Software Engineer, Full-Stack (Frontend Focus)
Mid-level · Hybrid, Boston Area
About DirectBooker
DirectBooker exists to enable every hotel to take advantage of the benefits OTAs have had for the last 20 years. Online travel agencies and other aggregators built their dominant position on structural advantages independent hotels and even global hotel brands can't access. We're an aggregator that works for hotels. We bring together prices and content for about a million properties from major global hotel chains and connectivity providers, and every booking goes to the hotel's direct channels. Travelers get the direct rate and keep their loyalty points and perks. Hotels keep the guest relationship and the margin.
We put direct prices wherever travelers look:
AI assistants. We're live in Claude and ChatGPT, and we're working to become the default source of hotel prices, and to earn high-volume placements, across the major AI platforms.
Maps, marketplaces and partner programs. Supplying direct prices to maps, regulated marketplace placements, destination tools and card programs.
Performance marketing. Running search advertising on behalf of hotels.
Our own website, for travelers who want to book direct.
AI agents will soon handle much of travel shopping, which makes these advantages even more valuable, and how hotels show up there is being decided now.
We're a small team with deep roots in travel search. Our founders and board members built hotel search at Tripadvisor and Google, so we know from the inside how aggregators win, and we're running that playbook for hotels rather than against them. Join us now and you'll help build the tools that shape how AI and travel come together.
How we work
We're friendly, open and direct, and we work hard. A few things matter to us:
Own it, all the way to production. You run your work end to end: design, build, merge, deploy and keep it healthy. Done means it's running in production, not waiting in a branch. Keep your pull requests moving and your tickets current so anyone can see where things stand.
Do what you say. We trust each other to deliver. When a plan or a date needs to change, you say so early.
Ask early, ask often. Nobody here is too busy for a question. Raising a blocker on day one beats discovering it on day five. Over-communicating is the better mistake.
Review well, and take feedback well. Good reviews go beyond style to design: is this the right approach? When feedback comes your way, take it in and use it. With AI writing more of our code, careful review matters more than ever.
Share what you know. No part of the system should live in one person's head. We review designs together and write things down, and experienced engineers teach the parts of the system only they know.
Fix what's broken. If you see something that's slow, confusing or wrong, you're expected to say so, and usually to fix it. That includes how we work, not just the code.
Go where you're needed. Priorities shift fast in AI, and they will shift here. Expect things to change, and be ready to pick up work outside your lane when the team needs it.
Write code with AI. We expect you to aggressively use and experiment with AI coding tools for most of your work: writing code and tests, exploring unfamiliar parts of the system, and moving faster than you could alone. Keep experimenting as the tools get better.
Own every line you ship. Whether you wrote it or an AI did, the code is yours. Read and understand everything before you open a pull request, review AI output as rigorously as you'd review a teammate's, test it properly, and be ready to explain any line.
The role
You'll own what travelers and hotels see from DirectBooker, both inside AI assistants and on our website. Frontend is the core of this role. We want someone who loves building interfaces and will also go into the backend to get work done, rather than waiting on someone else. This is an individual contributor role.
What you'll work on
UI inside AI assistants. The hotel cards, maps and photo galleries that appear in Claude and ChatGPT when our connector answers a question. This is a new kind of frontend: small embedded components that run inside another company's app, with different rules on each host.
Our website. The pages travelers use to find hotels and book direct, and the pages hotels and partners use to learn about us and join.
Whatever it takes to ship. Adding the API field your component needs, fixing the bug behind a broken widget, or tracing a rendering failure through network logs.
What you'll do
Own features end to end, from first sketch to production, then keep them working.
Work closely with our designers, from early concepts to final polish, to build a UX that delights travelers. Weigh in on what works inside each AI host, and speak up when a design needs to change.
Make the product feel fast, clear, and trustworthy on every surface we ship to.
Spot rough edges in the UI and fix them without being asked.
Share what you learn about building for AI hosts so the whole team gets better at it.
What we're looking for
4+ years shipping production web frontends, with strong TypeScript and React.
You care about UI quality: layout, responsiveness, accessibility, performance and the small details.
Experience working closely with designers and turning their work into polished, production-quality UI.
Willing and able to work in the backend. Rust is a plus, but any solid backend experience counts if you're excited to learn.
You can debug across the stack with browser devtools, network traces and server logs.
Heavy, hands-on use of AI coding tools, with a sharp eye for what they get wrong in UI, accessibility and edge cases.
Nice to have
Experience with MCP Apps, the ChatGPT Apps SDK, or other embedded or iframe-based UI.
Hotel, travel or e-commerce booking experience.
Design sense of your own.
Benefits and logistics
Compensation: Base salary plus early-stage equity (stock options). As a seed-stage company, our compensation is below big-tech levels, with the upside that comes from owning a piece of what we're building. Offers are based on experience.
Health: Company-subsidized medical, dental and vision plans for you and your eligible dependents. Employee assistance program (EAP) and pre-tax flexible spending accounts for healthcare and dependent care.
Time off: 15 days of PTO a year to start, rising to 20 days after three years.
Hybrid work: 2-3 days per week in our office.
Location and work authorization: You must be based in Massachusetts and authorized to work in the US. We aren't able to sponsor visas at this time.
Equipment and tools: Company laptop, plus software development tools.
How to apply: Apply through our application form. Pick the role or roles you're interested in, attach your CV, and tell us about something you've built or fixed that you're proud of. A short note beats a long cover letter.
DirectBooker is an equal opportunity employer. We don't discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, creed, ancestry, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, pregnancy, age, disability, genetic information, marital status, military or veteran status, or any other status protected by law. We welcome applicants of all backgrounds.