Paulina: Today we’ll be talking with Daniel Bargieł, Senior Engineering Director from Viator. Your professional experience is very interesting, having worked for companies like Amazon and Qualtrics. Why did you decide to join Viator? What convinced you this was a good step in your career development?
Daniel: At all my previous companies, I joined well-established organizations with high engineering cultures where I learned how to do things well. At Viator, it’s different – I can apply all that knowledge and experience to say, “How about we change things to this new way of doing things, which is more efficient based on my experience and industry standards?”
We’re in the middle of a transformation and reinvention at Viator, which is exciting because it’s something I’ve never done before. The recent organizational changes, including how my department is structured now, are outcomes of this transformation. The changes to our recruitment process, the introduction of level guidelines, and new performance management processes for the engineering organization are all part of this broader transformation we’re undertaking. We’re essentially transforming engineering along with the rest of the company, and that’s a new and exciting challenge for me.
Paulina: Sounds exciting! So what exactly is Viator?
Daniel: Viator is the world’s largest travel experiences marketplace. We offer nearly 400,000 things to do from 65,000+ tour guides and operators in nearly every country in the world. We say our purpose is to bring more wonder into the world. That sounds lofty – but it’s very real to us. We send travelers on northern lights expeditions in Iceland, to see the glowworms in New Zealand, skip the line at Colosseum, experience the wonders of the world, and spend their best moments with their favourite people.
My department focuses on the third-party supply side of the business. This includes connecting Viator platform to various reservation systems, making it easy for distribution partners to sell Viator’s inventory on their websites, and supporting affiliates who link to our inventory in blog posts. We build products and ensure our platform is robust, scalable, and continuously evolving with new features.
Paulina: How is the engineering team structured, and how do you collaborate with other departments?
Daniel: R&D is structured into pillars, with B2B being one of five. Our engineering teams collaborate heavily with product teams. We have pillars, sub-pillars, and pods (teams). At each level, we match product and engineering leaders. I have a product counterpart for the entire B2B organization, and this pairing structure continues down to the team level. Engineering and product leaders collaborate on roadmaps and present them together to the organization.
Paulina: Are you recruiting for your team in Poland? Are you planning to expand?
Daniel:Yes, we’re recruiting in multiple locations with a high focus on Poland, where we recognize the great engineering talent. Viator is a remote-first company, though we have already opened an office in Kraków. Teams are typically co-located in two locations, such as UK and Poland, Portugal and Poland, or UK and Portugal.
Paulina: Many companies are returning to office work. Do you see challenges with managing remote-first teams?
Daniel: We ensure people are aware that remote work is different from office work – you can’t just tap someone on the shoulder. People need to be more proactive in seeking help. Since COVID began nearly five years ago, many have become accustomed to remote work. We have “collaboration weeks” once per quarter where we bring teams together in one location to collaborate in person. We also have travel budgets for project-specific needs. I’m heading to Portugal in two weeks to collaborate on one of our biggest strategic projects.
Paulina: What’s the current tech stack at Viator, and how do you decide when to adopt new technologies?
Daniel: We’re primarily a Java shop for backend services, with various databases including PostgreSQL and MySQL. We use AWS for infrastructure. For frontend, we use React. Our services are REST-capable, but we’re moving toward GraphQL, especially for mobile applications. For mobile, we currently use native development for both Android and iOS, though we’re considering multi-platform technologies to gain speed.
For adopting new technologies, we have a “golden path” concept—a set of mature and supported technologies on our tech radar. Teams can experiment with new technologies and propose them for wider adoption if they prove valuable. We’re cautious to avoid spreading resources too thin across multiple technologies.
We’re also experimenting with AI from both product and developer perspectives. All our developers have access to GitHub Copilot, which I use myself, but we also constantly assess other solutions that can enhance developers’ work . It’s been very efficient in helping me get back up to speed with coding after years of not having time to code regularly.
Paulina: It sounds like a great development opportunity for engineers. But what qualities do you look for in software engineers?
Daniel: Technical competence is the obvious baseline, but we also look for people with a drive for ownership. Viator is a high-skilled organization where being an engineer means more than just coding. Engineers aren’t micromanaged; they know best what to do when given the right tools and space. We look for people with internal drive, ownership mentality, and the ability to execute independently. Our cultural fit interviews are crucial to ensure candidates align with our company values.
Paulina: So what would be expected from a new software engineer within the first three months?
Daniel: They should understand the domain well enough to make initial changes, understand operations, and build relationships with their team, product managers, and business partners. They should be able to participate in incident management and make small changes in their area. While three months isn’t much time for onboarding, with a well-run program, these goals are achievable. All this will allow them to help us continue to create a great travel experience marketplace for our travelers and suppliers.
