Senior Software Engineer - Backend

Role Description

This person will join the team that owns the real-time source of truth for our system, developing predictive algorithms that power accurate passenger information. Your work will drive the tools transit professionals use every day to manage service, improve operations, and keep riders informed through partner apps and integrations.

• Design, evaluate, build, and maintain real-time algorithms and systems for vehicle tracking, map-matching, ETA predictions, and disruption detection.
• Contribute to Swiftly's real-time data pipelines, APIs, and cloud services that power customer-facing products.
• Build data infrastructure to support rigorous algorithm development, validating changes at scale before they reach production.
• Collaborate with product managers, designers, and engineers to prototype solutions, validate approaches, and deliver incremental value.
• Break down complex problems into smaller, testable pieces to help the team move quickly and reliably.
• Share designs and technical decisions openly, weighing tradeoffs and documenting for alignment.
• Apply modern engineering practices to deliver robust, maintainable, and extensible code.
• Support and elevate teammates through code reviews, pairing, and knowledge sharing.
• Take ownership of your work and team outcomes, continuously reflecting and improving.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of software engineering experience, ideally with data-intensive or real-time systems.
• Experience with Java and cloud-native backend services (AWS preferred).
• You've taken algorithms from idea to implementation, delivering production-ready systems that drive real-world impact.
• Strong understanding of real-time data processing, such as streaming, event-driven, or predictive systems.
• Comfortable building and consuming APIs; proficient with SQL.
• Curiosity and excitement about applying predictive algorithms to solve real-world problems in transit.
• Growth mindset and adaptability in a fast-changing technical landscape.
• Collaborative, humble, and open to feedback; thrives in blameless, team-oriented environments.
• Bonus: experience with Apache Kafka, Python/JupyterHub, JavaScript/Vue.js, or AWS Step Functions.

Requirements

• Experience with backend data systems, real-time processing, and designing cloud-based Java services and APIs.
• Experience collaborating across frontend and backend to deliver end-to-end products.
• Excitement to push the accuracy and reliability of predictions forward, experiment rapidly, and solve problems holistically.

Benefits

• Competitive salary
• Equity compensation (company ownership) for every employee
• Medical, Dental and Vision
• Retirement with Employer Match
• Flexible Spending Account (FSA)
• Home office setup reimbursement
• Monthly cell/internet reimbursement
• Monthly "Be Well" stipend
• Flexible PTO with a recommended minimum
• Flexible work environment
• 16 paid holidays - including months without US national holidays
• 12 fully paid weeks of leave for childbirth/adoption