Software Development Engineer III, Search API

About the role

Join the Search Box team at Mapbox to develop and enhance the company's core geospatial search engine. This position involves building sophisticated public APIs, optimizing search algorithms, and managing large-scale global datasets to support navigation and mapping services. You will play a vital role in shaping foundational technology used across logistics, automotive, AI, and travel platforms. This role requires a strong technical background, experience in building scalable web services, and a passion for geospatial data. You will work closely with cross-functional teams to deliver high-performance, reliable, and innovative solutions that meet the needs of diverse customers worldwide. The role offers an exciting opportunity to influence the core infrastructure powering location-based services and to contribute to cutting-edge advancements in geospatial search technology.

Key facts

What you'll do

• Design, develop, and improve core services to enhance API performance, focusing on reliability, scalability, and system resilience.
• Establish and promote high engineering standards by defining code quality guidelines, conducting code reviews, and refining development processes across the organization.
• Make strategic decisions regarding long-term technical architecture, system scalability, and infrastructure to support growing data and user demands.
• Mentor and guide engineering team members, fostering a culture of continuous learning, innovation, and professional growth.
• Develop and implement metrics, dashboards, and analytics to monitor service quality, system health, and performance trends.
• Conduct experiments and performance testing to evaluate the quality, dependability, and capacity needs of user-facing navigation and search products.
• Participate in the entire lifecycle of feature development within the Search organization, including designing, coding, testing, deploying, and maintaining features.
• Lead code and design reviews to ensure best practices, security, and maintainability of the codebase.
• Collaborate with product managers, data scientists, and other stakeholders to define product requirements and translate them into technical solutions.
• Work closely with business development teams to ensure product roadmaps and designs align with customer needs, market trends, and strategic goals.
• Engage directly with major customers, including automotive manufacturers in Europe, the US, Japan, and China, as well as suppliers like automotive Tier 1 companies and mapping firms, to gather feedback and ensure product satisfaction.
• Support on-call rotations to troubleshoot and resolve production issues promptly, maintaining high availability and performance of search services.
• Contribute to the evolution of the company's geospatial search engine, incorporating new algorithms, data structures, and technologies to improve search relevance and speed.
• Collaborate with infrastructure teams to optimize deployment pipelines, container orchestration, and cloud infrastructure, primarily on AWS.

Requirements

• Over 7 years of experience developing web services using Rust or Typescript (Node.js).
• Proven experience building highly available, scalable API services within containerized environments such as Docker, ECS, or Kubernetes on AWS.
• Strong skills in implementing monitoring tools, troubleshooting incidents, resolving customer issues, and continuously improving products based on telemetry data.
• Deep understanding of operating systems and distributed systems concepts, including fault tolerance, consistency, service discovery, and load balancing.
• Ability to develop and execute long-term technical strategies that balance immediate product delivery with reducing technical debt and ensuring maintainability.
• Extensive experience leading high-visibility initiatives that improve engineering standards, operational excellence, and cross-team collaboration.
• Demonstrated interest or experience in solving geospatial problems, with an understanding of the unique challenges involved.
• Strong analytical skills, with the ability to justify technical decisions using system telemetry, data analysis, and performance metrics.
• Attention to detail and a creative, resourceful approach to problem-solving, especially in complex, large-scale systems.
• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to collaborate effectively across engineering, product, and data teams.
• Proven ability to work in a fast-paced environment, managing multiple priorities and delivering results on time.

Nice to have

• Previous experience working in mapping, navigation, or automotive sectors.
• Knowledge of machine learning techniques applicable to geospatial data analysis and search optimization.
• Contributions to open-source geospatial or data analysis projects, demonstrating community engagement and technical expertise.

Skills & tools

• Rust
• Typescript (Node.js)
• Docker
• ECS
• Kubernetes
• AWS

Practical notes

Mapbox participates in E-Verify. The company is committed to a fair and equitable hiring process and does not discriminate against any protected class. The role is based at the Mapbox US office and involves on-site work. Candidates should be prepared to engage in a comprehensive interview process, including technical assessments and team interactions. The company offers a collaborative environment with opportunities for growth and impact within a leading geospatial technology organization.