Staff Backend Engineer – Location Platform

Life360

7h•Remote

About The Position

We are seeking a Staff Backend Engineer to architect, build, and evolve our location platform infrastructure. This is a critical, high-impact role for an exceptional distributed systems engineer who will take technical ownership of complex subsystems, drive architectural direction, and solve hard problems at the intersection of geospatial computing, high-throughput data processing, and real-time systems. You will work on systems processing billions of location events per day, design scalable geospatial services, build resilient distributed architectures using Kafka and NATS, and create libraries and frameworks that other engineering teams depend on. This role requires deep expertise in distributed systems, location and geospatial algorithms, and a track record of leading complex technical initiatives across multiple teams.

Requirements

8+ years of professional software engineering experience building backend systems, with deep expertise in distributed systems, high-throughput data processing, and scalable architectures
Expert-level distributed systems knowledge: Strong fundamentals in consistency models, distributed consensus, event-driven architectures, data partitioning, and fault tolerance
Location and geospatial expertise: Hands-on experience with geospatial algorithms, coordinate systems, spatial indexing (e.g., geohashing, S2, quadtrees), proximity search, and geofencing at scale
Proficiency in Java and Go: Strong coding skills with experience building production services, libraries, and frameworks in both languages
Deep experience with Kafka and NATS: Hands-on expertise designing and operating event streaming systems, real-time data pipelines, and message-driven architectures at scale
Proven track record of technical leadership: Experience driving architectural decisions, resolving design misalignments, and coordinating complex technical initiatives across multiple teams
High-throughput, low-latency systems: Experience building systems that process billions of events per day with strict latency requirements (e.g., p99 < 100ms)
Strong system design and architecture skills: Ability to independently design complex subsystems, evaluate trade-offs, and produce well-documented, maintainable architectures
Platform and library development: Experience building reusable libraries, SDKs, or platform services that other engineering teams depend on
Excellent collaboration and communication: Ability to translate technical concepts for diverse audiences, lead cross-functional discussions, and mentor engineers at all levels

Nice To Haves

Experience with AWS, Kubernetes, observability tooling (Prometheus, Grafana, distributed tracing), and SRE practices
Experience with real-time location tracking systems, telematics, or IoT data platforms
Familiarity with spatial databases (PostGIS, GeoMesa) or geospatial query engines
Background in mobile location APIs (iOS CLLocationManager, Android FusedLocationProvider) and understanding of device-side location collection
Experience with time-series data processing and storage (InfluxDB, TimescaleDB, Apache Druid)
Knowledge of privacy-preserving location techniques and compliance with location data regulations (GDPR, CCPA)
Contributions to open-source distributed systems or geospatial projects
Experience with real-time stream processing frameworks (Kafka Streams, Flink, Spark Streaming)

Responsibilities

Design, architect, and build high-throughput, low-latency backend systems for real-time location processing, geofencing, and location intelligence at scale (billions of events/day)
Take technical ownership of critical subsystems from inception to production, driving architectural decisions, managing dependencies, and coordinating across multiple teams
Lead the design and development of geospatial libraries, location algorithms, and platform services that other teams build on—establishing standards and best practices for location data processing across the organization
Architect distributed systems using Java and Go, leveraging Kafka and NATS for event streaming, real-time data pipelines, and inter-service communication
Drive technical design specifications, translate architectural decisions into actionable engineering plans, and mentor engineers on distributed systems patterns and location platform architecture
Identify and address technical debt, scalability bottlenecks, and engineering process deficiencies—proactively improving system reliability, observability, and operational excellence
Collaborate across teams (mobile, firmware, data science, product) to define APIs, refine technical requirements, and ensure alignment with long-term platform goals
Evaluate and adopt new technologies and best practices for geospatial computing, distributed systems, and real-time data processing
Participate in on-call rotations, lead incident response for location platform systems, and continuously improve system resilience
Provide technical leadership and mentorship across teams, conducting thorough code reviews, sharing knowledge, and raising the engineering bar

Benefits

Competitive pay and benefits
Medical, dental, vision, life and disability insurance plans (100% paid for employees)
401(k) plan with company matching program
Mental Wellness Program & Employee Assistance Program (EAP) for mental well-being
Flexible PTO, 13 company-wide days off throughout the year
Winter and Summer Weeklong Synchronized Company Shutdowns
Learning & Development programs
Equipment, tools, and reimbursement support for a productive remote environment
Free Life360 Platinum Membership for your preferred circle
Free Tile Products