Software Development Engineer II, Search Data

Mapbox; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 160,650 - 217,350; Full time

Job summary

Mapbox is seeking an experienced backend/data engineer to manage large-scale geospatial data pipelines and ingestion systems on AWS. You’ll collaborate across teams, document decisions, and mentor engineers while driving operational excellence and performance improvements.

The role emphasizes building batch and streaming data processing systems, integrating APIs, and advancing AI-enabled development workflows. Remote options are determined by project needs.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of building scalable backend systems and data pipelines.
• Experience with AWS services and data processing technologies.
• Proficiency in SQL and Python, plus one modern backend language.

Responsibilities

• Work with telemetry and geospatial data sets (addresses, road networks, POIs).
• Build and support batch and streaming ingestion systems ingesting terabytes daily.
• Collaborate with engineers to meet geospatial data needs and deliver solutions.
• Document work, present decisions, and mentor other engineers in design and reviews.
• Promote operational excellence with testing, monitoring, and on-call support.
• Reduce technical debt and optimize performance for faster feature velocity.

Skills

5+ years exp

AWS

SQL

Python

NodeJS/Scala/Java

Apache Spark

CI/CD

APIs

AI tools in SDLC

Tools

Docker

Spark

AWS

Job description

Mapbox is the leading real-time location platform for a new generation of location-aware businesses. Mapbox is the only platform that equips organizations with the full set of tools to power the navigation of people, packages, and vehicles everywhere. More than 4 million registered developers have chosen Mapbox because of the platform’s flexibility, security and privacy compliance. Organizations use Mapbox applications, data, SDKs and APIs to create customized and immersive experiences that delight their customers.

What We Do

The Search Data team supplies address, place, and points of interest (POI) data for global searches in countries around the world. Search is crucial for our customers’ applications and we are a key partner to the Maps and Navigation organizations at Mapbox. We process batch data from thousands of sources and use ETL data pipelines to prepare it for our search engines. This area of our work presents a range of challenging algorithmic, scaling, and quality assessment opportunities. As an Engineer on the Search Data team, you will work with diverse datasets at scale - hundreds of millions of records - and play a vital role in the development of complex mapping and navigation software for cars, web, and mobile devices.

As AI becomes embedded in modern engineering workflows, we value engineers who can thoughtfully integrate AI into design, development, and decision-making. Our interview process will include discussion of how you use AI in your engineering workflow.

What You’ll Do

• Work with specialized telemetry and geospatial data sets including addresses, road networks, buildings, and points of interest (POIs).
• Build and support our batch and streaming ingestion systems that ingest terabytes of data per day.
• Interface with engineers from other teams to understand their needs for geospatial data and provide solutions.
• Simplify and strengthen Mapbox’s processes and tools for designing, deploying, and monitoring data processing and querying workloads on AWS.
• Document your work and decision-making processes, and lead presentations and discussions in a way that is easy for others to understand.
• Mentor other software engineers to develop all aspects of their engineering skill sets, including participating in design and code reviews.
• Promote a culture of operational excellence by meticulously testing and monitoring our systems and code, writing documentation, and being on-call to support the health of our services.
• Reduce technical debt, share your knowledge, and invest in your teammates’ health and happiness, while optimizing application performance and accelerating feature velocity.
• Uphold a culture of collaboration, transparency, creativity, inclusion, and data-driven decisions.

What We Believe Are Important Traits For This Role

• 5+ years of experience building scalable backend systems and data pipelines.
• Hands‑on experience with AWS technologies like Lambda, S3, Athena, Glue, and EMR.
• Strong proficiency in SQL and Python.
• Proficiency in at least one modern programming language (NodeJS, Scala, or Java) suitable for backend services and data processing.
• Demonstrated history of designing batch and real‑time data processing systems and developed judgment to implement new data pipelines and best practices around it.
• Familiarity working with Apache Spark or other Hadoop based technologies.
• Familiarity with CI/CD processes.
• Experience with introducing quality and operational metrics into a data ETL pipeline.
• Integrating data with APIs and querying data through APIs.
• Experience with AI tools in the software development lifecycle.

Nice to Have Traits for This Role

• Experience with geospatial data analysis and processing
• Experience with Docker
• Experience with machine learning infrastructure

What We Value

In addition to our core values, which are not unique to this position and are necessary for Mapbox leaders:

• We value high-performing creative individuals who dig into problems and opportunities.
• We believe in individuals being their whole selves at work. We commit to this through supportive health care, parental leave, flexibility for the things that come up in life, and innovating on how we think about supporting our people.
• We emphasize an environment of teaching and learning to equip employees with the tools needed to be successful in their function and the company.
• We strongly believe in the value of growing a diverse team and encourage people of all backgrounds, genders, ethnicities, abilities, and sexual orientations to apply.

Our annual base compensation for this role ranges from $160,650 - $217,350 for most US locations and 5% to 10% higher for US locations with a higher cost of labor. Job level and actual compensation will be decided based on factors including, but not limited to, individual qualifications objectively assessed during the interview process (including skills and prior relevant experience, potential impact, and scope of role), market demands, and specific work location. Please discuss your specific work location with your recruiter for more information.

By applying for this position, you acknowledge that you agree to the Mapbox Privacy Policy which is linked here.

Mapbox participates in E-Verify to confirm employee work authorization. Please refer to the Notice of E-Verify Participation and Right to Work posters for more information.

We are committed to a fair and equitable hiring process. We do not discriminate against any protected class.