About this role.
Tripadvisor is seeking a Director of Software Engineering to lead the Experiences (Viator) engineering organization in Kraków. The role combines second-line people leadership with hands-on technical involvement across software and data platforms. The director will own engineering execution, delivery planning, quality standards, operational performance, and technical strategy in close partnership with product and business leaders. Success requires extensive experience developing engineering managers and delivering scalable, high-performance marketplace technology in a fast-paced product environment.
Role DNA
A quick view of the complexity, pace, ownership and collaboration implied by the job description.
Job Complexity
5/5Pace & Pressure
5/5Autonomy Level
5/5Communication Load
5/5Salary analysis
Estimated compensation compared with the broader US market for similar roles.
Core skills
Skills and capabilities most closely associated with this opportunity.
Sample interview questions
I establish clear expectations for people leadership, execution, and technical quality; use regular one-to-ones and calibrated performance reviews; and coach managers through real delivery and organizational challenges. I progressively delegate ownership while using measurable goals and structured feedback to ensure teams remain aligned and effective.
I worked with product and engineering leaders to separate immediate customer outcomes from foundational platform work, then built a sequenced roadmap that delivered both. I made trade-offs explicit through impact, risk, cost, and operational metrics, allowing stakeholders to support investment in reliability and scalability without stopping feature delivery.
I would begin with customer, partner, operational, and platform constraints; align on measurable business outcomes; and identify technical risks and dependencies early. I would then prioritize a balanced portfolio of product initiatives, reliability improvements, data capabilities, and platform investments, revisiting the roadmap regularly as evidence and business needs evolve.
I use clear ownership, realistic planning, engineering standards, design and code reviews, delivery metrics, and operational readiness criteria. I also create regular forums for dependency management and risk escalation so teams can resolve issues early rather than relying on late-stage recovery.
I translate technical concerns into customer impact, delivery confidence, financial or operational risk, and available decision options. I provide a concise recommendation, explain the consequences of each alternative, and keep stakeholders updated with transparent milestones and contingency plans.
About Tripadvisor
The Tripadvisor Group connects people to experiences worth sharing, and aims to be the world’s most trusted source for travel and experiences. We leverage our brands, technology, and capabilities to connect our global audience with partners through rich content, travel guidance, and two-sided marketplaces for experiences, accommodations, restaurants, and other travel categories. The subsidiaries of Tripadvisor, Inc. (Nasdaq: TRIP), include a portfolio of travel brands and businesses, including Tripadvisor, Viator, and TheFork.
We are hiring a Director of Engineering for our fast-growing Tripadvisor Experiences org. Tripadvisor Experiences (Viator) is the world’s leading marketplace for travel experiences. We believe that making memories is what travel is all about. And with 400,000+ travel experiences to explore—everything from simple tours to extreme adventures (and everything in between) —making memories that will last a lifetime has never been easier.
We embrace flexibility in where and how work gets done and also value meaningful in-person moments to connect and collaborate. You can expect a remote-first working model with periodic in-person gatherings at your closest office for team connection, planning, or other key moments. This position is open to candidates based within a commutable distance (generally maximum up to 1.5 hours) from our Krakow office.
What You’ll Do:
- Build and lead a high-performing technical team by hiring, training, and mentoring engineers of all levels.
- Foster a collaborative and innovative team culture and champion effective Agile development processes.
- Develop project plans, timelines, budgets, and resource allocation strategies, and ensure projects are delivered on time and within scope and budget.
- Show leadership as a hands-on developer in multiple layers of the software stack and data stack. Perform code and design reviews.
- Work closely with principal engineers to drive technology strategy and roadmap that aligns to the wider organisation vision.
- Work closely with your Product Manager counterpart and the business owner to prioritize product features along with the engineering-driven tasks, striving for a good balance between business results and engineering robustness.
- Communicate effectively with technical and non-technical stakeholders to ensure alignment on project goals, commitments, and timelines.
- Define and enforce engineering best practices to ensure deliverables are complete, on time, and meeting a high-quality standard.
Skills & Experience:
- 10 years’ experience of commercial software development
- Proven track record as a second-line leader with experience directly managing, coaching, and developing Engineering Managers
- Background of working in a product-focused company, collaborating closely with stakeholders to build up a backlog of product and technical initiatives
- Directly responsible for giving performance feedback and providing formal career planning to their team
- Strong mentorship skills, helping engineers to grow technically and professionally
- Solid understanding of the technologies and tools used by their team, with hands-on experience of designing and building scalable, high-performance systems
- Excellent ability to break down complex problems into simple solutions
- Proven leadership in driving major projects and actively participating in cross-functional teams in fast-paced, dynamic environments
- Accountable for high-quality execution, operations and overall team performance
- Uses strong analytical skills to identify risks early, mitigate issues and provide contingency plans
- Adept at making high-level decisions about product and technical direction, balancing business objectives with engineering capabilities.
- Understands modern software delivery methodologies and project management tools and uses them to drive successful outcomes.
Annual salary information is not provided for this position. Explore salary ranges for similar roles in our Salary Directory ›
This job listing has been manually reviewed by the Jobicy Trust & Safety Team for compliance with our posting guidelines, including verification of the company's legitimacy, accuracy of job details, clarity of remote work policy, and absence of misleading or fraudulent content.







