Senior Software Engineer

The posting, as Tern Travel wrote it

Every single feature we ship weekly puts more of the travel industry inside a single platform. If you want to own the build, ship every single week, and win this $1.6T travel booking industry with a low ego, AI native team, we should talk.

ABOUT TERN

Tern is a venture-backed software company on a mission to reshape the $127B travel agency industry by giving power back to the entrepreneurs who built it.

Nearly 98% of travel agencies are small businesses. These businesses have been chronically underserved by technology. We're here to change that. Our platform helps travel advisors run more efficient, professional, and profitable operations, giving them the modern infrastructure they need to lead the next chapter of travel.

But the impact goes beyond business. Travel advisors help clients move more intentionally through the world. When a traveler works with an advisor, they're more likely to avoid overtouristed hotspots and more likely to spend their dollars in places where they can do real good. That's the kind of travel we want more of.

At Tern, we believe in small business. We believe in the power of travel. And we're building the future of both.

SENIOR SOFTWARE ENGINEER

We're growing the product engineering team and looking for strong full-stack engineers to own real product surfaces end to end. This isn't a specialist role. You work where needed across our squads: everything from backend data models, Hotwire front end, background jobs, third-party calls where the work requires them, mobile work, etc. Wherever the feature needs you, you go. We have engineering needs across the board to specifically help us build our agency back office, advisor workflows, supplier build-out/finance work, and support engineering, with the roadmap continuously evolving.

You'll partner closely with product and design to turn a rough problem into a shipped feature, then watch it in production and own the fixes. Over time, as you build a track record here, you'll take on more ambiguous problems and more responsibility for the areas you own.

WHY TERN?

Tern is building the platform travel advisors run their entire business on, and we believe the next great aggregator in travel gets built right now, on AI. The window to win this market is open, and we intend to take it. With capital and real momentum behind us, we're growing the engineering team this summer to put fuel behind what's already working.

This role owns a real part of how Tern works, the kind of work the rest of the team depends on. We hire engineers with high agency and the trust to execute independently, set direction through their work, and lift the standard of everyone around them. We hire for proven execution, so we want to see specific evidence of what you've shipped and the impact it had, in your resume and in the room.

ENGINEERING STANDARDS

• Ship regularly. Every engineering pair ships a working, tested feature every week. Fast and good are not in tension. Testing is pa

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nsibility to use it. We invite healthy tension, share dissenting views early, and challenge each other with curiosity, not ego.

🏃 We move fast and sweat the details. Velocity matters and relentless progress beats perfection every time. But speed isn't chaos: we stay aligned, own our outcomes, and care deeply about quality.

🤣 We take the work seriously, but not ourselves. We hire kind, driven people who elevate the room. If you've got a big ego or take yourself too seriously, you won't last.

HOW WE HIRE

• Our interview is built to surface demonstrated execution, and we keep it deliberately light rather than a long gauntlet
• We screen resumes for specific, verifiable things you shipped and the impact they had, not responsibilities or titles
• We go deep on one or two things you personally built and shipped. We want the real story: the ambiguity, the dead ends, what broke, and how you owned the fix.
• We give a practical exercise that reflects the actual work, with AI tools available and expected
• And throughout, we look for evidence that working with you made other engineers better at their jobs

We take the work seriously, not ourselves. If you're here to grow, build something industry-changing, and raise the bar for the people around you, we'd love to meet you.

WHY JOIN TERN?

• Be part of a mission-driven team transforming the travel planning space
• Work with a supportive, curious, and creative team
• Influence and shape our engineering approach from the ground up
• Competitive salary, equity, and benefits package

Tern is committed to building a team that represents people from many different backgrounds and life experiences, reflecting our worldview coinciding with the users and customers we serve across the world. We prefer that you apply, so think of our postings as the start of the conversation. Take the chance, you may be a wonderful add to our Tern team, even if you don't fully match every requirement on the job description.