# Software Development Engineer III, Advertising Technology
At Expedia Group, we help travelers explore the world, one journey at a time. As a global travel company powered by passionate people, trusted partnerships, and leading technology, we connect travelers, partners, and advertisers through our consumer brands, B2B network, and travel advertising business.
Introduction to the team
Expedia Group Advertising builds the platforms and experiences that connect advertisers with millions of travelers across the globe. Our mission is to help partners reach the right traveler with the right message at the right time — through intuitive advertiser experiences, high-performance ad delivery systems, and intelligent, AI-powered optimization.
We're seeking a Software Development Engineer III to join our Advertising Technology team. You'll build and operate real-time ad delivery systems that power ad ranking, auctions, bidding, and budget enforcement at scale. These services sit on the critical path of ad delivery, where low latency, correctness, and reliability directly impact revenue, advertiser ROI, and traveler experience.
You'll work with Product, Machine Learning, Data Science, and Platform teams to integrate with APIs and microservices, bring ML-driven signals into high-throughput backend services, and scale the platform as the business grows.
In this role, you will:
•Optimize bidding, ranking and pacing for guaranteed and non-guaranteed ad delivery to surface more relevant ads and expand advertiser reach to travelers
•Build and scale systems that support ad serving and ad selection across Expedia Group's advertising network
•Apply strong software design principles, algorithms, and data structures to build scalable, low-latency, high-throughput services
•Work closely with Product, ML data scientists and data teams on features such as relevance optimization, targeting, and performance modeling
•Advocate for high-quality code, automated testing, and strong observability practices
•Participate in operational reviews and drive continuous improvement
•Mentor junior engineers, lead design discussions, and help elevate the technical bar of the team
Minimum Qualifications:
•Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science or a related technical field
•5+ years of experience in backend software development
•Experience working with data-driven systems, ML-powered features, or A/B experimentation platforms
•Strong proficiency in Java or Kotlin
•Experience building and deploying backend APIs (e.g. gRPC) and streaming or batch data processing services (e.g., Flink, Spark) in cloud environments
•Solid understanding of distributed systems, data flows, and operational best practices
Preferred Qualifications:
•Experience with search and retrieval systems, including relevance ranking, vector databases, embeddings, or AI/semantic search
•Experience designing and implementing agent-to-agent (A2A) and multi-agent AI systems
•Background in ads, marketplaces, e-commerce, or travel platforms
Location
Please note that this role is only available in Chicago, IL, in alignment with our flexible work model, which requires employees to be in the office at least three days a week. We are unable to offer relocation assistance for this role.
The total cash range for this position in Chicago is $136,000.00 to $190,500.00. Employees in this role have the potential to increase their pay up to $217,500.00, which is the top of the range, based on ongoing, demonstrated, and sustained performance in the role.
The total cash range for this position in Seattle is $146,000.00 to $204,500.00. Employees in this role have the potential to increase their pay up to $233,500.00, which is the top of the range, based on ongoing, demonstrated, and sustained performance in the role.
Starting pay for this role will vary based on multiple factors, including location, available budget, and an individual's knowledge, skills, and experience. Pay ranges may be modified in the future.
Benefits and perks
Expedia Group offers benefits and perks designed to support employees and their families, including medical, dental, and vision coverage, paid time off, an Employee Assistance Program, wellness and travel reimbursement, travel discounts, and International Airlines Travel Agent Network (IATAN) membership.
About Expedia Group
Expedia Group includes three flagship consumer brands - Expedia, Hotels.com, and Vrbo - along with a leading B2B travel business and travel advertising offerings. Across our brands and business, we help travelers explore the world with confidence and ease.
