---
title: '(Senior) iOS Engineer at Polarsteps'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/senior-ios-engineer-polarsteps-amsterdam-hgrjsr634gxw'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-13'
---

# (Senior) iOS Engineer at Polarsteps

- **Company:** Polarsteps
- **Location:** Amsterdam, Netherlands
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Work type:** hybrid
- **Posted:** 2026-09-10
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-13
- **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/polarsteps/3b1e3659-648c-4325-bcff-cdc8d540989e/application

**Skills:** iOS Development, Swift, Objective-C, UIKit, SwiftUI, GCD, Combine, Swift Concurrency, Realm, Xcode Instruments, Fastlane, Github Actions, CI/CD, Swift Package Manager, AI tools (Claude Code, ChatGPT Codex)

> Join Polarsteps' Amsterdam-based team to develop and maintain the iOS app for millions of users. You will implement new features, improve performance, and collaborate cross-functionally within a product pillar team using Swift and modern iOS technologies.

## Job description

Looking for a new adventure? You’ve come to the right place. We're an Amsterdam-based team of 90+ (and counting) with 25+ nationalities amongst us! A varied bunch of “Citizens of The World” with a wide range of skills and hundreds of thousands of kilometers under our travel belts. And we have something important in common (other than our very well-worn passports): We want to change the way people travel. And that's exactly what we're doing, with the travel app to plan, track, and relive trips in a smart and beautiful way. Polarsteps has over 20 million users already, but, for us, this is just the beginning. We have big plans for the future, and so we need even more talented and enthusiastic people to help us on our journey. Want to know more about us? [Here](https://careers.polarsteps.com/) you go.

Your expedition: iOS development at Polarsteps We’re a small team, doing big things. If you haven't seen our app yet, go ahead and check it out, you'll see that we care (a lot) about providing a seamless, top-quality user experience for every one of our travellers. And it is this that has got us ratings of 4.8* and 4.7* on the app stores (where we’ve been featured multiple times). But it doesn’t stop there, not only did Google create [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYcBqtOwLcg) awesome video about us but we’ve been mentioned in two of Apple’s WWDC keynote speeches. And we're one of the top [26 apps for 2026](https://apps.apple.com/ie/iphone/story/id1849362474) according to Apple! We’ve got an impressive past but we’re even more excited for the future, and the impact you can make from day one is huge, with everything you ship affecting millions of users. Even with that in mind, we believe in truly giving our team members the freedom they need to craft to perfection while encouraging a practical mindset to avoid under or over-engineering mishaps. We are seeing an enthusiastic and accelerated growth of the travel industry, and with that comes both opportunities and growing pains (especially in the complex, multi-layered travel domain). So, if on top of the challenges inherent to feature development, you enjoy thinking about the performance and scalability aspects of a platform, you're in for a lot of fun with us.

## Your itinerary

What your journey at Polarsteps will look like day-to-day. You will:

- Working closely with Jimmy (our Lead iOS Engineer), and Javi, Andrii, Orcun, Arne, Lieneke, Daniil, Rosa, Dmytro, Azat, Paulo, Tiago, and Bennet (our iOS Engineers) on all things related to our app.
- Be responsible for implementing new features, improving existing features and maintaining the day-to-day operations of our iOS App.
- We're product-first; meaning you won't just work within the iOS team, you'll be embedded in a dedicated Product Pillar team, each owning a distinct part of the user journey. Day-to-day you'll work closely with PMs, designers, and engineers across disciplines. It's a genuinely cross-functional setup: PMs, designers, and engineers working together from problem to solution, because the best product decisions happen when technical perspective is in the room early.
- Proactively improving the maintainability, resiliency and extensibility of our app, addressing technical debt when needed or even better, preventing it when it makes sense.

The equipment in your backpack What we’re hoping you’ll bring with you.

- At least 3-5 years of hands-on experience with iOS development
- Experience working in an agile team environment.
- A pragmatic approach to problem-solving, and an absence of fear when it comes to tackling big challenges in UI, architecture, or refactoring that 5-year-old piece of legacy code.
- A strong iOS development background, we work with Swift, but we still have some legacy Objective-C code, so we would love it if you are also familiar with that.
- Extensive experience with large apps published in the App Store.
- In-depth knowledge of UIKit, SwiftUI and experience building complex user interfaces.
- Experience with writing and debugging multithreading code. We use GCD, Combine, and the latest Swift Concurrency.
- Realm knowledge.
- Experience with Swift Package Manager is a bonus.
- Experience using Xcode instruments to optimize app performance and memory consumption.
- Experience with setting up and maintaining CI/CD pipelines. We use Fastlane and Github actions.
- Experience leveraging AI tools (e.g., Claude Code, ChatGPT Codex) to improve development speed, code quality, and debugging efficiency.

1st class extras Some cool things to make the journey extra sweet.

