Software Developer – AI & Business Systems

Somak Luxury Travel – Harrow, UK

Hybrid working: Monday–Thursday in office | Friday from home

About Somak

Somak Luxury Travel is an established specialist tour operator with more than 50 years' experience in long-haul and luxury travel.

Technology has played an important role in our business for many years. We have developed our own bespoke systems covering areas including quotations, pricing, supplier contracts, reservations, reporting and other core business functions.

We are now looking to strengthen our internal technology capability and further develop these systems using modern software development, automation and AI.

The Role

We are looking for a highly capable and commercially minded software developer to join our internal technology team.

First and foremost, you must be a strong coder.

You should have a Computer Science, Software Engineering or closely related undergraduate or postgraduate degree, together with substantial hands-on programming experience.

You will work alongside our existing systems architect and with colleagues throughout the business. Initially, you will need to understand our existing systems, databases and business processes. As your knowledge develops, you will take increasing responsibility for maintaining, enhancing and developing our technology platform.

This is not simply a role for someone who wants to be given coding specifications. We want someone who can understand a business problem, investigate how it is currently handled and then determine how software, automation or AI could provide a better solution.

What You'll Do

You will:

• Develop, maintain and enhance business-critical applications.

• Write clean, reliable and maintainable code.

• Work with existing and sometimes complex codebases.

• Design and develop new applications, functionality and internal tools.

• Work extensively with relational databases and SQL.

• Understand and develop complex business and pricing logic.

• Develop APIs and integrations between systems.

• Diagnose bugs, investigate technical problems and develop robust solutions.

• Work directly with users to understand business requirements.

• Translate those requirements into practical technical solutions.

• Identify repetitive or inefficient processes that could be automated.

• Use AI-assisted development tools to improve development speed and quality.

• Develop AI-enabled solutions where they provide genuine business value.

• Research new technologies and assess how they could be applied within Somak.

• Gradually take greater ownership of Somak's technology platform.

Understanding the Business

We believe the best developers understand the business their software supports.

You will therefore spend time with colleagues across Somak understanding areas including:

• Quotation and itinerary generation.

• Pricing and margins.

• Hotel and supplier contracts.

• Reservations and bookings.

• Management information and reporting.

• Direct consumer and travel trade marketing.

• Customer and commercial data.

We are looking for someone who asks not only:

"How do I build this?"

but also:

"Why are we doing this, and is there a better way?"

Current Development Priorities

Quotation & Itinerary Generation

Producing complex tailor-made quotations and itineraries is an important but time-consuming part of our reservations consultants' work.

We want to investigate how better software, automation and AI can significantly reduce quotation preparation time while maintaining or improving quality.

The commercial objective is straightforward: allow consultants to spend less time administering quotations and more time producing quotations, talking to customers and selling holidays.

Contract Loading

Our supplier contracts contain complex rates, seasons, offers, supplements and conditions which ultimately feed into our pricing and quotation systems.

We want to substantially reduce the manual work involved in converting supplier contracts into structured, validated data.

This may involve conventional software development, data processing, automation and AI-assisted extraction and validation.

These are current priorities rather than limits on the role. We expect the successful candidate to identify further opportunities as they develop their understanding of the business.

The Person We're Looking For

Essential

You should have:

• An undergraduate or postgraduate degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering or a closely related discipline.

• Strong hands-on software development and coding experience.

• Excellent programming fundamentals and problem-solving ability.

• Strong knowledge of relational databases and SQL.

• Experience developing real applications rather than purely academic projects.

• An understanding of software architecture and good development practices.

• Experience working with APIs and system integrations.

• The ability and willingness to understand an existing codebase and established systems.

• Strong debugging and analytical skills.

• The ability to learn unfamiliar technologies and systems quickly.

• Good communication skills and the ability to work with non-technical colleagues.

• Curiosity about how a business operates and how technology can improve it.

Technical Experience

Experience with some of the following would be particularly useful:

• Oracle Database

• PHP

• Python

• JavaScript

• Web application development

• APIs and integrations

• Data processing and automation

We do not expect applicants to know every technology we currently use. Strong development fundamentals and the ability to learn quickly are more important than matching every element of our existing technology stack.

AI

We regard competent use of AI as an increasingly normal part of modern software development.

You should already be comfortable using tools such as Claude, ChatGPT, GitHub Copilot or equivalent tools for coding, debugging, research, analysis and problem-solving.

However, we are not looking for someone whose principal technical skill is prompting AI.

You must be capable of understanding, writing, testing and debugging software yourself and be able to evaluate and take responsibility for AI-generated code.

We are particularly interested in developers who understand when a problem is best solved through conventional programming, automation, AI – or a combination of all three.

The Characteristics That Matter

Beyond technical ability, we are particularly interested in someone who:

• Is naturally curious.

• Learns quickly.

• Takes ownership of problems.

• Enjoys understanding how businesses work.

• Can work from an incomplete or loosely defined requirement.

• Questions inefficient processes rather than simply accepting them.

• Can communicate comfortably with both technical and non-technical colleagues.

• Thinks commercially as well as technically.

• Wants responsibility and the opportunity to grow.

We want someone who can observe a business process, understand why it works as it does and then ask:

"Can technology make this significantly better?"

What Success Looks Like

During your first year, we would expect you to:

• Develop a strong understanding of Somak's business and technology platform.

• Become increasingly capable of maintaining and enhancing our existing systems.

• Take ownership of development projects.

• Deliver measurable improvements in productivity and efficiency.

• Identify and implement opportunities for automation and AI.

• Help reduce our reliance on external development resources.

• Contribute ideas to the longer-term development of Somak's technology.

The Opportunity

This is an unusual opportunity for a developer who wants exposure to much more than a narrow area of software development.

You will work with systems at the heart of a real commercial business, have direct access to senior decision-makers and see the impact of the solutions you develop.

Our objective is to build a strong internal technology capability that combines Somak's existing systems and business knowledge with modern software development, automation and AI.

For the right person, there is considerable scope to grow with the business and play an increasingly important role in shaping Somak's future technology.