Mapbox
Principal Software Development Engineer, Navigation SDK
Mapbox, Washington, District of Columbia, us, 20022
Mapbox is the leading real-time location platform for a new generation of location-aware businesses. Mapbox equips organizations with tools to power the navigation of people, packages, and vehicles. More than 4 million registered developers have chosen Mapbox for flexibility, security and privacy compliance. Organizations use Mapbox applications, data, SDKs and APIs to create customized experiences for their customers.
Overview
The Navigation team at Mapbox develops and operates web services powering Mapbox’s strategic navigation initiatives in consumer, automotive, and logistics verticals. This is a multidisciplinary, globally distributed organization, spanning distributed systems on AWS to geospatial localization, traffic telemetry, and mapping. Delivering navigation solutions involves modeling a changing world and supporting edge cases – from systems and fonts to local regulations and global boundaries. The teams at Mapbox are revolutionizing in-car experiences with fast, industry-leading maps and navigation for vehicles. We have launched products such as MapGPT, Mapbox for EV, and enhanced the visual experience of in-vehicle navigation with 3D styling through Mapbox Standard across web and mobile SDKs. Mapbox has partnered with automotive leaders including BMW, Toyota, and GM to bring mobile app development strengths into in-vehicle navigation and infotainment. What You'll Do
As a Principal Software Engineer, you will lead technical excellence, innovation, and execution for the Navigation organization, shaping the future of the Navigation product portfolio (Logistics API, Directions API, EV Routing, Routing across multiple modalities, Guidance, Traffic, Incidents/Closures, Telemetry). In this strategic role, you will define the technical vision and architecture for Navigation products, align initiatives with broader Navigation and Mapbox goals, and work hands-on with cross-functional Product partners, Directors, SVP of Location Services, CTO, and globally distributed Mapbox engineers and engineering managers. You will drive secure, frictionless developer and driver/rider experiences while designing and building large-scale systems from the ground up. This role requires mentoring and inspiring across the organization in a fast-paced, collaborative environment.
In This Role, You Will Develop the Roadmap: Set and guide the long-term technical direction and roadmap for the Navigation organization, aligning with Mapbox’s business objectives while driving innovation. Shape the Vision: Lead and mentor a global team of 100+ engineers through design, development, and execution of critical components to shape an exceptional customer experience. Promote Collaboration: Work across teams to uncover complex technical requirements, evaluate design trade-offs, and influence product direction. Proactively Innovate: Evaluate, prototype, and roll out new technologies/frameworks to foster a culture of innovation for expansion into new markets. Advocate for Customers: Engage directly with customers to understand their needs, travel as needed to meet with them, discuss ideas and solutions, and relay insights back to the team. What We Believe Are Important Traits For This Role
15+ years of engineering experience with a strong, hands-on track record. Strong distributed systems and infrastructure understanding: design, build, and lead teams in distributed systems, low-latency pipelines, and large-scale data processing. SDK development: experience designing, building, and maintaining SDKs across platforms (iOS, Android, Web, or embedded), focusing on developer experience, usability, and performance. Technical domain knowledge: fluency in languages such as C/C++, Python, Javascript, Typescript, Go; deep knowledge of design patterns, memory management, multithreading, and performance optimization. Mobile development: experience building mobile apps (iOS/Android) with SDK integration and development (Swift/Objective-C, Kotlin/Java). Cloud proficiency: experience with cloud database services (AWS RDS, Google Cloud Spanner, Azure SQL) and deploying databases in cloud environments. Operational excellence: commitment to quality, clean code, robust architecture, and elevating engineering practices. Ownership & execution: own the technical vision and guide the team to build the future of Navigation with globally distributed engineering teams. Customer focus: deep care for customers and their problems, with ongoing innovation on their behalf. Growth mindset: humility to learn from mistakes and grow. Partnership: ability to collaborate across product, executives, design, and key stakeholders to drive decisions influencing the business. Strong written and verbal communication: ability to convey complex ideas concisely to a wide audience and lead company-wide technical discussions. Data-informed mindset: value data-driven decision making while making timely decisions when data is imperfect. Experience bringing products to market: track record of shipping products, coordinating deadlines, pricing, marketing strategy, and enabling support teams. High standards for work: drive quality while balancing velocity. Valuable But Not Required Experience
Prior experience in Maps and/or Navigation is valuable but not required; technical, customer-focused, curious, adaptive mindset is essential. Advanced degree (Masters or PhD) in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Mathematics, or related field. What We Value
We value high-performing creative individuals who dig into problems and opportunities. We support diverse and inclusive teams and offer healthcare, parental leave, flexibility, and ongoing learning to enable success. We emphasize teaching and learning to equip employees with the tools for success. We believe in the value of growing a diverse team and encourage applicants from all backgrounds, genders, ethnicities, abilities, and orientations. Our annual base compensation for this role ranges from $269,450 - $364,550 for most US locations and 5% to 10% higher for higher-cost locations. The final compensation will be determined based on qualifications, experience, market demand, and location. Please discuss your work location with your recruiter. By applying for this position, you acknowledge agreeing to the Mapbox Privacy Policy. Mapbox participates in E-Verify; 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 and we do not discriminate against any protected class.
