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Senior AI Application Software Engineer (For independent contractors)

Booking.com

Amsterdam
Contractor
5-10 years experience
On-site

Key Skills

Software Architecture
System Design
Generative AI
AI Agents
Multi-Agent Orchestration
OpenAI
Anthropic Claude
Model Context Protocol (MCP)
API Integration
Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG)
Context and State Management
AI Evaluation and Observability
Guardrails and Human-in-the-Loop
Python
TypeScript/JavaScript
Production Engineering

Job Description

At Booking.com, the CBO Office supports strategic and operational execution across the Chief Business Officer organisation, working across CBO departments and corporate functions. It brings together Business Operations, Change Management and Program Management to help the organisation prioritise, plan and govern major initiatives, enable business change and improve cross-functional delivery. We are looking for a senior engineer to architect and develop AI-powered, agentic solutions across these three disciplines. Today, we have a collection of AI use cases and early solutions. The ambition is to evolve these into a coherent and scalable product ecosystem rather than a collection of disconnected AI applications, identifying common technical capabilities that can be reused across workflows while supporting the specific needs of each craft. The engineer will help determine the right architecture for this ecosystem, including how agents, shared services, enterprise knowledge and data, and existing systems can progressively work together through agentic and multi-agent solutions. We are looking for someone with a strong Software Engineering and solution architecture background, combined with hands-on experience developing GenAI and agentic applications. The person should have practical experience building agents and multi-agent workflows using platforms such as OpenAI/ChatGPT and Anthropic/Claude. Experience with MCP/tool integrations, RAG and grounding, context management, agent orchestration, APIs, evaluation, observability, guardrails and human-in-the-loop patterns is particularly relevant. The engineer should be comfortable using AI-assisted development tools such as Codex and Claude Code and be able to take solutions from rapid prototypes to secure, reliable, maintainable and production-ready applications, rather than focusing only on experimentation. The engineer will work closely with the Product Manager, programme lead, domain experts and Booking.com technology teams to translate product requirements into technical designs and working solutions. Experience with Project and Program Management workflows and enterprise productivity systems such as Jira, Confluence, Google Workspace and Slack is valuable. This is primarily an AI application and architecture role, not an ML research role. The focus is on applying existing AI models and enterprise platforms to real business workflows rather than training foundation models. Key Responsibilities Architect, build and productionise AI-powered applications, agents and multi-agent workflows. Translate business needs and product requirements into technical designs, prototypes and production-ready solutions. Identify and build reusable capabilities and common patterns across use cases and crafts. Design agent orchestration, retrieval/grounding, context and state management, tool calling and MCP-based integrations. Integrate solutions with relevant enterprise knowledge, data and systems through approved APIs and platforms. Implement appropriate evaluation, observability, guardrails, access controls and human-in-the-loop mechanisms. Own solutions end-to-end, including code quality, testing, security, deployment, monitoring, reliability and documentation. Rapidly prototype and evaluate technologies and architectures to validate feasibility and inform technical decisions. Work with Booking.com technology, platform and security teams to align with enterprise standards and avoid isolated solutions. Contribute to the technical roadmap and operating model required to maintain, support and scale the solutions. These responsibilities fit well with the Booking.com SWE framework's emphasis on end-to-end ownership, software-system design and architectural guidance, including evaluating architecture against business and technology requirements and designing for future evolution. Required Skills & Experience Minimum 5 years of professional experience as a Software Engineer, ideally in backend, full-stack, application or platform engineering. Strong software architecture and system-design experience. Hands-on experience building GenAI and agentic applications, ideally in production. Practical experience with AI agents and orchestration, preferably including multi-agent systems. Experience with OpenAI/ChatGPT, Anthropic/Claude or comparable LLM platforms. Experience with MCP/tool calling, APIs and enterprise system integrations. Experience with RAG, retrieval, grounding, context engineering and state/memory management. Experience with AI evaluation, observability, guardrails and human-in-the-loop patterns. Strong application-development experience, ideally with Python and/or TypeScript/JavaScript. Strong software-engineering fundamentals: testing, APIs, security, CI/CD, monitoring, version control and production operations. Experience taking solutions from prototype/PoC to reliable, maintainable production software. Ability to work effectively with Product Managers, business stakeholders, domain experts and technical teams. Desirable Experience Experience designing multi-agent or agent-as-tool architectures. Experience with Claude Code, Codex or comparable agentic development tools. Enterprise knowledge/search and productivity systems, including Jira, Confluence, Google Workspace and Slack. Project/Program Management, Change Management or Business Operations workflows. Experience building AI solutions that can take actions in external systems, including appropriate permission and approval controls. Experience in large-scale, privacy-sensitive or regulated enterprise environments. What This Role Is Not This is not primarily a Data Engineering, Data Science or Machine Learning research role. The core requirement is a strong Software Engineer and architect who can apply existing AI capabilities to real enterprise workflows, integrate them with enterprise systems and take them into secure, reliable and maintainable production.

Core Responsibilities

Architect, build, and productionize AI applications and agent workflows, integrating them with enterprise knowledge, data, and systems. Develop reusable capabilities and own solutions end to end, including evaluation, security, deployment, monitoring, reliability, and documentation.

Requirements

Requires at least five years of software engineering experience, strong architecture and system-design skills, and hands-on experience building GenAI and agentic applications. Candidates should be proficient in application engineering and production practices, with experience in LLM platforms, orchestration, integrations, retrieval and grounding, evaluation, and collaboration with business and technical stakeholders.

About Booking.com

Industry: Software Development

Company size: 10,001+ employees

A career at Booking.com is all about the journey, helping you explore new challenges in a place where you can be your best self. With plenty of exciting twists, turns and opportunities along the way. We’ve always been pioneers, on a mission to shape the future of travel through cutting edge technology, to make it easier for everyone to enjoy amazing experiences wherever they go. Under a desert sky, or in the heart of a bustling city. Discovering the perfect hideaway, or the perfect paella. When you join us, you’ll be part of a community where taking a different path and trying something new is celebrated and supported. And where making a difference counts. We’re determined to make the world of travel more sustainable, more accessible, and more inclusive, to create a positive impact on a global scale. That’s why we’re always looking for people who search for better solutions, the ones eager to stray off the beaten path to find new ways of doing things. Because at Booking.com it’s more than a job, it’s a journey we’re on together.

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