About us: At Booking.com, data drives our decisions. Technology is at our core. And innovation is everywhere. But our company is more than datasets, lines of code or A/B tests. We’re the thrill of the first night in a new place. The excitement of the next morning. The friends you encounter. The journeys you take. The sights you see. And the memories you make. Through our products, partners and people, we make it easier for everyone to experience the world
About the team: Booking.com (USA), Inc, one of the support companies in the United States, is seeking a full time Software Engineer in Washington, DC for the Data Production & Compliance track of the Data and Machine Learning department. The teams in our track engineer the automation behind Booking’s Data Governance and Compliance ecosystem. We build scalable solutions to discover and classify assets (including ML/AI), enforce data protection policies, and provide Legal and Compliance stakeholders with real-time visibility into the company's risk posture.
Role Description: This role offers a fantastic opportunity to get involved in Data/ML/AI and apply it to the Data Privacy and Data Governance domains. You will build the technical foundation that allows our data ecosystem to scale safely and responsibly. You won’t just be maintaining compliance; you will be engineering the automation engine that governs it. In this role, you will collaborate closely with Privacy teams in our department and across the wider business to translate complex requirements into scalable software solutions. You will move the company away from manual stewardship by treating "Policy as Code"—building intelligent tools that detect risks and enforce protection standards in real-time. You will partner with our ML Scientists and leverage Booking's AI tech stack to solve challenging problems—using advanced techniques to automate the classification and monitoring of our Services and Data/ML/AI assets.
Key Job Responsibilities and Duties:
- Engineer Governance Automation: Develop scalable services that automatically classify data and ML assets, reducing the manual burden on data stewards.
- Enhance Data Discovery: Build and maintain high-performance metadata registries that ensure all data assets and services are easily discoverable and up-to-date.
- Implement "Policy as Code": Design distinct mechanisms to monitor and programmatically enforce data protection policies across the entire engineering organization.
- Drive Risk Visibility: Create APIs and dashboards that aggregate complex governance data into clear, actionable insights for Legal, Privacy, and Risk stakeholders.
Important aspects of the job include:
- Take initiative to address the larger technical needs of the product you work on and always keep the customer at the center of everything you do.
- Promote and drive impactful and innovative engineering solutions.
- Advocate for best engineering practices within the team.
- Act as an intermediary for problems, with both technical and non-technical audiences.
- Contribute to the growth of Booking.com through interviewing, on-boarding, or other recruitment efforts.
- Represent Booking.com values, both within the company and in the external community.
- Technical, behavioral and interpersonal competence advancement via on-the-job opportunities, experimental projects, hackathons, conferences, and active community participation.
Role Qualifications and Requirements:
- Engineering Foundation: 3+ years of experience in software development in Java, NodeJS and/or Python, with a strong focus on backend systems, data engineering, or platform engineering.
- Data Governance Knowledge: Familiarity with concepts like data catalogs, lineage, classification, GDPR/CCPA, or PII protection is a strong plus.
- Automation Mindset: Demonstrated experience building tools that automate manual workflows (e.g., policy enforcement, data tagging) rather than just maintaining existing pipelines.
- Stakeholder Collaboration: Ability to translate complex legal or compliance requirements (from Legal/Risk teams) into technical specifications and scalable software solutions.
- System Design: Experience designing distributed systems that are observable, reliable, and capable of scanning/processing large volumes of metadata across diverse assets (Services, ML models, AI).
Benefits & Perks - Global Impact, Personal Relevance:
Booking.com’s Total Rewards Philosophy is not only about compensation but also about benefits. We offer a competitive compensation and benefits package, as well unique-to-Booking.com benefits which include:
- Medical, life, and disability insurance*
- Annual paid time off and generous paid leave scheme including: parent, grandparent, bereavement, sick, and care leave.
- Industry leading product discounts for yourself, friends, and family, including automatic Genius Level 3 status.
- Free access to online learning platforms, mentorship programs, and a complimentary Headspace membership.
- Collaborative, friendly and diverse culture.
- Referral Program.
- This role does not come with relocation assistance.
- This role does not come with visa assistance.
- For Washington, DC this role will have a salary range of: $191,600 - $212,900.
- Additional Annual or Quarterly bonus potential (role dependent).
- *Please note that while our philosophy is the same in every location, benefits may differ by office/country.
Should you require accommodation to meet the essential functions of this job, please let us know.
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) at Booking.com:
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion have been a core part of our company culture since day one. This ongoing journey starts with our very own employees, who represent over 140 nationalities and a wide range of ethnic and social backgrounds, genders and sexual orientations.
Take it from our Chief People Officer, Paulo Pisano: “At Booking.com, the diversity of our people doesn’t just build an outstanding workplace, it also creates a better and more inclusive travel experience for everyone. Inclusion is at the heart of everything we do. It’s a place where you can make your mark and have a real impact in travel and tech.”
We ensure that colleagues with disabilities are provided the adjustments and tools they need to participate in the job application and interview process, to perform crucial job functions, and to receive other benefits and privileges of employment.
Application Process:
- Let’s go places together: How we Hire.
- This role does not come with relocation assistance.
Booking.com is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace and is an affirmative action employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability, age, or veteran status. We strive to move well beyond traditional equal opportunity and work to create an environment that allows
Pre-Employment Screening
If your application is successful, your personal data may be used for a pre-employment screening check by a third party as permitted by applicable law. Depending on the vacancy and applicable law, a pre-employment screening may include employment history, education and other information (such as media information) that may be necessary for determining your qualifications and suitability for the position.