Backend Engineer, Autonomous Drone Delivery

DoorDash High Volume; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 131,000 - 192,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

401(k) with employer matching

16 weeks paid parental leave

Wellness benefits

Commuter benefits match

Paid time off

Job summary

DoorDash Labs is seeking an experienced backend engineer to help build and deploy UAV-based systems for autonomous drone delivery. You will work on real-time fleet management, path planning, and safety-aware airspace integration, collaborating across robotics, software, and aviation domains.

The role emphasizes scalable backend development, simulations, and adherence to aviation regulations, with opportunities to shape production-ready infrastructure.

Qualifications

• Bachelor, Master, or PhD in CS/Robotics/Aerospace or related field.
• 6+ years in software engineering with backend/robotics focus.
• Experience designing path-planning algorithms and robotics simulations.

Responsibilities

• Design and implement backend services for autonomous drone delivery with path planning, fleet management, and airspace awareness.
• Develop scalable, fault-tolerant systems to manage a drone fleet in real-time.
• Create simulations and testing frameworks to validate path-planning algorithms.
• Improve performance, reliability, and security of drone backend systems and ensure regulatory compliance.
• Introduce tools and best practices to accelerate drone development.

Skills

Backend development

Path planning algorithms

Robotics simulation

C++

REST APIs

Distributed systems

Networking protocols

Education

Bachelor/Master/PhD in CS/Robotics/Aerospace

Tools

ROS

Kubernetes

Docker

AWS

Job description

DoorDash Labs is seeking an experienced backend engineer to help build and deploy UAV-based systems for autonomous drone delivery. You will work on real-time fleet management, path planning, and safety-aware airspace integration, collaborating across robotics, software, and aviation domains.

The role emphasizes scalable backend development, simulations, and adherence to aviation regulations, with opportunities to shape production-ready infrastructure.