We’re looking for a Java Backend Developer

We’re looking for a mid-level Java developer to join our backend team. You'll be working building our first-of-its-kind flight-free Journey AI technology. Your code will make a difference to our team and customers daily: your impact will be direct and visible. You’ll report directly to our backend team lead Chris Smith, and work closely with the rest of the tech team, our CTO Rich Levy and across the business.

Our ideal candidate will be comfortable managing multiple tasks, staying calm under pressure, and delivering high quality code with an attention to detail. If you have a knack for turning challenges into solutions and communicating about technology in plain English, we’d love to hear from you!

We help holidaymakers love their journeys

We're not just another travel company – at Byway, we're pioneering 100% flight-free holidays with Journey AI, the world’s first tech for journey-based trips. We’re a certified B Corp committed to making flight-free travel mainstream. Since our inception in March 2020, we've booked 10,000 travellers onto unforgettable holidays, with 96% of five-star reviews. We’re growing 2-3x YoY and are regularly featured in the press, including the Guardian, BBC, and New York Times.

Your key responsibilities

• Build and develop our Journey AI technology for flight-free holidays

• Alongside an experienced team, architect, design and develop a large, complex and unique technical project (backed by a £5m Series A raise)

• Work directly in our infrastructure layer, interacting with transport and accommodation providers and taking responsibility for third party API integrations

• Participate in the product development process from start to finish, from helping scope stories & projects to measuring their success and iterating based on user feedback

• Work with non-technical members of staff to support & improve business processes with pragmatic, effective solutions

• Work on data pipelines, extracting data from databases or APIs and filtering/transforming the data into new systems

What we’re looking for

• Significant experience writing high quality multi-threaded code in Java 11/14/17/21 using Spring Boot & JPA (or similar frameworks)

• Experience calling both JSON/REST and XML/SOAP APIs

• Experience in working with SQL and writing complex queries

• A strong mathematical and/or computer science background and passing familiarity with Travelling Salesman, Knapsack and similar computational problems

• A love for systems and an ability to think through and plan for their life cycles, edge cases, interactions, and failure modes

• An ability to balance speed of iteration and quality of code: we need to build fast without compromising reliability and usability

• Excellent communication skills and an ability to convert business requirements to code and explain complex concepts to the business

What would be great (but isn’t required)

• Experience with travel and hospitality systems and/or Postgres / GIS

• Experience of front-end development and/or DevOps and agile processes

What we offer

• £55-65k salary, depending on experience

• Remote-first, flexible working

  • 80 hours whenever: flexi-working across two week periods

  • 20 days wherever: work when you like and where you like for most of the month

  • 2 days together: join us in London two days each month including our monthly social

  • A funded day a week in a co-working space

• One cost-price Byway holiday per year and agency rates with Eurostar for you and your family/friends

• 33 holidays days a year (including bank holidays) and an optional extra two days if you travel flight free with Climate Perks

• An annual Away Afternoon and optional Weekend Away.

This role is a remote first, hybrid role with 2 days per month in the office in London. You must have the legal right to work in the UK/EU and be able to get to the office flight-free for the 2 days. We are unable to sponsor visas at this time.

How to apply

Please apply here with your CV and a short covering letter. 

We’re eager to receive applications from all backgrounds, including from people of colour, the LGBTQ+ community, people with disabilities, neurodivergent people, parents, carers, and people from lower socio-economic backgrounds. If there’s anything we can do to accommodate your specific situation, please let us know.

The process

If we like your application, we’ll send over some technical questions for you to answer based on your experience to date. After that, we'll schedule a 15-minute call to tell you a bit more about the role and give you a chance to ask any questions that you might have. This would then be followed by a discussion-based problem-solving session, before the final stage interview, which would be with Chris and a member of our senior leadership team. If that goes well, we move to job offer and references!

Applications close

23rd February