Staff Network Backend Engineer

Job description

STAFF NETWORK BACKEND ENGINEER Location: San Francisco, CA / San Diego, CA – In Office 3 Days/Week ABOUT POINT ONE NAVIGATION Point One Navigation is on a mission to bridge the digital and physical worlds through precision location. Our RTK Corrections Network and Positioning Engine deliver centimeter-level accuracy and high-confidence positioning for vehicles, robots, drones, and devices across industries. We're API-first, developer-focused, and pushing the boundaries of autonomy and automation. ROLE OUTCOME Staff Network Backend Engineers own the design, implementation, and reliability of the backend services and APIs that power Point One's RTK Correction Network - from correction-data ingestion and distribution to the customer-facing APIs that deliver positioning at scale. This is an ownership-first role: you will design and build distributed systems that serve real-time corrections to hundreds of thousands of devices in the field, with the latency, availability, and the correctness that mission-critical positioning demands. The RTK Corrections Network is the backbone connecting our reference stations to every device that depends on us. This team is responsible for keeping it fast, reliable, and scalable: designing services that handle growing traffic, responding to evolving customer needs, and ensuring the network stays observable, tested, and production-ready as it grows. SUCCESS IN THIS ROLE MEANS: - Backend services are robust, performant, and scalable across a growing base of devices, customers, and geographies. - Real-time corrections are delivered with low latency and high availability, even under load and partial failure. - APIs are well-designed, well-documented, and easy for customers and internal teams to build on. - Engineering decisions reflect a deep understanding of real-world constraints - latency, throughput, reliability, scale, and cost. - Customer challenges are met with well-designed, durable solutions. - Observability and testing are treated as first-class responsibilities, giving the team and customers confidence in every release. IMMEDIATE AREAS OF FOCUS Own Backend Services and APIs - Lead design, implementation, and optimization of backend services that power the RTK Corrections Network and customer-facing APIs. - Build and evolve API-first services that are clear, well-documented, and reliable for internal and external developers. - Break down high-level goals into concrete tasks, schedules, and milestones, and hold yourself accountable for delivering against them. - Drive performance and efficiency improvements across the request path - latency, throughput, and cost. - Ensure the service stack is well-structured, maintainable, and built to last as the product and customer base grow. Scale the RTK Corrections Network - Own the ingestion, processing, and distribution of GNSS correction data from reference stations to devices in the field. - Design streaming and connectivity paths (e.g., NTRIP and similar protocols) that deliver corrections reliably and at low latency. - Expand network capacity and coverage as new regions, stations, and customers come online. Build Reliable Distributed Systems - Design for high availability, graceful degradation, and recovery under partial failure. - Own observability - metrics, logging, tracing, and alerting - so issues are caught and resolved before customers feel them. - Identify and resolve bottlenecks and reliability risks early, particularly as traffic and scale grow. Respond to Customer and Market Challenges - Engage directly with evolving customer needs and translate them into well-designed, durable technical solutions. - Collaborate with embedded, firmware, infrastructure, and customer-facing teams to deliver reliable end-to-end systems. - Surface technical risks and tradeoffs early so architecture and delivery decisions reflect real-world constraints. Own Testing and Verification - Design and maintain rigorous testing strategies across backend services and the correction pipeline. - Treat test coverage as a first-class engineering responsibility - ensuring the team and customers have confidence in every release. - Identify gaps in coverage proactively, particularly as new services, protocols, or customer configurations are added. QUALIFICATIONS - 7+ years of professional software development, with significant depth in backend or distributed systems. - Proven ability to design, build, and operate production backend services and APIs at scale - from architecture through deployment and on-call ownership. - Proven ability to decompose high-level goals into actionable tasks, realistic schedules, and clear milestones - with a track record of delivering on commitments. - Strong proficiency in a backend language such as Go, Java, or Python. - Deep understanding of networking fundamentals (TCP/IP, TLS, HTTP) and experience building low-latency, high-throughput services. - Experience designing and operating distributed systems - availability, scaling, and observability. - Hands-on experience with cloud infrastructure (AWS, GCP, or similar), containers, and CI/CD. - Experience designing and owning testing and verification strategies for complex systems. - BS/MS in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or equivalent experience. Bonus Points For - Experience with real-time data streaming or low-latency messaging (gRPC, Kafka). - Experience with distributed processing frameworks (Flink, Spark, Hadoop) - Working knowledge of GNSS, RTK corrections, or positioning technologies. - Background in highly available or mission-critical systems. - Experience with infrastructure-as-code and large-scale observability tooling. OUR CULTURAL FOUNDATION At Point One, our cultural and operating design is built around one guiding principle: we must move with extreme speed and efficiency of effort to stay in a leadership position. This environment gives people a high level of autonomy and the ability to make a real impact. It also challenges every team member to grow — both professionally and personally. Because we focus on promoting from within rather than relying on external hiring, the opportunities for advancement are tremendous for those who seek them. That said, growth only comes from delivering in the present. What matters most is the job to be done today, not the job you want tomorrow. When we all focus on today’s outcomes with excellence, the path to greater responsibility and growth naturally follows. We think about our culture in two dimensions: HOW WE SHOW UP EVERY DAY These are the behaviors we expect every team member to bring to work — the foundation of being a consummate, high-output teammate: - Trust / Assume Best Intent — Trust allows us to move fast. When we start from trust, we spend no time second-guessing or looking for ulterior motives and thus focus all our energy on acting. - High Output, Action Oriented — Our default posture is “yes.” We bias toward action and deliver results quickly, knowing that speed and efficiency compound into impact as we unblock others around us. - Divine Discontent — We’re never satisfied with the status quo and are self-motivated to improve ourselves, our work, and our company. We actively seek feedback in real-time to shorten improvement cycles. - No Ego, One Team — Collaboration without ego creates leverage. When we win as one team, we eliminate friction and move faster together. - Self Accountability — Taking ownership is the straightest line to learning, self-improvement, and correcting our course of action. And blaming others around us is a fast path to destroying trust. OPERATING PRINCIPLES These are the systems and norms that amplify speed and efficiency at the company level: - Edge Innovation — We bias toward action over approval. Experiment, decide, and move — failure is just a step toward faster learning. - No Hierarchies — We practice self-prioritization and go direct to the source. Flattening layers reduces drag and maximizes autonomy. - Customer Experience First — We optimize for the end-to-end customer outcome, not functional or departmental efficiency. This focus cuts waste, aligns priorities, and ensures we spend effort where it matters most. If this role sounds like a fit, we’d love to hear from you. Apply below and join us in shaping the future of precise location.