Senior Supplier Integration Engineer
Tern · United States
- Hybrid
- Full-time
- $187,500 / year
- United States
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Job highlights
- Own end-to-end supplier integrations from API to production.
- Ship reliable, tested features weekly.
- Utilize AI tools extensively in daily work.
- Work on a high-growth, mission-driven platform.
- Contribute to engineering standards and tooling.
About the role
About Tern
Tern is a venture-backed software company on a mission to reshape the $127B travel agency industry by giving power back to the entrepreneurs who built it. Nearly 98% of travel agencies are small businesses that have been chronically underserved by technology. Tern's platform helps travel advisors run more efficient, professional, and profitable operations, giving them the modern infrastructure they need to lead the next chapter of travel. The company believes in small business and the power of travel, and is building the future of both.SENIOR SUPPLIER INTEGRATION ENGINEER
Tern's growth runs through bookable inventory. Every supplier integration added expands what advisors can book without leaving the app, and every integration that runs reliably earns their trust. This role is a core builder on the integrations squad, which is being staffed to move fast on cruise, lodging, and insurance partners. You'll own integrations end to end, from the first API conversation through production monitoring, working alongside the integration lead. This isn't about following a spec; you'll take an underdocumented API and turn it into something Tern can depend on: reliable, observable, and ready for advisors to book through. This is a player role on a small, focused squad where you'll ship every week, own your work in production, and contribute to the patterns and tooling that make the next integration faster.Why Tern?
Tern is building the platform travel advisors run their entire business on, and they believe the next great aggregator in travel will be built on AI. With capital and momentum behind them, they are growing the engineering team to fuel what's already working. This role owns a real part of how Tern works, with engineers expected to have high agency, execute independently, set direction, and lift the standard for those around them. Tern hires for proven execution, looking for specific evidence of what candidates have shipped and its impact.Engineering Standards
At Tern, engineers ship regularly, with every pair shipping a working, tested feature every week. Fast and good are not in tension; testing is part of the build. Engineers own their code and user experience, monitoring production, staying close to support channels like AppSignal, Bugsnag, and Canny, and owning fixes end to end. They are expected to make those around them faster and better through teaching code and design reviews, clear written work, and unblocking colleagues. Every team is an AI team, using AI fluently in daily work for tasks like design review, test generation, and debugging, with tools like Claude Code and custom agents.Our Stack
Tern is a Ruby on Rails application with a Hotwire front end, backed by a Postgres database, hosted on Heroku, and migrating to Google Cloud Platform. Data flows to BigQuery for reporting in Hex. Claude Code, with custom skills and agents, is part of daily development. Fluency in these technologies is expected for quick productivity.What You'll Do
- Own supplier integrations from design through production, including handling third-party API realities like undocumented behavior, rate limits, inconsistent data, and unexpected partner changes.
- Ship working, tested integration features every week, broken into the smallest shippable pieces.
- Contribute to the abstractions, tooling, and AI-assisted workflows that make each new integration faster.
- Monitor integrations in production and catch failures before advisors do.
- Improve the skills of surrounding engineers through teaching code reviews and early context sharing.
What You Have
- Integration ownership: A track record of personally shipping and owning integrations with external systems and third-party APIs, with real stories about issues and fixes.
- High agency: Proven ability to take ambiguous, underspecified problems and drive them to a working outcome independently.
- Reliability instincts: A mindset focused on failure modes, retries, idempotency, and observability by default, with experience turning unreliable, poorly documented external APIs into dependable ones.
- AI in your daily workflow: Specific examples of AI enhancing work speed or quality, with the judgment to critically evaluate AI output.
BONUS POINTS
- Experience with travel industry APIs (GDS, booking systems, supplier data feeds).
- Background at a company where core work involved external API integrations.
- Comfort with Ruby on Rails or a comparable MVC stack.
WHAT WE VALUE @ TERN
- Growth: Always leveling up through deepening craft, learning from teammates, or embracing new challenges.
- Optimistic Agency: Taking initiative, seeking clarity, and moving forward with curiosity, laughter, kindness, and resolve.
- Operational Excellence: Shipping value weekly, believing that compounding habits lead to sustainable productivity, consistency, and trust.
- User Understanding: Obsessing about understanding users and the industry at every level.
- Power of And: Challenging trade-offs by asking better questions and breaking hard problems into smaller pieces, while also knowing when to say
Skills & topics
- Senior Supplier Integration Engineer
- API Integration
- Ruby on Rails
- Travel Tech
- Software Engineering
- Production Monitoring
- External APIs
- Cloud Platform
- AI in Development
- Venture-Backed Startup
How to get hired
- Tailor your resume: Highlight specific examples of integrations you've shipped and their impact, focusing on ownership and problem-solving.
- Demonstrate high agency: Prepare to share stories where you drove ambiguous problems to successful outcomes independently.
- Showcase reliability focus: Emphasize your experience with failure modes, retries, idempotency, and observability in previous roles.
- Prepare for practical exercise: Be ready for a hands-on task reflecting actual work, utilizing AI tools.
- Focus on collaboration: Be ready to discuss how you've improved other engineers' work and made teams better.
Technical preparation
Master Ruby on Rails and its related tools.,Deepen understanding of API design and integration patterns.,Practice debugging and monitoring complex systems.,Experiment with AI tools for coding assistance.
Behavioral questions
Describe a time you owned an ambiguous integration.,How have you improved engineering standards?,Share an example of driving a project independently.,Discuss your experience with production monitoring.
Frequently asked questions
- What is the expected salary for a Senior Supplier Integration Engineer at Tern?
- The compensation range for the Senior Supplier Integration Engineer role at Tern is between $175,000 and $200,000 annually. This range reflects the seniority and responsibilities associated with the position.
- What specific travel industry APIs are most relevant for this Senior Supplier Integration Engineer role at Tern?
- While not strictly required, experience with travel industry APIs such as GDS (Global Distribution Systems), booking systems, and supplier data feeds is considered a strong bonus for this Senior Supplier Integration Engineer position at Tern. Familiarity with these systems will help you integrate partners more effectively.
- How does Tern incorporate AI into the daily workflow for engineers?
- Tern heavily integrates AI into the daily workflow. Engineers use tools like Claude Code with custom skills and agents for tasks ranging from code review and test generation to debugging, aiming to increase speed and quality. You'll be expected to use AI fluently in your work.
- What is the hiring process like for a Senior Supplier Integration Engineer at Tern?
- Tern's hiring process is designed to be light and focused on demonstrated execution. It involves resume screening for specific shipped work and impact, in-depth discussions about projects you've personally built, and a practical exercise reflecting actual job tasks, with AI tools available.
- What does 'high agency' mean in the context of this Senior Supplier Integration Engineer role at Tern?
- For the Senior Supplier Integration Engineer role at Tern, 'high agency' means you take initiative to tackle ambiguous or underspecified problems and drive them to a working solution without needing constant step-by-step management. You are expected to be proactive and self-directed.
- What is Tern's approach to testing and code ownership for integrations?
- Tern emphasizes shipping working, tested features every week, viewing testing as an integral part of the build process. Engineers own their code and how users experience it, including monitoring in production and addressing issues end-to-end, ensuring reliability and quality for all integrations.
- What are the key technologies used in Tern's engineering stack for integration work?
- The core stack includes Ruby on Rails for the backend, Hotwire for the frontend, and Postgres for the database, hosted on Heroku with a migration to Google Cloud Platform. Data flows to BigQuery for reporting. Proficiency in this stack, or the ability to become productive quickly, is important for integration engineers.
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