--- title: 'Software Development Engineer II, Search at Mapbox' canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/software-development-engineer-ii-search-mapbox-mapbox-1xek5gxm8p5s' type: 'job' last_seen: '2026-09-10' --- # Software Development Engineer II, Search at Mapbox - **Company:** [Mapbox](https://feeny.ai/companies/mapbox) - **Location:** Mapbox, United States - **Employment:** full-time - **Posted:** 2026-08-28 - **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-10 - **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/mapbox/cdc7cf98-5ec0-4a0b-a78f-bb3eb0e8b40f/application > Design and implement search retrieval algorithms for Mapbox's geocoding search engine, focusing on efficiency, accuracy, and scalability. Collaborate with cross-functional teams to optimize performance, write technical documentation, and ensure high-quality user experiences through rigorous testing and monitoring. ## Job description Mapbox is the leading real-time location platform for a new generation of location-aware businesses. Mapbox is the only platform that equips organizations with the full set of tools to power the navigation of people, packages, and vehicles everywhere. More than 4 million registered developers have chosen Mapbox because of the platform’s flexibility, security and privacy compliance. Organizations use Mapbox applications, data, SDKs and APIs to create customized and immersive experiences that delight their customers. ## What We Do The Search Geocoding team is responsible for building the best location-based search engine that empowers customers that require an intelligent Maps search solutions to find places and points of interest as quickly and with fewer keystrokes as possible. We do this by developing groundbreaking algorithms and features, applying the latest cutting edge technologies, and creating cost efficient, scalable solutions that can keep up with the ever changing dynamics of the world in near real-time fashion. As AI becomes embedded in modern engineering workflows, we value engineers who can thoughtfully integrate AI into design, development, and decision-making. Our interview process will include discussion of how you use AI in your engineering workflow. ## What You'll Do The Search Geocoding team has direct ownership of Mapbox’s geocoding search engine including Conflation, Query Understanding, document retrieval, and overall ranking. We work very closely with our partners, Search Data, Search Evaluation and Search API teams among others, to ensure that we provide the best solution for our customers at all times through cross-team collaboration and open communication. We have a modern development process - analyzing our initial algorithms, implementing and experimenting as we go, adjusting and optimizing our solutions to ultimately provide the best user experience. We support a production system and, therefore, support outside of standard business hours may occasionally be required to assist with various team and system needs such as pager support for periodic on-call duties, video calls, or other project requirements. Whatever the use case may be, our customers rely on us to provide the most relevant, location aware suggestions for any given query. As an algorithm/search engineer on the Search Geocoding team, your responsibilities may include (but are not limited to): - Designing and implementing search retrieval algorithms across multiple search engines - Making existing algorithms more efficient and/or highly performant - Writing technical design documents and participating in design and code reviews - Owning the efficiency and accuracy of your designs, as well as being responsible for overseeing your own work through the development and implementation lifecycle, ultimately delivering excellent end results - Collaborating with other engineers, PMs and teams internationally and cross functionally to deliver a high quality experience to our customers - Promoting a culture of operational excellence by meticulously testing and monitoring our systems and codes, and being available/on-call to support the health of our services What We Believe are Important Traits for This Role - Strong understanding of search techniques (such as information retrieval) and data structures - Practical experience in making an algorithms perform efficiently upon implementation - Ability to write sophisticated, highly performant, and reliable solutions - Excellent problem solving skills and analytical skills, valuing a scientific approach by using experimentation and critical thinking to drive and validate high quality solutions - Experience with modern programming languages (Javascript, Python, Rust, Java, Typescript, C++, Go) - Proficiency with cloud services (preferably AWS) in implementing monitoring instrumentation, operational diagnostics, resolving customer issues, and continuous product improvement ## Nice To Have Traits For This Role - Experience with maps, routing, navigation - Experience with NLP/ML/Generative AI - Experience with search engines such as ElasticSearch, Solr, Lucene - Experience with solving challenging search problems - Experience with big data and scale, data mining and science ## What We Value In addition to [our core values](https://www.mapbox.com/about/values/), which are not unique to this position and are necessary for Mapbox leaders: - We value high-performing creative individuals who dig into problems and opportunities. - We believe in individuals being their whole selves at work. We commit to this through supportive health care, parental leave, flexibility for the things that come up in life, and innovating on how we think about supporting our people. - We emphasize an environment of teaching and learning to equip employees with the tools needed to be successful in their function and the company. - We strongly believe in the value of growing a diverse team and encourage people of all backgrounds, genders, ethnicities, abilities, and sexual orientations to apply. ## How We Support You - Hybrid/Remote Options: Enjoy flexibility to work comfortably from home or periodically from an office where applicable. - Comprehensive Healthcare: Private medical coverage for you and your dependents. - Family-First Support: Generous maternity and paternity leave policies to support your growing family. - Fertility & Family Building: Inclusive fertility support. Grow your family on your terms. - Lifestyle Spending Account: Contributions to support your health, wellness, and personal