---
title: 'Sr. Software Engineer, Backend at Navan'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/sr-software-engineer-backend-navan-new-york-ef9cjabstbk7'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-08'
---

# Sr. Software Engineer, Backend at Navan

- **Company:** Navan
- **Location:** New York, NY
- **Compensation:** $113k–$252k
- **Posted:** 2026-08-28
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-08
- **Apply:** https://navan.com/careers/openings?gh_jid=8128127

## Job description

Navan is building the next generation of intelligent travel experiences, where loyalty, personalization, and AI agents help travelers make better decisions before, during, and after every trip. As a Senior Software Engineer (Backend), you’ll drive the technical vision, architecture, and execution for the highly available, distributed services that form the backbone of Navan’s global travel and expense platform.

What You’ll Do:

- Architect Core Backend Systems: Design, build, and scale high-performance, fault-tolerant microservices that process millions of travel and expense transactions globally.
- Lead Technical Initiatives: Drive complex, cross-functional engineering projects from conception to deployment, making critical architectural trade-offs and setting technical standards for the wider backend organization.
- Optimize Performance & Reliability: Build robust APIs, asynchronous event-driven architectures, and scalable data pipelines with a relentless focus on low latency, high availability, and operational excellence.
- Collaborate Cross-Functionally: Partner closely with product management, engineering leadership, data, and platform teams to translate ambiguous business requirements into cohesive, enterprise-grade technical solutions.
- Raise the Engineering Bar: Champion maintainable code, thoughtful abstractions, and rigorous testing. Act as a force multiplier by mentoring engineers, leading architecture reviews, and fostering a culture of strong operational ownership.

What We’re Looking For:

- 6+ years of software engineering experience building and operating highly scalable, distributed production systems at an enterprise or global scale.
- Deep technical expertise in backend engineering stacks such as Java, TypeScript/Node.js, Python, or Go, alongside a strong mastery of engineering fundamentals.
- Extensive hands-on experience designing microservices, complex APIs, event-driven workflows (e.g., Kafka, RabbitMQ), caching strategies, and distributed databases.
- Proven track record of driving technical vision and leading the architecture of large, multi-team projects from inception through to successful production rollouts.
- Exceptional skills in systems observability, production debugging, and ensuring the reliability of critical Tier 1 services.
- Product mindset with the ability to balance immediate product delivery with long-term technical health and scalability.
- Experience with travel platforms, fintech, payment processing, or complex financial ledgers is a strong plus.

The posted pay range represents the anticipated low and high end of the compensation for this position and is subject to change based on business need. To determine a successful candidate’s starting pay, we carefully consider a variety of factors, including primary work location, an evaluation of the candidate’s skills and experience, market demands, and internal parity.

For roles with on-target-earnings (OTE), the pay range includes both base salary and target incentive compensation. Target incentive compensation for some roles may include a ramping draw period. Compensation is higher for those who exceed targets. Candidates may receive more information from the recruiter. Pay Range $113,400—$252,000 USD

Navan uses AI-assisted Automated Employment Decision Tool (Metaview) to assist with evaluating resumes against job qualifications for this role. All final decisions are made by human recruiters and hiring managers.

Human oversight: Metaview does not automatically reject candidates or make final hiring decisions. Our recruiters and hiring managers review all outputs and make the final hiring decision regarding every application.

- Your rights: If you prefer to have your application reviewed without AI assistance, you may request a human evaluation by entering your email [here](https://my.metaview.app/applications/opt-out?organization=15dd7e883f). Your decision to do so will not affect how your candidacy is evaluated.

Please refer to our[Candidate Privacy Notice](https://navan.com/candidate-privacy-notice) for more information about our processing of personal data, and your rights.

## About Navan

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Navan is the leading all-in-one, AI-powered business travel, payments, and expense management platform that makes corporate travel effortless for frequent travelers while giving finance teams full control.
- **Entity Type**: Public (ticker: **NAVN**, listed on Nasdaq Global Select Market in October 2025)
- **Headquarters**: Palo Alto, California, USA
- **Founded**: 2015
- **Founders**: Ariel Cohen and Ilan Twig

## Core Business
- **Primary industry/industries**: Corporate travel management, expense management, travel technology, payments.
- **Target customers**: B2B – mid-market to enterprise companies; also SMBs.
- **Mission or purpose statement**: "Make travel easy for every traveler by being the best travel agency on the planet."

