Senior Software Engineer, Product Foundations

Metropolis•Los Angeles, CA

1d•$180,000 - $200,000•Onsite

About The Position

Metropolis is an artificial intelligence company that uses computer vision technology to enable frictionless, checkout-free experiences in the real world. Today, we are reimagining parking to enable millions of consumers to just "drive in and drive out." We envision a future where people transact in the real world with a speed, ease and convenience that is unparalleled, even online. Tomorrow, we will power checkout-free experiences anywhere you go to make the everyday experiences of living, working and playing remarkable - giving us back our most valuable asset, time. Metropolis is seeking a Senior Software Engineer for our Product Foundations team to architect and build Metropolis Web Services (MTWS), the foundational, composable substrate for all current and future products. You will play a key role in building the technical foundation that supports our expansion into new mobility verticals and markets. This role requires an individual who thrives in fast-paced environments where technical excellence is paramount, eager to mentor others while driving architectural best practices. Working alongside a team dedicated to distributed systems and reliability engineering, you will collaborate closely with Application Development, Infrastructure, and our Advanced Technologies group to power the future of mobility commerce. You will solve complex, large-scale distributed systems challenges, tackling deep systems problems that demand exceptional analytical skills, systems thinking, and a passion for efficiency to build the technical backbone of our rapidly scaling business.

Requirements

Bring 6+ years of backend software engineering experience with a focus on distributed systems
Demonstrate expert-level Java proficiency with a deep understanding of JVM performance and concurrency
Possess production experience with microservices architecture, Kubernetes, and AWS
Exhibit strong systems thinking skills with the ability to design high-availability distributed systems
Maintain deep knowledge of databases, event streaming (Kafka, SQS), and caching strategies
Utilize AI-powered development tools such as Claude Code or GitHub Copilot for enhanced productivity
Communicate complex technical designs effectively and lead technical discussions across team
Reside in the New York City, Seattle, or Los Angeles area

Nice To Haves

Have experience with Scala
Possess an advanced degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related technical field
Hold security and compliance expertise, particularly regarding authentication and secrets management
Possess experience scaling systems through rapid expansion in high-growth environments
Demonstrate distributed systems expertise through open source contributions or technical blog writing
Have performance optimization experience with profiling, benchmarking, and system tuning at hyperscale

Responsibilities

Design and build the core services of Metropolis Web Services including IAM, notifications, and message processing
Build and maintain service mesh infrastructure to enable secure and observable communication between microservices
Create sophisticated developer tooling and CI/CD pipelines that enable teams to ship code safely
Make critical technical decisions regarding service boundaries, API design, and data consistency patterns
Architect and optimize systems for high throughput and low latency to support millions of transactions
Establish monitoring, alerting, and reliability practices that ensure 99.99% uptime for mission-critical infrastructure
Drive architectural discussions and establish engineering best practices across the organization
Mentor other engineers while contributing directly to complex technical implementations