Description :
Role : Director of Engineering Hotels Platform
Marketplace Systems Ranking Pricing Supply Platform
The Problem Space :
Hotels is not a listings platform. It is a living marketplace. At any given second, hundreds of thousands of properties are competing for placement on a screen.
Prices are dynamic, inventory is finite, and the window between intent and booking is measured in seconds.
The system must simultaneously solve supply aggregation, real-time pricing, personalized ranking, and transactional integrity at national scale.
- Millions of properties dynamic pricing real-time inventory signals
- Multi-supplier aggregation : OTA contracts, direct connects, B2B wholesale
- Ranking must balance relevance, conversion probability, and commercial objectives
- Every mismatch between displayed price and booked price is a trust failure
We are rebuilding Hotels as an AI-native, supply-intelligent marketplace one that understands demand signals, personalizes results at depth, and prices dynamically without sacrificing integrity.
What You Will Own :
Supply & Aggregation Layer :
- Multi-source hotel inventory aggregation - OTAs, direct APIs, XML feeds, and proprietary supply
- Real-time availability and pricing sync across thousands of suppliers
- Rate parity monitoring, supplier reconciliation, and contract enforcement logic
Pricing & Yield Engine :
- Dynamic rate computation across room types, date ranges, and fare classes
- Promotional and discount logic - coupon stacking, loyalty pricing, B2B negotiated rates
- Price integrity systems - ensuring the displayed price is always the bookable price
Search & Ranking :
- High-throughput property search with geo, amenity, and availability filtering
- ML-powered ranking models - blending relevance, conversion signals, and revenue optimization
- Personalization layer - surfacing the right property for the right traveler at the right moment
Booking & Post-Booking :
- Transactional booking systems - voucher generation, confirmation, and supplier push
- Modification, cancellation, and refund flows - navigating complex supplier policies programmatically
AI-First Marketplace Intelligence :
- LLM-powered property discovery - natural language search and contextual recommendations
- Demand forecasting and dynamic pricing intelligence
- AI-driven review synthesis and trust signal extraction
- Agentic complaint resolution and post-booking support Engineering Challenges :
- Supply Quality vs. Breadth - more suppliers means more pricing noise; quality gates matter
- Ranking Fairness vs. Monetization - ranking must serve the user first, or conversion collapses
- Cache Freshness vs. Availability - stale inventory causes failed bookings at checkout
- Personalization Depth vs. Cold-Start - new users need great results without history
Key Responsibilities :
- Design and evolve the end-to-end Hotels platform architecture supply to post-booking
- Own ranking and pricing systems that directly drive GMV and conversion
- Lead supplier integration strategy - prioritizing reliability, data quality, and commercial alignment
- Partner with Revenue, Supply, and Product teams to translate marketplace economics into systems
- Build and lead teams of 1530+ engineers across platform and product verticals
Technology Stack : - Backend : Java/Kotlin/Go
- Search & Ranking : Elasticsearch ML Feature Stores
- Data : Redis Kafka DynamoDB Aerospike
- Cloud : AWS (EKS, S3, EC2)
- Observability : Prometheus Grafana OpenTelemetry
Who You Are : - 10 - 16 years in backend/distributed systems; experience in Marketplace, OTA, or Supply Chain platforms
- Deep understanding of supply-demand dynamics, ranking systems, and pricing mechanics
- Track record of leading large engineering teams in high-growth, high-scale environments
- Tier-I institute background strongly preferred (IIT / IIIT / NIT / IISC / BITS - CSE/ISE)
Why This Matters : - Build the supply intelligence layer that powers hotel discovery for 100M+ travelers
- Design a marketplace that is fair, fast, and commercially intelligent
- Define AI-native hospitality commerce from the ground up
(ref:hirist.tech)