Point One Navigation
Senior Network Backend Engineer
New
215000 –265800 USD / yearUSASeniorRemotedistributed systemsapi designbackend developmentnetworkingscalabilityperformance optimization
Design and build distributed backend services and APIs for a real-time RTK Correction Network ensuring scalability, reliability, and performance.
Responsibilities
- 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.
Requirements
- 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.
Nice to have
- 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.
Other
- Location: San Francisco, CA / San Diego, CA – In Office 3 Days/Week
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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:
- 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.
- 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.