing. Act as a force multiplier by mentoring engineers, leading architecture reviews, and fostering a culture of strong operational ownership.</li> </ul> <h3><strong>What We’re Looking For:</strong></h3> <ul> <li><strong>6+ years</strong> of software engineering experience building and operating highly scalable, distributed production systems at an enterprise or global scale.</li> <li>Deep technical expertise in backend engineering stacks such as <strong>Java, TypeScript/Node.js, Python, or Go</strong>, alongside a strong mastery of engineering fundamentals.</li> <li>Extensive hands-on experience designing microservices, complex APIs, event-driven workflows (e.g., Kafka, RabbitMQ), caching strategies, and distributed databases.</li> <li>Proven track record of driving technical vision and leading the architecture of large, multi-team projects from inception through to successful production rollouts.</li> <li>Exceptional skills in systems observability, production debugging, and ensuring the reliability of critical Tier 1 services.</li> <li>Product mindset with the ability to balance immediate product delivery with long-term technical health and scalability.</li> <li>Experience with travel platforms, fintech, payment processing, or complex financial ledgers is a strong plus.</li> </ul><div class="content-pay-transparency"><div class="pay-input"><div class="description">The posted pay range represents the&nbsp;anticipated&nbsp;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.<br><br>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.</div><div class="title">Pay Range</div><div class="pay-range"><span>$113,400</span><span class="divider">&mdash;</span><span>$252,000 USD</span></div></div></div><div class="content-conclusion"><p>&nbsp;</p> <p>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.&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Human oversight:</strong>&nbsp;<span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">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.&nbsp;</span></p> <ul> <li> <p><strong>Your rights: </strong>If you prefer to have your application reviewed without AI assistance, you may request a human evaluation by entering your email <a href="https://my.metaview.app/applications/opt-out?organization=15dd7e883f">here</a>. Your decision to do so will not affect how your candidacy is evaluated.&nbsp;</p> </li> </ul> <p>Please refer to our<a href="https://navan.com/candidate-privacy-notice"> Candidate Privacy Notice</a> for more information about our processing of personal data, and your rights.</p></div>