Drone Delivery Backend Engineer

DoorDash USA; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 131,000 - 285,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

401(k) matching

Parental leave

Wellness benefits

Commuter benefits

PTO & sick leave

Medical/Dental/Vision

Paid holidays

Disability & life insurance

Family-forming assistance

Mental health program

Job summary

DoorDash Labs seeks an experienced software engineer to design and implement backend services for autonomous drone delivery, integrating with core data, real-time fleet management, and airspace awareness. You will build scalable, fault-tolerant systems to support a fleet of delivery drones and ensure safe operations in real-world environments.

The ideal candidate holds a BS/MS/PhD in CS, Robotics, or Aerospace, with 6+ years in backend or autonomous systems, and strong skills in path planning,

Qualifications

• BS/MS/PhD in CS/Robotics/Aerospace or related field.
• 6+ years as software engineer focusing on backend systems, robotics, or autonomous systems.
• Experience developing algorithms for path planning.
• Experience with simulations and testing frameworks for robotics.
• Proficiency in Kotlin or C++.
• Ability to improve efficiency and scalability of distributed real-time systems.
• Experience with SOA, REST APIs, unit testing, and architectural design.
• Knowledge of TCP/IP, UDP, MQTT networking for robotics/IoT.
• Familiarity with SQL/NoSQL databases.
• Nice to have: ROS or other robotics middleware.
• Nice to have: GIS/geospatial data familiarity.

Responsibilities

• Design and implement backend services for autonomous drone delivery with intelligent path planning and real-time fleet management.
• Develop scalable, fault-tolerant systems for drone fleets ensuring safe operations.
• Implement simulations and testing frameworks to validate path planning performance.
• Improve reliability, scalability, and security of drone backend systems and ensure compliant operations.
• Introduce tools and best practices to accelerate drone development and adherence to aviation regulations.

Skills

Backend systems

Robotics

Path planning algorithms

Simulations & testing

Kotlin

C++

REST APIs

Networking (TCP/IP UDP MQTT)

SQL/NoSQL databases

Education

B.S., M.S., or Ph.D. in CS/Robotics/Aerospace

Tools

ROS

Job description

DoorDash Labs seeks an experienced software engineer to design and implement backend services for autonomous drone delivery, integrating with core data, real-time fleet management, and airspace awareness. You will build scalable, fault-tolerant systems to support a fleet of delivery drones and ensure safe operations in real-world environments.

The ideal candidate holds a BS/MS/PhD in CS, Robotics, or Aerospace, with 6+ years in backend or autonomous systems, and strong skills in path planning,