Software Architect - Airfare Pricing Engine

About the role

Zerolook, founded by former Google Flights and Kayak executives and backed with $1.9M in August 2026, offers an alternative to traditional airfare pricing engines. Its core is a large-scale infrastructure serving billions of requests from people and AI agents. As an early hire, you will define the architecture at the heart of the platform.

Key responsibilities

• Define the architecture and design, and lead the implementation of a large-scale, high-performance, cost-effective infrastructure.
• Own the KPIs for non-functional requirements of the enterprise-class application, including security, scalability, availability, business continuity and disaster recovery.
• Set standards and best practices, and hire, lead and mentor other engineers as the team grows.
• Partner with the founders and key industry organizations to develop the core Zerolook offering.

Required profile

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science or a related field; a Ph.D. in Computer Science is listed as a bonus requirement.
• 5+ years leading the design, implementation and deployment of enterprise-class applications.
• Experience building applications serving over 1K QPS at latencies around 1 second.
• Comfortable with the "0 to 1" startup phase, ambiguity, fast iteration and taking extreme ownership.
• Previous experience with OTAs, metasearch or GDS/NDC integration is a significant plus.

Required skills

• Extensive knowledge of Java and related enterprise technologies and frameworks.
• Competency in C++.
• Experience with containerization and orchestration.
• Bonus: experience with Helidon SE and/or the Drogon C++ web framework.

What we offer

• Compensation of CHF 140,000 to 150,000 plus significant stock options.