Senior Software Engineer (India)
About Acai Travel
Acai Travel is revolutionising the travel industry with cutting-edge AI agentic solutions for leading Airlines, OTAs, and TMCs. We're rebuilding travel with agentic software.
Our founders previously sold an AI company to American Express GBT—value for your equity is guaranteed! We've grown from 3 clients ($15K MRR) to 10 clients ($80K MRR) at 30% monthly growth.
Our culture is grounded in Zen and Tibetan Buddhism principles, fostering ego-less problem-solving and emotional stillness. We consider the company a playground to become better individuals—you will be transformed into a more empowered, joyful person.
About the Role
We're looking for an exceptional Senior Software Engineer who lives at the intersection of engineering excellence and product obsession. You'll build backend systems behind our AI automation platform while being deeply involved in product decisions, customer conversations, and the "why" behind every feature.
This isn't just about writing code—you'll challenge product assumptions, work directly with customers, and drive features from conception to measurable business results.
What Makes You Exceptional
🙋♀️ Extreme Ownership: You challenge specs, suggest alternatives, and drive ideas to completion even when others need convincing.
🤩 Product Obsession: You ask "why?" relentlessly and dive into user behavior, business metrics, and customer feedback to understand real problems.
😄 Optimistic Collaboration: You make everyone more excited about building and help ideas get off the ground rather than die in committees.
😎 Authentic Communication: You build great relationships with non-engineers and learn how other disciplines work.
👷♂️ Craft Excellence: Joy comes from the craft itself. You love building products and continuously validate that your work creates real user value.
What You'll Do
Build Product-Driven Systems
Design scalable Go services (gRPC, MongoDB) with product impact in mind
Work across AI workflows, automation logic, and integrations
Make architecture decisions based on customer needs
Own Features End-to-End
Partner with customers to understand the "why" behind requirements
Suggest product/engineering tradeoffs that maximize user value
Ship with early validation cycles and measure real-world impact
Drive Product Conversations
Bring data-backed product suggestions and challenge existing approaches
Map edge cases pragmatically using "minimum lovable product" mindset
Collaborate directly with customers to shape working solutions
What We're Looking For
Technical Foundation
5+ years of backend engineering experience with distributed systems and cloud platforms
Strong proficiency in Go (or similar systems languages like Rust, C++), gRPC, MongoDB
Experience with Terraform, cloud infrastructure (AWS/GCP), and modern DevOps practices
Curiosity about AI and automation solving real business problems
Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or related field from a reputed institution (IITs, NITs, BITS, top tier-1 institutions preferred)
Product-Minded Traits
Deep interest in business models, user behaviour, and success metrics
Track record of challenging specifications and bringing product ideas
Experience working with product managers, designers, and customer teams
Comfortable navigating ambiguity and making decisions with incomplete information
Exceptional Qualities
Self-directed with a "yes, and" mentality toward new ideas
Authentic communicator who builds people and ideas up
Intrinsically motivated by building great products
Optimistic problem-solver who generates enthusiasm
Strong English communication skills for international collaboration
Our Stack
AI-driven products on LLMs, Go, gRPC, MongoDB, Terraform, Auth0, TypeScript/Next.js, Datadog
Why Join Acai
🚀 Proven Growth: 30% monthly growth, founders sold previous company to AmEx GBT
🎯 Dual Impact: Drive technical excellence and customer relationships with global clients
🧘 Personal Growth: Zen/Buddhist culture focused on self-awareness and empowerment
💰 Meaningful Equity: Significant ownership in category-defining startup
🌍 Global Exposure: Work with international clients across the world, opportunities for strategic travel
:acai-emoji: Ground Floor Opportunity: Be among the founding members of our India engineering team and shape its culture
Reporting Structure
Reports to: CTO (based in Barcelona)
Collaboration: Work closely with Product, Customer Success, Sales, and engineering teams in Barcelona, New York, and Pune
Location & Compensation
Pune, India / Remote in India - Full time in-person / remote with flexibility when required
Competitive salary (₹20 - 35 LPA CTC based on experience)
Significant equity stake (ESOPs) in high-growth company
Annual epic team off-sites worldwide. 2024 - Italian Alps, 2025 - Bangkok
Private health insurance coverage for you and your partner & kids
Working with Our Barcelona Team
You'll collaborate closely with our Barcelona headquarters, participating in product decisions and technical architecture discussions across time zones. This role offers significant autonomy while being part of a tight-knit global engineering culture.