Software Engineer 2, Distributed Systems - Barcelona

About Skyscanner

Everyone loves travelling, but planning is not without its challenges ✈️. That's why we've spent 20 years building tools that turn travel-planning chaos into a breeze. Today, around 100 million travellers count on us every month to skip the whole “47 browser tabs open” phase and find flights, cars, and hotels quickly and easily 💻.

Joining Skyscanner means becoming part of a global brand that's striving to become the planet's go-to travel hack accessible for all 🌍.

Our vision? To be the world's number one travel ally. (Ambitious? 💪 Yes, but, hey, that's what got us here)

About the role
(Hybrid)

This role sits at the heart of how Ads show up across Skyscanner — reliably, measurably, and at serious scale. You’ll be part of Photon, the squad responsible for Ads delivery, integrations, and end-to-end Ads flows across our platform. If you like complex backend systems, real business impact, and problems that don’t have neat answers, you’ll feel right at home.

You’ll help power a robust Ads delivery platform that ensures Ads are served correctly, integrated seamlessly, and tracked end-to-end — all while keeping reliability high and surprises low (the good kind only).

What you’ll be doing

• Leading backend Ads delivery: Owning critical backend systems that power Ads delivery and end-to-end flows across Skyscanner.

• Solving gnarly problems: Tackling big questions like how to improve Ads reliability, scale integrations, and keep everything running smoothly under pressure.

• Building for reliability: Designing systems that are resilient, observable, and ready for real-world traffic (and the occasional chaos).

• Owning observability: Improving tracking, monitoring, and operational excellence so we always know what’s happening — and why.

• Scaling integrations: Working on Ads integrations across Skyscanner’s ecosystem, making sure everything plays nicely together.

• Collaborating deeply: Partnering with engineers across the Ads tribe to deliver solutions that work end-to-end, not just in theory.

• Keeping production healthy: Working hands-on with live systems, improving performance, stability, and long-term maintainability.

About you

• Backend-minded: You have a strong software engineering mindset and enjoy solving complex backend problems.

• Tech-curious: You’ve worked with (or are keen to work with) Java, Python, AWS, SQL, Lambda, and distributed systems.

• Production-ready: You’re comfortable owning and improving systems that run in production and matter to the business.

• Problem-driven: You enjoy ambiguous challenges and figuring out how things should work, not just what to build.

• Collaborative: You like working closely with other engineers, product, and business partners to deliver shared outcomes.

• Value-focused: You care about delivering reliable, measurable value to partners and the wider Ads ecosystem.

• Growth-oriented: You’re excited to learn, grow, and deepen your impact as a software engineer.

What it's like here

We are the real deal — no corporate gloss, no empty promises. Just a team of genuinely curious, caring humans, building things that help travellers explore the world a little easier.

Skyscanner is made up of brilliant humans from every corner of the world. We believe travel makes the world better - and that the same is true of our diverse teams. We're proud to be an equal opportunities employer and are committed to building an inclusive workplace where everyone can thrive and products that are accessible to all.

Sound like your kind of adventure? Apply now and help us shape the future of travel.

We're committed to ensuring our application and recruitment processes are inclusive and accessible to everyone. If you require any reasonable adjustments or accommodations for interviews, and/or wish to apply under the Disability Confident scheme, please let your recruiter know. If you’d like more information on any of our policies, such as hybrid working or Parental Leave policies (typically we pay a minimum of 24 weeks birth parent/maternity leave globally), our recruitment team can provide more information on these.