# Rove Expands Universal Miles Engine and Hires Engineers in New York **Author:** Zero G Talent **Published:** 2026-11-11 **Category:** engineering **Tags:** yc-hiring, travel tech, fintech, consumer, software engineering, growth engineering, artificial intelligence [Read on Zero G Talent](https://zerogtalent.com/blog/rove-expands-universal-miles-engine-and-hires-engineers-in-new-york) --- Credit card loyalty programs have long served as gatekeepers to premium airline redemptions. To amass meaningful transferable point balances, travelers traditionally needed pristine credit histories and the appetite to pay hundreds of dollars in annual card fees. [Rove](https://zerogtalent.com/ai-companies/rove) was founded to bypass that requirement entirely, allowing consumers to earn transferable airline rewards across travel bookings, online retail, and local dining without opening a co-branded card. The New York-based startup, which participated in Y Combinator's Winter 2024 batch, has scaled its platform to 21 global loyalty transfer partners, including Qantas Frequent Flyer, Air France-KLM Flying Blue, Qatar Airways Privilege Club, and Japan Airlines Mileage Bank. Supported by $11 million in total funding from investors including General Catalyst, Pear VC, Soma Capital, and Formus Capital, the four-person company is hiring engineers in Manhattan to build out its supply infrastructure, automated growth engines, and browser-driven agent systems. ## Unbundling Airline Miles from Credit Cards Founded in July 2023 by [Max Morganroth](https://zerogtalent.com/people/max-morganroth) and [Arhan Chhabra](https://zerogtalent.com/people/arhan-chhabra), Rove originated from the co-founders' experiences with international loyalty programs. While studying at the Wharton School, Morganroth observed that reward currencies in markets such as Hong Kong operate like everyday tender rather than credit-gated perks. In an appearance on the [Geobreeze Travel](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tXmDrrezgI) podcast, Chhabra recalled how consumers in Hong Kong regularly earn Cathay Pacific Asia Miles buying water at convenience stores or opening bank deposits. In the United States, roughly 70 million people lack the established credit history required for premium travel rewards cards, according to Morganroth in [TechCrunch](https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/07/rove-founded-by-a-22-year-old-is-helping-gen-z-earn-airline-miles-without-credit-cards/). To tap into younger travelers who want access to international business and first-class cabins, Rove created an ecosystem where miles are funded by merchant affiliate commissions and travel supply agreements rather than card swipe interchange fees or revolving consumer debt. Users earn Rove Miles through three core channels: - **Hotel and flight bookings:** Members can book over 200,000 properties worldwide, earning up to 25 miles per dollar on standard cash rates. Through Rove's "Loyalty Eligible" rates, travelers earn a base of 5 Rove Miles per dollar while remaining eligible for chain hotel loyalty points, elite night credits, and on-property benefits at chains like Hyatt, Marriott, and Hilton. Cash flights earn 1 to 10 miles per dollar. - **Shopping portal and browser extensions:** Through Chrome and Safari browser extensions, users earn miles across more than 13,000 retailers, funded by affiliate commissions. - **Dining and gift cards:** The company rolled out Rove Dining across 20 cities, allowing users to link existing payment cards to earn 2 to 12 miles per dollar at participating restaurants. An in-app gift card marketplace lets users purchase digital cards from hundreds of retailers with instant mileage distribution. Earned miles can be redeemed directly through Rove's travel portal for dynamic cash-equivalent value or transferred at a 1:1 ratio to 20 partner airlines and 1.5:1 to Accor Live Limitless. ## Platform Enhancements and Global Airline Partnerships Over the past year, Rove has steadily widened its network of airline transfer partners. In July 2026, the company added Qantas Frequent Flyer, giving members access to oneworld award availability across the Pacific, as covered by [The Wise Marketer](https://thewisemarketer.com/rove-adds-qantas-frequent-flyer-as-newest-transfer-partner/). That was followed by partnerships with Copa Airlines ConnectMiles, Virgin Atlantic Flying Club, Virgin Red, and SAS EuroBonus, as reported by [The Points Guy](https://thepointsguy.com/news/rove-miles-adds-four-new-transfer-partners/). Product execution shifted rapidly in late 2026. As detailed in [The Points Guy](https://thepointsguy.com/news/rove-dining-in-store-rewards/), the company expanded beyond web bookings by releasing its official iOS app, an Android public beta, and card-linked in-store retail offers. In a team broadcast titled [Rove Office Hours Ep. 2](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cq1smg2ZcNo), member support specialist Lauren Faulkner and travel director Carissa Rawson demonstrated the new gift card marketplace and card-linking workflows, noting that users can link up to 10 cards to passively capture restaurant rewards. Writing for [PhocusWire](https://www.phocuswire.com/interviews/startups/hot-25-travel-startups-2027-rove), which selected Rove for its Hot 25 Travel Startups for 2027 list, head of loyalty David Feldman outlined the company's 2027 roadmap: expanding hotel inventory, introducing more global loyalty partners, and simplifying redemptions so that flexible travel points operate as general currency rather than a niche hobby. ## Backend Infrastructure and Growth Engineering Roles Supporting dynamic redemptions across dozens of global airline and hotel reservation systems requires deep backend integrations. Rove is hiring a [Software Engineer (Mid to Senior)](https://zerogtalent.com/ai-jobs/rove/senior-backend-engineer-63606) in New York, offering a salary of $150,000 to $300,000. The engineer will build the backend travel infrastructure and the platform's AI concierge, which assists members in planning, booking, and earning miles. The role centers on integrating complex third-party supply aggregation and writing reliable browser agents and tool-calling systems to automate travel execution. To expand consumer distribution across shopping, dining, and travel products, the team is also seeking an onsite [Growth Engineer](https://zerogtalent.com/ai-jobs/rove/growth-engineer-102248) in New York with a salary range of $150,000 to $200,000. This full-stack role requires shipping experiments, building automated user lifecycle campaigns, and creating internal tools powered by large language models to optimize the user acquisition and retention funnel. Both positions are based onsite at Rove's office in New York, NY. ## Open Engineering Roles at Rove | Role | Location | Work Mode | Compensation | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | [Software Engineer (Mid to Senior)](https://zerogtalent.com/ai-jobs/rove/senior-backend-engineer-63606) | New York, NY, US | Onsite | $150,000 – $300,000 | | [Growth Engineer](https://zerogtalent.com/ai-jobs/rove/growth-engineer-102248) | New York, NY, US | Onsite | $150,000 – $200,000 | [See all open roles at Rove](https://zerogtalent.com/ai-companies/rove) --- *Source: [Zero G Talent](https://zerogtalent.com), the job board for space, defense, AI, robotics and frontier-tech companies.*