growth. - Balance & Brainpower: Mental health support for you and your dependents. - Rest & Recharge: Flexible paid time away, company holidays, and generous absence policies. - Time Off to Give Back: Dedicated paid volunteering time in addition to your standard PTO. - Invest & Grow: Retirement plans with competitive matching. Our annual base compensation for this role ranges from $160,650 - $217,350 for most US locations and 5% to 10% higher for US locations with a higher cost of labor. Job level and actual compensation will be decided based on factors including, but not limited to, individual qualifications objectively assessed during the interview process (including skills and prior relevant experience, potential impact, and scope of role), market demands, and specific work location. Please discuss your specific work location with your recruiter for more information. By applying for this position, you acknowledge that you agree to the [Mapbox Privacy Policy](https://www.mapbox.com/legal/privacy) which is linked here. Mapbox participates in E-Verify to confirm employee work authorization. Please refer to the [Notice of E-Verify Participation](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rVYht6vc6QJmVzwML1rlh3BFboC-JkGe/view?usp=drive_link) and [Right to Work](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Pnzz1t8ueq8iPftJ7kqPOGoTnD5mqi0H/view?usp=drive_link) posters for more information. We are committed to a fair and equitable hiring process. We do not discriminate against any protected class. #LI-Remote ## About Mapbox ## Company Overview - **One-liner**: Mapbox is a global location platform that provides maps, navigation, search, and real-time location data services to power experiences for developers, enterprises, and consumers. - **Entity Type**: Private (Growth Stage) - **Headquarters**: Washington, DC, USA (with offices in San Francisco, Helsinki, and Minsk) - **Founded**: 2010 - **Founders**: Eric Gundersen, Mikel Maron, Alex Barth, Will White, Tom MacWright ## Core Business - Primary industry: Location Technology / Geospatial Data / Developer Infrastructure - Target customers: B2B and B2D (Developer-first) — serving logistics, delivery, automotive, retail, travel, manufacturing, and enterprise software companies - Mission or purpose: To power navigation for people, packages, and vehicles everywhere. They equip innovators to keep up with a changing world through real-time data and map rendering technologies. ## Products & Services - **Mapbox Maps**: A customizable, high-performance mapping platform offering a suite of APIs and SDKs for web and mobile applications, including vector tiles, static maps, and map design tools. - **Mapbox Navigation**: Turn-by-turn navigation services for car, truck, and last-mile delivery, optimized for real-time traffic and routing. - **Mapbox Search**: Geocoding and place search APIs that provide location intelligence and address autocomplete. - **Mapbox Data**: A rich set of datasets including traffic data, points of interest (POI), and real-time location insights for analytics and planning. - **Mapbox Unity SDK**: Tools for building immersive location-based experiences in games, AR/VR, and simulation. ## Market Standing - **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not publicly disclosed (private company); Mapbox raised over $350M in equity funding. In 2020, its valuation was reported as approximately $1B. - **Key Metric**: Total Funding — Over $370M raised from investors - **Notable Investors/Partners**: SoftBank Vision Fund, Foundry Group, DFJ Growth, True Ventures, Glynn Capital, Atomico, and others. Strategic partners include the United Nations, World Bank, USAID, and Doctors Without Borders. - **Growth Signals**: Headquartered in DC with offices in SF, Helsinki, and Minsk; serves millions of developers and enterprise customers globally; expanding into automotive, logistics, and IoT verticals. In October 2024, they launched new real-time data products for fleet management. ## Competitive Advantages - **Developer-First Platform**: Serves a massive global developer community with a strong open-source ethos and extensive APIs/SDKs. - **Customizability and Performance**: Unmatched ability for developers to style maps and control rendering, with low-latency vector tiles. - **Real-Time Data Ecosystem**: Proprietary traffic, navigation, and location data that continuously updates, creating a data moat. - **Strong Industry Partnerships**: Works with the UN, World Bank, and global enterprises, demonstrating trust and reliability beyond typical commercial use. ## Strategic Focus - **Automotive & Logistics Growth**: Deepening integrations with automotive OEMs and delivery/logistics companies for real-time navigation and fleet management. - **Real-Time Intelligence**: Expanding data products for real-time location analytics, traffic, and supply chain visibility. - **Developer Ecosystem Expansion**: Investing in SDKs, Unity integrations, and developer tools to maintain community leadership. - **Global Reach**: Scaling enterprise sales across non-US markets, especially Europe and Asia. ## Why Work Here - **Remote-First Culture**: Mapbox embraces work flexibility; most roles are remote-friendly, and employees are free to work from home, offices, or even a national park with good WiFi. - **Comprehensive Benefits**: Offers competitive compensation, equity, generous PTO, company-wide breaks, retirement programs, and comprehensive healthcare/mental health support. - **Family Support**: Paid maternity, paternity, adoption, and family care leave. - **Social Impact**: Over 30 hours of paid volunteer time annually and a donation-matching benefit. The team works on projects with NGOs and social impact organizations. - **Engineering-Driven**: A builder culture with a focus on innovation, data-driven decision-making, and cross-functional collaboration. - **Diverse and Inclusive**: Committed to DEI, with employee resource groups and policies promoting equity and inclusion. - **Open Positions**: As of mid-2025, there were 77 open roles across multiple locations, including remote and hybrid options in the US, Helsinki, and Minsk. ## Sources 1. [mapbox.com/company](https://www.mapbox.com/company) 2. [mapbox.com/careers](https://www.mapbox.com/careers) 3. [jobs.ashbyhq.com/mapbox](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/mapbox) 4. [mapbox.com/company/culture](https://www.mapbox.com/company/culture) 5. 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