Staff Software Engineer
Navan
| Company | Navan |
| Category | Engineering |
| Location | Berlin |
| Remote | On-site (inferred) |
| Employment | Not stated |
| Level | Not stated |
| Salary | Not stated by the employer |
| Posted | 28 May 2026 |
| Last verified | 30 Jul 2026 |
| Source | Employer career page (greenhouse) |
Description
At Navan, our mission is to power the in-person connections that move people, ideas, and businesses forward. We help travelers focus on being there, not getting there. Our engineering organization plays a critical role in delivering seamless, reliable, and intelligent experiences across travel and expense management at global scale.
We are looking for a Staff Software Engineer to join our Expense Platform team in Berlin. In this role, you will lead the design and evolution of distributed systems that power the full expense lifecycle — from expense creation and approvals to reimbursements and financial reconciliation. You will partner closely with engineering leaders, product managers, designers, and cross-functional stakeholders to drive technical strategy, platform scalability, and engineering excellence across the organization.
As a senior technical leader, you will influence architecture decisions, mentor engineers, improve developer productivity, and help shape the future of Navan’s expense platform as we continue to scale globally.
What You’ll Do
Architect, build, and scale backend microservices using Java and Spring Boot
Lead the design of event-driven systems leveraging Kafka, AWS SQS, and distributed messaging patterns
Drive technical strategy and long-term platform architecture decisions
Design and develop high-performance REST APIs and integrations with external financial and payment systems
Own critical expense workflows including reimbursements, cash advances, mileage, per diem, and approvals
Improve receipt ingestion, OCR processing pipelines, and automation capabilities
Ensure platform reliability, scalability, observability, and operational excellence
Champion engineering best practices including testing, CI/CD, code quality, and incident management
Mentor and guide engineers across teams through technical leadership and design reviews
Collaborate cross-functionally with product, operations, and finance teams to deliver impactful solutions
Identify opportunities to improve engineering velocity, system resilience, and developer experience
What We’re Looking For
8+ years of professional software engineering experience, with significant backend and distributed systems expertise
Strong experience building scalable systems using Java, Spring Boot, and microservices architecture
Deep understanding of distributed systems, asynchronous processing, and event-driven architectures
Strong experience with Kafka, AWS SQS, or similar messaging technologies
Expertise in relational databases and data modeling (MySQL or PostgreSQL)
Experience designing and operating cloud-native applications on AWS
Proven track record leading large technical initiatives and influencing engineering direction
Strong understanding of system reliability, observability, performance optimization, and scalability
Experience with CI/CD pipelines, automated testing, and modern software delivery practices
Ability to mentor engineers and drive technical excellence across teams
Strong communication and collaboration skills with both technical and non-technical stakeholders
Passion for building platforms that enable speed, innovation, and exceptional customer experiences
About Navan
Navan (Nasdaq: NAVN) is the global AI-powered business travel and expense platform that makes travel easy for frequent travelers. From finding flights and hotels to automating expense reconciliation with 24/7 support along the way, Navan delivers an intuitive experience travelers love and finance teams rely on.
Learn more at navan.com.
About Navan
Navan (Nasdaq: NAVN) is the global AI-powered business travel and expense platform that makes travel easy for frequent travelers. From finding flights and hotels, to automating expense reconciliation, with 24/7 support along the way, Navan delivers an intuitive experience travelers love and finance teams rely on. See how Nava