Big Red Group is the largest experience network in Australia and New Zealand. A powerful connector that provides more than 3000 experience operators with quality customers and the tourism industry with trusted intelligence and partnership.
Australian owned, Big Red Group operates an industry-leading platform, enabling the wholesale distribution of experiences through domestic and international partners, powering its renowned domestic marketplaces RedBalloon, Adrenaline, Experience Oz, and Everything NZ. Equipping in-destination experience retailing through hotels and travel agents through its Local Agent offering. As well as a suite of software products and services to support experience operators grow their businesses.
With a purpose to ‘shift the way people experience life’, Big Red Group seeks to reduce the tide of consumption. Encouraging people to choose ‘stories over stuff’ at every opportunity. Together with our experience operators, we are on track to deliver an experience every second by 2030.
We are The Experience Network.
The Role
We’re creating a platform that connects partners, businesses, and customers across the experiences industry - from gifting to direct bookings. We’re a major player in ANZ, and we’re investing in our platform for the future and a global stage. We’re hiring a Senior Backend Engineer to join our small, fast-moving teams to take it further.
The Problems Worth Solving
Your decisions can visibly move the business. We're on track to deliver an experience every second by 2030 - that's the kind of problem we're solving.
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Scale: Growing high-volume e-commerce with 3,000+ operators, 13,000+ experiences, and ambitions well beyond that. Building systems that perform reliably under increasing load.
- Global expansion: Expanding beyond ANZ. Help design a platform built for a global stage.
- Ecosystem complexity: Deep partner integrations, wholesale distribution, multiple marketplaces, one platform.
- Modernisation: Actively evolving our stack. You'll shape where it goes, not just maintain where it's been.
Some of the problems you could be working on: authentication and authorisation uplift, end-to-end request traceability, resolving N+1 query and fanout problems, scaling API endpoints, and reducing platform fragmentation.
How We Work
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Projects run end-to-end in weeks, not months.
- We favour clarity over cleverness, and simplicity over complexity.
- Constraints fuel our creativity - we build lean, smart, and fast.
- Framework expertise is a nice-to-have. Problem-solving ability and clear communication are not.
Our Stack
We're in active modernisation - new services on Spring Boot, Micronaut and Next.js, with a broader mix of established technologies alongside.
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Engineering: Spring Boot, Micronaut (Java 17–25), Grails, Next.js (Node.js, React), OpenAPI
- Infra: AWS ECS, AWS RDS, MySQL/MariaDB, Redis, Terraform, Datadog
- Tooling: GitHub + GitHub Actions, Gradle, Webpack, AI tooling throughout
Strong domain modelling, data design, and API contracts matter more to us than framework familiarity. If you've used Spring Boot, you'll be at home within a week.
What We're Looking For
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Problem-first mindset: you care about customer impact and outcomes, not the tools that get you there
- Clear communicator: in code, documentation, and in a room with non-engineers
- Ownership: capable of driving solutions end-to-end across the full SDLC with minimal guidance
- Pragmatism: you know when to ship quickly and when to refine; you make trade-offs deliberately
- Well-rounded: experienced in test automation, debugging, troubleshooting, performance tuning, and scaling distributed systems
- Security & reliability: you build systems that are secure, observable, and performant by default
- 6+ years of Backend experience
Non-negotiable experience:
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Java and JVM frameworks
- Relational databases (MySQL or equivalent)
- REST/OpenAPI design for internal and external consumers
Why work for us?
At Big Red Group, we’re a high-growth, technology-led business that embraces innovation and change in a flexible, hybrid environment. Here, you’ll join a passionate team dedicated to delivering exceptional experiences, and be part of a company recognised as an employer of choice in Australia.
What Sets Us Apart
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Purpose-led work: We're not selling ads or moving money. We connect people to real experiences.
- Community Focus: Our ESG commitment shapes everything we do, from responsible sourcing to sustainable office practices. For those based in Sydney or the Gold Coast, we host weekly, catered Community Lunches.
- Genuine Connections: Build relationships beyond work through Experiences@Work, our dedicated employee resource groups and social events.
- Commitment to Your Growth: We offer continuous learning opportunities, 30 work-from-anywhere days, leadership development, paid parental leave, and wellness support to prioritize your growth and well-being.
Our Hybrid Culture approach sees all of our teams in-office three days a week for collaboration, including our Monday All In Day with a community lunch for the whole team. We believe we are better together.
At Big Red Group, we believe diverse perspectives drive innovation and success. We are an equal opportunity employer, committed to fostering an inclusive and supportive workplace where everyone – regardless of background, identity, or ability – has the opportunity to thrive.
Big Red Group powers the largest experience network in Australia and New Zealand. Our robust technology platform, dynamic network and consumer marketplaces (RedBalloon, Adrenaline, Experience Oz & Everything NZ) connect more than 3,500 of ANZ’s best experience operators with millions of customers around the globe and provides the tourism industry with trusted intelligence and partnership.