- Salary range: Between EUR 69.000 - 82.000 (medior level) and EUR 85.000 - 100.000 (senior level) gross per year incl 8% holiday allowance (based on 40 hours/week). Where you land in the range depends on your experience and skills, assessed during the interview process.
- Equity: You'll be able to participate in our Polarsteps SAR Plan.
- A yearly free flight or train ride to a random location! Give our Teleporter a spin [here](https://www.polarsteps.com/teleporter).
- A shiny new MacBook to work your magic on.
- Hybrid working, our way. Work from home and the office, we ask everyone to be in the office 2 days a week. It’s how we stay flexible, focused, and meaningfully connected in person.
- An extensive home office set-up — everything from noise-canceling headphones to a standing desk.
- 30 days of vacation (for adventures or sitting on the couch, it's up to you)
- Two paid Culture Days for days that are important to you but not recognized by the official Dutch calendar.-
- The option to switch up your zoom background by working from another country for up to 8 weeks a year.
- A personal development budget for that curious mind of yours!
- A pension plan to help you save for those around-the-world retirement trips.
- Delicious daily team lunches.
- Awesome monthly parties, as well as team trips away.
- A lively office in downtown Amsterdam, with travel costs reimbursed.
- Free Polarsteps Travel Books to contain all your far-flung adventures.

At Polarsteps, we believe the best products are built by people as diverse as the travelers using our apps! That's why we specifically encourage people underrepresented in the tech industry to apply for a role with us. Because we believe that diversity, be it age, race, sexual orientation, physical ability, ethnicity, or gender identity, makes both the world and the workplace better.

Think this is the path for you? Find out more about [how we hire.](https://careers.polarsteps.com/howwehire)

## About Polarsteps

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Polarsteps is a travel app that combines trip planning, real-time tracking, and reliving into a single platform for adventurous travelers.
- **Entity Type**: Private (funding stage not publicly disclosed; bootstrapped origins with subsequent investment likely)
- **Headquarters**: Amsterdam, Netherlands
- **Founded**: 2015
- **Founders**: Niek (original founder), Job Harmsen, Koen Droste, Maximiliano Neustadt

## Core Business
- **Primary Industry**: Travel technology (consumer travel app)
- **Target Customers**: B2C – individual travelers looking for a single app to plan, track, and share trips
- **Mission**: “We want to lead a global movement towards more adventurous travel” – inspiring people to explore the world and capture their stories. [polarsteps.com/about](https://www.polarsteps.com/about)

## Products & Services
- **Polarsteps App (iOS & Android)**: A mobile app that enables users to plan trips, track journeys via GPS, share their location with friends/family, and later relive the adventure with a beautiful interactive map. Freemium model.
- **Travel Books**: Physical photo books that automatically compile trip highlights, offered as a premium/companion product.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation / Market Cap**: Not publicly available
- **Key Metric**: 20+ million users (as of 2025–2026). [polarsteps.com](https://www.polarsteps.com/)
- **Notable Investors / Partners**: Not disclosed in available sources
- **Growth Signals**:
  - Team size grown to 90+ (from a small founding team). [careers.polarsteps.com](https://careers.polarsteps.com/)
  - 20+ nationalities represented in the workforce
  - Actively hiring for 15+ roles across engineering, product, growth, and operations (June 2026). [careers.polarsteps.com/vacancies](https://careers.polarsteps.com/vacancies)
  - New CEO Clare Jones leading the next growth phase. [careers.polarsteps.com/team](https://careers.polarsteps.com/team)

## Competitive Advantages
- **Unique Origin Story**: Born on a catamaran crossing the Atlantic – product–market fit discovered organically through solo tracking.
- **All-in-One Experience**: Combines planning, tracking, and reliving in one app, reducing the need for multiple tools.
- **Community & Content**: User-generated journeys feed into a global map of real adventures, creating a network effect.
- **Employee Perk as Moat**: The “Teleporter” – once a year the whole team is flown/trained to a random destination (chosen from past user trips), reinforcing product empathy and company culture.

## Strategic Focus
- Drive user growth by expanding the social and follower features (dedicated Product Manager for Growth – Social & Followers listed).
- Deepen planning capabilities to become the default starting point for trips.
- Scale engineering and data teams to improve personalization and experimentation.
- Maintain a hybrid work model (office in Amsterdam) while enabling up to 8 weeks of remote work abroad per year.

## Why Work Here
- **Culture**: Described as “explorer at heart,” with a flat, collaborative vibe and frequent social events (after-work borrels, boat trips).
- **Work Model**: Hybrid – office in downtown Amsterdam (Vijzelgracht 53A); flexibility to work abroad up to 8 weeks/year.
- **Perks**:
  - 30 vacation days + 2 Culture Days per year
  - Teleporter (annual free flight/train to a surprise destination)
  - MacBook, noise-canceling headphones, standing desk
  - Free travel books (your own trips turned into physical books)
- **Team**: ~90 employees across 20+ nationalities; high retention (first hires still with the company). [careers.polarsteps.com/team](https://careers.polarsteps.com/team)

## Sources
1. [polarsteps.com](https://www.polarsteps.com/)
2. [polarsteps.com/about](https://www.polarsteps.com/about)
3. [careers.polarsteps.com](https://careers.polarsteps.com/)
4. [careers.polarsteps.com/vacancies](https://careers.polarsteps.com/vacancies)
5. [careers.polarsteps.com/team](https://careers.polarsteps.com/team)

## Other roles at Polarsteps

- [Senior Product Designer - Digital Relive](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-product-designer-digital-relive-polarsteps-amsterdam-8qxdas913vja) — Amsterdam, Netherlands
- [Data Scientist Growth Analytics](https://feeny.ai/job/data-scientist-growth-analytics-polarsteps-amsterdam-7jf00sgx3wa0) — Amsterdam, Netherlands
- [Senior User Acquisition Specialist](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-user-acquisition-specialist-polarsteps-amsterdam-ft7ymth69ea7) — Amsterdam, Netherlands