--- title: 'Senior Software Engineer – Backend at RIVR' canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/senior-software-engineer-backend-rivr-zurich-rh4k76q18at1' type: 'job' last_seen: '2026-09-07' --- # Senior Software Engineer – Backend at RIVR - **Company:** RIVR - **Location:** Zurich, Switzerland - **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-07 - **Apply:** https://jobs.lever.co/rivr/4e012ab6-3c29-436c-8641-2c07757db8fa ## Job description RIVR, part of Amazon is a robotics company pioneering Physical AI through real-world doorstep delivery. Founded in 2024 as an ETH Zurich spin-off, RIVR developed wheeled-legged robots designed to operate in complex, unstructured environments such as stairs, gates, doors, and uneven urban terrain. We believe that achieving general physical intelligence requires solving real customer problems in the real world, where robots can learn from rich operational data at scale. Following our acquisition by Amazon in March 2026, we are continuing this mission with greater reach and speed. By combining custom robot hardware, onboard autonomy, and cloud-based coordination, RIVR, part of Amazon is building the next generation of safe, reliable autonomous robots for last-mile delivery Job Description As our next Senior Backend Engineer you will focus on the design, development, and operation of the server-side systems that power our cutting-edge robotics delivery platform. This role involves building robust, scalable microservices and integrations crucial for fleet operations, process integrations, and data processing in a cloud-native environment. You will play a key part in translating complex business requirements into reliable and efficient backend solutions. ## What you’ll be doing - Design and implement backend services for integrating RIVR's platform with our customers’ systems, to provide delightful delivery experiences. - Develop and enhance the backend infrastructure for our robot operations platform. - Develop backend components to aggregate Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), providing insights into platform performance and business value. - Contribute to the overall architecture, reliability, and scalability of our backend systems within a containerized microservices context. - Collaborate closely with frontend, robotics, and infrastructure engineers to deliver end-to-end features ## What you must have - Approximately 5 years of professional experience designing, building, deploying, and operating backend systems in a Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) context. You have production experience with: - Strong experience with Typescript, Java, C++ and/or Python - Service decomposition. - API design. - Different interaction patterns (e.g. RPC, publish/subscribe, event-driven). - At least two database technologies - Trading off consistency for availability/performance. - Proven experience (5+ major services) with at least one major cloud provider (AWS strongly preferred). - Demonstrable experience in at least one of the following areas: - Integrating with complex third-party APIs and building reliable, distributed workflows (e.g., using task queues, state machines). - Building event-driven applications and/or scalable data processing pipelines (e.g., using Kafka, message queues, serverless functions). - A business-oriented mindset, with a focus on leveraging technology to solve concrete problems and deliver value. - A strong sense of ownership, comfortable venturing beyond immediate expertise to understand and solve problems effectively. - The ability to earn trust by providing and receiving candid, constructive feedback. - Willingness to participate in on-call rotations to ensure the reliability of our production systems. - Excellent communication skills, with the ability to articulate complex technical ideas clearly and drive mutual understanding across teams with diverse technical backgrounds. Get some bonus points - Familiarity configuring and operating CI/CD pipelines. - Background in robotics, IoT, fleet management, or real-time data streaming systems. - Strong familiarity with observability such as OTLP, Grafana, prometheus, etc preferably in the context of devices with intermittent connectivity ## About RIVR ## Company Overview - **One-liner**: RIVR builds autonomous wheeled-legged robots powered by Physical AI to automate doorstep delivery, from the street to the door. - **Entity Type**: Private (acquired by Amazon in March 2026; previously venture-backed with $29M total funding) - **Headquarters**: Zurich, Switzerland - **Founded**: 2023 (originally as Swiss-Mile, rebranded to RIVR) - **Founders**: Marko Bjelonic (CEO), Lorenz Wellhausen (CTO Software), Giorgio Valsecchi (CTO Hardware), Alexander Reske (COO) ## Core Business - **Primary industry**: Robotics Engineering / Physical AI for last-mile delivery - **Target customers**: B2B – logistics providers, e‑commerce companies, grocery delivery services (e.g., Swiss Post, Migros Online) - **Mission**: “Pioneering Physical AI to revolutionize doorstep delivery” – combining neural networks with wheeled‑leg robots to master the last 100 yards of delivery. ## Products & Services - **RIVR ONE**: A wheeled‑legged delivery robot that climbs stairs, steps over curbs, opens gates, and carries multiple parcels/groceries securely. Equipped with cameras, LiDAR, and a robotic arm for dexterous manipulation. - **Physical AI Platform**: Reinforcement learning (simulated data + parallel GPU training) and supervised/imitation learning (real‑world data) that enable autonomous navigation and manipulation. A data flywheel collects teleoperation feedback to continuously improve autonomy. - **Global Operations Software**: Cloud infrastructure for fleet management, including 24/7 remote assistance and API integration for custom deployments. ## Market Standing - **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not disclosed (acquired by Amazon; prior valuation unknown) - **Key Metric**: Total funding raised – $29M (Seed round led by Bezos Expeditions and HSG, plus grants from Innosuisse) - **Notable Investors/Partners**: Bezos Expeditions, HSG, Innosuisse; pilot partners include Swiss Post and Migros Online - **Growth Signals**: Acquired by Amazon in March 2026; already has customers requiring “tens of thousands of robots”; workforce of 48 employees with 12.2% monthly headcount growth; 19 active job postings as of mid‑2026 ## Competitive Advantages - **Wheeled‑leg design** offers 5× battery life and speed, and 10× coverage of traditional legged robots, while still climbing stairs and navigating uneven terrain. - **Data flywheel**: Each deployed robot generates real‑world data that feeds supervised and imitation learning, creating a self‑reinforcing improvement loop. RIVR claims it will generate more daily data than YouTube within four years. - **Full‑stack approach**: Proprietary learning algorithms, simulation environments, and hardware co‑design allow tight integration between AI and embodiment. - **Amazon backing**: Post‑acquisition, RIVR gains access to Amazon’s logistics network, resources, and scale, accelerating deployment. ## Strategic Focus - **General Physical AI**: RIVR’s long‑term vision is to build a general‑purpose Physical AI that can handle diverse real‑world tasks, using doorstep delivery as the initial catalyst. - **Scaling deployment**: Moving from pilot (Swiss Post/Migros) to mass production and global rollout, leveraging Amazon’s infrastructure. - **Talent acquisition**: Actively hiring senior AI engineers (reinforcement learning, imitation learning, VLA foundation models), hardware engineers, and robotics software specialists to grow the technical team. ## Why Work Here - **Cutting‑edge technology**: Work on Physical AI, reinforcement learning, and advanced robotics at the intersection of software and hardware. - **Zurich location**: Office and development lab in the heart of Zürich; relocation bonus offered. - **Compensation & perks**: Competitive, transparent salary; Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP); annual performance‑based bonus; five weeks of vacation. - **Team & culture**: Work alongside top engineers from ETH Zurich, Amazon, Meta, and leading robotics labs. Flat hierarchy with a strong technical focus. - **Remote/hybrid policy**: On‑site presence expected (all current job postings are “On‑site – Full”); the robotics lab requires physical presence. - **Growth opportunity**: Being part of an Amazon‑owned company provides stability and resources while still operating with a startup‑like engineering intensity. ## Sources 1. [rivr.ai/careers](https://www.rivr.ai/careers) 2. [rivr.ai/about-rivr](https://www.rivr.ai/about-rivr) 3. [linkedin.com/company/rivr-technologies](https://linkedin.com/company/rivr-technologies) 4. [jobs.lever.co/rivr](https://jobs.lever.co/rivr) 5. 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