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The Navigation team at Mapbox develops and operates web services powering Mapbox’s strategic navigation initiatives in consumer, automotive, and logistics verticals. This is a multidisciplinary, globally distributed organization, spanning distributed systems on AWS to geospatial localization, traffic telemetry, and mapping. Delivering navigation solutions involves modeling a changing world and supporting edge cases – from systems and fonts to local regulations and global boundaries. The teams at Mapbox are revolutionizing in-car experiences with fast, industry-leading maps and navigation for vehicles. We have launched products such as MapGPT, Mapbox for EV, and enhanced the visual experience of in-vehicle navigation with 3D styling through Mapbox Standard across web and mobile SDKs. Mapbox has partnered with automotive leaders including BMW, Toyota, and GM to bring mobile app development strengths into in-vehicle navigation and infotainment. What You'll Do
As a Principal Software Engineer, you will lead technical excellence, innovation, and execution for the Navigation organization, shaping the future of the Navigation product portfolio (Logistics API, Directions API, EV Routing, Routing across multiple modalities, Guidance, Traffic, Incidents/Closures, Telemetry). In this strategic role, you will define the technical vision and architecture for Navigation products, align initiatives with broader Navigation and Mapbox goals, and work hands-on with cross-functional Product partners, Directors, SVP of Location Services, CTO, and globally distributed Mapbox engineers and engineering managers. You will drive secure, frictionless developer and driver/rider experiences while designing and building large-scale systems from the ground up. This role requires mentoring and inspiring across the organization in a fast-paced, collaborative environment.
In This Role, You Will Develop the Roadmap: Set and guide the long-term technical direction and roadmap for the Navigation organization, aligning with Mapbox’s business objectives while driving innovation. Shape the Vision: Lead and mentor a global team of 100+ engineers through design, development, and execution of critical components to shape an exceptional customer experience. Promote Collaboration: Work across teams to uncover complex technical requirements, evaluate design trade-offs, and influence product direction. Proactively Innovate: Evaluate, prototype, and roll out new technologies/frameworks to foster a culture of innovation for expansion into new markets. Advocate for Customers: Engage directly with customers to understand their needs, travel as needed to meet with them, discuss ideas and solutions, and relay insights back to the team. What We Believe Are Important Traits For This Role
15+ years of engineering experience with a strong, hands-on track record. Strong distributed systems and infrastructure understanding: design, build, and lead teams in distributed systems, low-latency pipelines, and large-scale data processing. SDK development: experience designing, building, and maintaining SDKs across platforms (iOS, Android, Web, or embedded), focusing on developer experience, usability, and performance. Technical domain knowledge: fluency in languages such as C/C++, Python, Javascript, Typescript, Go; deep knowledge of design patterns, memory management, multithreading, and performance optimization. Mobile development: experience building mobile apps (iOS/Android) with SDK integration and development (Swift/Objective-C, Kotlin/Java). Cloud proficiency: experience with cloud database services (AWS RDS, Google Cloud Spanner, Azure SQL) and deploying databases in cloud environments. Operational excellence: commitment to quality, clean code, robust architecture, and elevating engineering practices. Ownership & execution: own the technical vision and guide the team to build the future of Navigation with globally distributed engineering teams. Customer focus: deep care for customers and their problems, with ongoing innovation on their behalf. Growth mindset: humility to learn from mistakes and grow. Partnership: ability to collaborate across product, executives, design, and key stakeholders to drive decisions influencing the business. Strong written and verbal communication: ability to convey complex ideas concisely to a wide audience and lead company-wide technical discussions. Data-informed mindset: value data-driven decision making while making timely decisions when data is imperfect. Experience bringing products to market: track record of shipping products, coordinating deadlines, pricing, marketing strategy, and enabling support teams. High standards for work: drive quality while balancing velocity. Valuable But Not Required Experience
Prior experience in Maps and/or Navigation is valuable but not required; technical, customer-focused, curious, adaptive mindset is essential. Advanced degree (Masters or PhD) in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Mathematics, or related field. What We Value
We value high-performing creative individuals who dig into problems and opportunities. We support diverse and inclusive teams and offer healthcare, parental leave, flexibility, and ongoing learning to enable success. We emphasize teaching and learning to equip employees with the tools for success. We believe in the value of growing a diverse team and encourage applicants from all backgrounds, genders, ethnicities, abilities, and orientations. Our annual base compensation for this role ranges from $269,450 - $364,550 for most US locations and 5% to 10% higher for higher-cost locations. The final compensation will be determined based on qualifications, experience, market demand, and location. Please discuss your work location with your recruiter. By applying for this position, you acknowledge agreeing to the Mapbox Privacy Policy. Mapbox participates in E-Verify; 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 and we do not discriminate against any protected class.
#J-18808-Ljbffr