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.