Software Development Engineer III

Porter; India; On-site; INR 2,500,000 - 5,000,000; Full time

Job summary

Porter is building the operating system for intra-city logistics in India. As an SDE 3, you will own and build large, business-critical systems operating at scale, shaping architectures and mentoring engineers while collaborating with product and business stakeholders.

You are expected to think from first principles, leverage AI responsibly, and deliver reliable, observable, and cost-aware solutions in a fast-paced environment.

Qualifications

• Strong fundamentals in data structures and algorithms.
• Experience designing scalable, high-availability systems at scale.
• Proficient in modern backend stacks, cloud infra, and observability.

Responsibilities

• Design, build, and own scalable distributed systems.
• Drive low-level and high-level design decisions, APIs, data models, and service architectures.
• Mentor engineers and collaborate with product/business teams.

Skills

DS & Algorithms

Distributed systems

System design

Cloud infrastructure

Code quality

AI tooling

Education

B.Tech / M.Tech in CS or related

Tools

AWS

Kubernetes

Docker

Monitoring tools

Job description

Permanent

Job Description

Porter is building the operating system for intra-citylogistics in India. With ~20 million orders per month, 500K+daily-active drivers, and rapid scale ahead (1.5x growth expected nextyear), we solve complex real-world problems at massive scale, balancingspeed, reliability, and cost efficiency in a highly operational environment.

Role Overview

As an SDE 3 at Porter, you will own and build large,business-critical systems operating at scale. This role goes beyondcodingyou'll design scalable architectures, make thoughtful trade-offs,influence engineering standards, and mentor other engineers while workingclosely with product and business stakeholders.

You are expected to think from first principles,leverage AI responsibly, and build systems that are reliable,observable, and cost-aware.

Key Responsibilities

Technical & System Design

• Design,build, and own scalable, high-availability distributed systemshandling millions of transactions.
• DriveLow-Level and High-Level Design, including APIs, data models, andservice architectures.
• Performcapacity planning, back-of-the-envelope calculations, and identify systembottlenecks early.
• Ensureengineering excellence across reliability, observability, security, andcost optimization.

Coding & Execution

• Writeclean, maintainable, and testable production-grade code.
• ApplySOLID principles, design patterns, and sound engineering practices.
• UseAI tools to accelerate development while critically evaluating outputsknowingwhen to use AI and when not to.

Ownership & Delivery

• Ownend-to-end delivery of systemsfrom design to production and long-termmaintenance.
• Driveprojects with high autonomy, handle ambiguity, and deliver under tighttimelines.
• Participateactively in operational reviews, incident management, and systemimprovements.
• Collaborateclosely with Product, Data, and Business teams to balance tech decisionswith real-world logistics constraints.
• Mentorjunior engineers, influence code quality, and help raise the engineeringbar.
• Contributeto hiring, technical interviews, and culture-building initiatives.

What We're Looking For

Experience

• 4+years of software development experience (SDE 3 or equivalent role).
• Provenexperience owning and scaling production systems.
• Experienceworking in fast-paced, high-ownership environments (startups or scale-upspreferred).

Technical Skills

• Strongfundamentals in data structures, algorithms, and object-oriented design.
• Hands-onexperience with system design at scale.
• Familiaritywith modern backend stacks, distributed systems, and cloud infrastructure.
• Strongunderstanding of engineering operations: monitoring, alerting,reliability, and performance tuning.

AI & First-Principles Thinking

• Abilityto use AI as a productivity tool, not a crutch.
• Strongjudgment to validate AI-generated outputs and reason independently.
• Comfortablebreaking down complex problems to fundamentals rather thanpattern-matching solutions.

Leadership & Mindset

• Strongsense of ownership and accountability (Own It).
• User-firstthinking with an understanding of business impact (User Obsession).
• Biasfor action and execution in ambiguous situations (Keep Moving).
• Collaborative,empathetic, and resilient under pressure.
• Desireto raise the bar for talent, quality, and execution.

Why Join Porter?

• Buildsystems that operate at massive real-world scale.
• Solveunique logistics and operational challenges.
• Workin a culture that values ownership, frugality, speed, and impact.
• Significantscope to grow beyond SDE 3 into technical or leadership paths.

Job Snapshot

Updated Date

31-08-2026

Job ID

JOB_2723

Department

Location