## Products & Services
- **Navan Travel**: AI-powered booking platform for flights, hotels, and ground transportation with extensive inventory access (including NDC content from 17+ airlines).
- **Navan Expense**: Automated expense management that categorizes and reconciles receipts, with real-time policy enforcement and integration with ERPs.
- **Navan Edge**: AI travel assistant (chat-based) that handles bookings and provides 24/7 human support.
- **Navan Rewards**: Incentive program that rewards employees for booking below budget.
- **Navan Connect (BYOC)**: Card-link technology that connects corporate cards from 250+ banks, enabling unified spend visibility.
- **Navan Corporate Cards**: Physical and virtual cards for payments.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not publicly available in search results (post-IPO, real-time market cap available on exchanges).
- **Key Metric**: **Total Headcount** ~3,300 employees (as of 2026); **Number of customers** – thousands, including major enterprises like Heineken, Unilever, Wayfair, and Zoom.
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Not listed in provided sources, but strategic partners include Amadeus (dual-GDS model) and major airlines via NDC.
- **Growth Signals**: Went public in October 2025; expanded globally through acquisitions of Comtravo (Germany), Resia (France), Tripeur (India), and Reed & MacKay (Europe); now operates 50 offices worldwide; first TMC to integrate AI across the entire platform.

## Competitive Advantages
- **AI-first platform**: First travel management company to embed AI across search, booking, expense reconciliation, and customer service.
- **All-in-one T&E**: Combines travel, expense, and payments in a single system, eliminating the need for multiple vendors.
- **Dual-GDS model**: Integrated with both Sabre and Amadeus, providing global coverage and competitive pricing.
- **NDC leader**: Offers access to 17 airlines’ New Distribution Capability content for better fares and inventory.

## Strategic Focus
- Continue leading in AI-powered travel and expense innovation.
- Expand corporate card and payments ecosystem (Navan Connect, external card linking).
- Deepen enterprise capabilities and global footprint (targeting mid-market and large multinationals).
- Drive user adoption through employee rewards and seamless mobile experience.

## Why Work Here
- **Work model**: Hybrid – 4 days per week in office (Palo Alto HQ and other global offices). Strong emphasis on in-person collaboration.
- **Culture**: Meritocratic, high-ownership, “high-talent density” environment. Values include extreme ownership, bias to action, “AI-first mindset”, and “seriously fun”.
- **Perks & Benefits**:
  - Flexible vacation (take time off as needed, manager coordination).
  - Paid parental leave (16 weeks birthing parent, 10 weeks non-birthing).
  - 401k, Employee Stock Purchase Plan (ESPP) with discount.
  - Medical, dental, vision, pet insurance.
  - Commuter benefits, in-office snacks and lunches, dog-friendly offices.
  - Headspace mental health subscription.
  - Navan personal travel discounts (employee leisure bookings at corporate rates).
  - Connectivity allowance (bi-weekly stipend for remote work).
- **Growth opportunities**: Rapidly scaling public company; teams across engineering, product, data science, travel operations, and R&D.

## Sources
1. [navan.com](https://navan.com/ – Product overview, platform details)
2. [navan.com/about](https://navan.com/about – Company history, mission, timeline, IPO)
3. [navan.com/careers](https://navan.com/careers – Culture, values, benefits, work model)
4. [builtin.com](https://builtin.com/company/navan – Headcount, offices, hybrid policy, perks)

## Other roles at Navan

- [Business Travel Consultant II (Mumbai - Remote)](https://feeny.ai/job/business-travel-consultant-ii-mumbai-remote-navan-mumbai-6vx0aa3ms8y3) — Mumbai, India
- [Sr. Software Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/sr-software-engineer-navan-bengaluru-r9xn44c2w1ks) — Bengaluru, India
- [Senior Android Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-android-engineer-navan-berlin-66tenqn9qpzk) — Berlin, Germany
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- [Senior (iOS) Software Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-ios-software-engineer-navan-london-8a6as7e5sfps) — London, United Kingdom
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- [Senior Software Engineer (Backend)](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-software-engineer-backend-navan-london-vqwdkqgq7vm5) — London, United Kingdom
- [Senior Software Engineer, Expense](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-software-engineer-expense-navan-london-748qaee6a599) — London, United Kingdom
- [Senior Software Engineer, Expense](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-software-engineer-expense-navan-berlin-q4vm1azpea3t) — Berlin, Germany