About the role
Join Apaleo and Shape the Future of Hospitality Tech! Apaleo is the world's most open, API-first property management platform powering the next generation of hospitality operations. Its modular, AI-powered infrastructure enables hoteliers to customise their tech stack, automate routine work, and deliver seamless, personalised guest experiences, powered by best-in-class apps and autonomous AI agents that adapt to every stay. We are looking for a Senior Backend Engineer (f/m/d) to build the foundation of Apaleo's market-facing API layer, bringing agentic booking into hospitality and enabling the next generation of guest-facing AI experiences. This is a highly autonomous role where you will design and ship the Storefront API, a production-grade, scalable interface that allows external systems (like ChatGPT and booking platforms) to interact directly with Apaleo. You'll operate at the intersection of backend engineering and AI , starting with clean API architecture and evolving into systems that power intelligent, agent-driven interactions. What You'll Be Up To Build the Storefront API from Scratch Design and implement a production-grade, multi-tenant API / MCP Enable seamless integration with external platforms and AI agents Ensure scalability, reliability, and high performance from day one Own the Full API Lifecycle Define API schemas and contracts (OpenAPI) Implement versioning strategies and backward compatibility Design authentication, authorization, and security patterns Build rate limiting and usage controls Ensure strong documentation and developer experience Set up monitoring and observability Work Across Distributed Systems Integrate with existing .NET microservices Connect to event-driven systems (Kafka or similar) Navigate and improve a complex distributed architecture Operate in the Cloud Deploy and manage services in AWS Work with Docker and containerized environments Contribute to infrastructure as code practices Collaborate on AI-Driven Use Cases Partner with AI engineers to enable agent-based workflows Build APIs that integrate with LLM-powered systems Help evolve the platform toward AI-native product capabilities Shape Engineering Standards Define best practices for: API design System architecture Code quality and maintainability Contribute to how the ecosystem team scales and operates What You'll Bring to the Team Core Requirements Proven experience building and operating production-grade APIs at scale Strong expertise in REST API design and architecture Solid experience with C# / .NET 8+ Hands-on experience with AWS, Docker, and infrastructure as code Strong understanding of microservices and distributed systems Ability to work independently and make architectural decisions Interest in AI systems and integrations Mindset & Traits Self-starter — you take ownership and drive work without waiting for direction Comfortable with ambiguity — you can build in evolving, low-structure environments Pragmatic decision-maker — you balance