Staff Backend Engineer – Location Platform

Role Overview

• Design, architect, and build high-throughput, low-latency backend systems for real-time location processing, geofencing, and location intelligence at scale (billions of events/day)
• Take technical ownership of critical subsystems from inception to production, driving architectural decisions, managing dependencies, and coordinating across multiple teams
• Lead the design and development of geospatial libraries, location algorithms, and platform services that other teams build on—establishing standards and best practices for location data processing across the organization
• Architect distributed systems using Java and Go, leveraging Kafka and NATS for event streaming, real-time data pipelines, and inter-service communication
• Drive technical design specifications, translate architectural decisions into actionable engineering plans, and mentor engineers on distributed systems patterns and location platform architecture
• Identify and address technical debt, scalability bottlenecks, and engineering process deficiencies—proactively improving system reliability, observability, and operational excellence
• Collaborate across teams (mobile, firmware, data science, product) to define APIs, refine technical requirements, and ensure alignment with long-term platform goals
• Evaluate and adopt new technologies and best practices for geospatial computing, distributed systems, and real-time data processing
• Participate in on-call rotations, lead incident response for location platform systems, and continuously improve system resilience
• Provide technical leadership and mentorship across teams, conducting thorough code reviews, sharing knowledge, and raising the engineering bar

Requirements

• 8+ years of professional software engineering experience building backend systems, with deep expertise in distributed systems, high-throughput data processing, and scalable architectures
• Expert-level distributed systems knowledge: Strong fundamentals in consistency models, distributed consensus, event-driven architectures, data partitioning, and fault tolerance
• Location and geospatial expertise: Hands-on experience with geospatial algorithms, coordinate systems, spatial indexing (e.g., geohashing, S2, quadtrees), proximity search, and geofencing at scale
• Proficiency in Java and Go: Strong coding skills with experience building production services, libraries, and frameworks in both languages
• Deep experience with Kafka and NATS: Hands-on expertise designing and operating event streaming systems, real-time data pipelines, and message-driven architectures at scale
• Proven track record of technical leadership: Experience driving architectural decisions, resolving design misalignments, and coordinating complex technical initiatives across multiple teams
• High-throughput, low-latency systems: Experience building systems that process billions of events per day with strict latency requirements (e.g., p99 < 100ms)
• Strong system design and architecture skills: Ability to independently design complex subsystems, evaluate trade-offs, and produce well-documented, maintainable architectures
• Platform and library development: Experience building reusable libraries, SDKs, or platform services that other engineering teams depend on
• Excellent collaboration and communication: Ability to translate technical concepts for diverse audiences, lead cross-functional discussions, and mentor engineers at all levels.

Tech Stack

• Distributed Systems
• Java
• Kafka
• Go

Benefits

• Competitive pay and benefits
• Medical, dental, vision, life and disability insurance plans (100% paid for employees)
• 401(k) plan with company matching program
• Mental Wellness Program & Employee Assistance Program (EAP) for mental well-being
• Flexible PTO, 13 company-wide days off throughout the year
• Winter and Summer Weeklong Synchronized Company Shutdowns
• Learning & Development programs
• Equipment, tools, and reimbursement support for a productive remote environment
• Free Life360 Platinum Membership for your preferred circle
• Free Tile Products