---
title: 'Software Development Engineer III, Search API (Places) at Mapbox'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/software-development-engineer-iii-search-api-places-mapbox-mapbox-9xjx6tae31ad'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-17'
---

# Software Development Engineer III, Search API (Places) at Mapbox

- **Company:** [Mapbox](https://feeny.ai/companies/mapbox)
- **Location:** Mapbox, United States
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Posted:** 2026-07-15
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-17
- **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/mapbox/5e2dc48a-42c6-4d3f-ae68-b51682d62bca

## 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 Box team is responsible for building our premium geospatial search engine, seamlessly combining robust address geocoding with comprehensive Point of Interest (POI) retrieval for logistics, travel, automotive, and AI lab platforms. We do this by engineering sophisticated public APIs, continuously optimizing ranking algorithms, and scaling massive global datasets into high-performance search indexes. Additionally, we develop an advanced federation layer that dynamically integrates specialized third-party services, such as live parking and EV charging data. Our work acts as the critical foundation for holistic navigation systems, ensuring end-users receive reliable, precise, and highly relevant location data wherever their journeys take them. 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

Joining us as a Staff Software Engineer on the Search Box team, you will play a critical role in designing, developing, and operating significant areas of our Search services, including our new Places API product. Your responsibilities will include:

- Architect and advance robust services that optimize API performance, emphasizing excellence in deployment, system durability, and telemetry.
- Champion engineering excellence by instituting rigorous code quality standards and refining development workflows across the organization.
- Drive strategic decisions regarding our long-term technical architecture and scalability, participating in high-level architectural discourse.
- Serve as a mentor and technical authority for the engineering team, cultivating a culture of continuous learning and professional growth.
- Drive design and development of services quality metrics and analytics.
- Run and design experiments to evaluate the quality, reliability, and capacity requirements of our user-facing navigation products.
- Participate in end-to-end feature implementation within the Search Org; review code and design documents, shepherd feature releases, and participate in an on-call rotation.
- Participate in an on-call rotation to ensure our systems remain available to customers 24/7. Team members alternate as the on-call primary responder, which may require immediate response outside normal working hours, including weekends.
- Collaborate with business development teams to ensure that the product roadmap and design align with customer needs and market trends.
- Engage in direct communication with trend-setting customers, automotive OEMs in EU, US, Japan, and China, as well as suppliers like automotive Tier 1 companies and Mapping firms.

What We Believe are Important Traits for This Role

- 7+ years of experience in engineering web services in either Rust or Typescript (Node.js).
- Experience building highly-available API services within container-based environments (e.g., Docker, ECS, Kubernetes, etc. on AWS).
- Proficiency in implementing monitoring instrumentation, triaging incidents, resolving customer issues, and continuous product improvement.
- Knowledge of operating systems and distributed systems (e.g., fault-tolerance, consistency, service discovery, etc.).
- Proven ability to design long-term technical strategies that balance immediate product delivery with the reduction of systemic technical debt across multiple departments.
- Extensive experience driving high-visibility initiatives that improve engineering standards and operational excellence for the cross-functional teams.
- Experience or interest in solving geo-spatial problems.
- Strong analytical thinking and the ability to justify technical decisions using system telemetry and data.
- Meticulous attention to detail and a creative, resourceful approach to problem-solving.
- Excellent communication skills, with a proven ability to collaborate effectively across cross-functional engineering, product, and data teams.

## Nice to Have Traits for This Role

- Prior experience in the mapping, navigation, or automotive industry.
- Knowledge of machine learning techniques for geospatial data analysis.
- Contributions to open-source geospatial or data analysis projects.

## 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 $194,650 - $263,350 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. [crunchbase.com/organization/mapbox](https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/mapbox)

## Other roles at Mapbox

- [Software Development Engineer II, Nav Native](https://feeny.ai/job/software-development-engineer-ii-nav-native-mapbox-finland-d38xf9ynz4gs) — Finland
- [Senior Director, People Operations & Total Rewards](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-director-people-operations-total-rewards-mapbox-mapbox-8bk9x85eas1a) — Mapbox, United States
- [Senior AI Engineer, Location AI](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-ai-engineer-location-ai-mapbox-mapbox-8rgyngghb571) — Mapbox, United Kingdom
- [Senior AI Engineer, Location AI](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-ai-engineer-location-ai-mapbox-mapbox-88tpfcd9zvta) — Mapbox, Germany
- [Security Engineer II](https://feeny.ai/job/security-engineer-ii-mapbox-helsinki-kewryqtny0fn) — Helsinki, Finland
- [RAVE I, Map Quality & Insights](https://feeny.ai/job/rave-i-map-quality-insights-mapbox-minsk-1thwfx24y9qb) — Minsk, Belarus
- [RAVE I (24/7), Feedback and Corrections (Road Closures)](https://feeny.ai/job/rave-i-24-7-feedback-and-corrections-road-closures-mapbox-minsk-wt9dnn3hkw43) — Minsk, Belarus
- [Documentation Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/documentation-engineer-mapbox-mapbox-086wgtmd0w42) — Mapbox, United States
- [Software Development Engineer II, Search](https://feeny.ai/job/software-development-engineer-ii-search-mapbox-mapbox-1xek5gxm8p5s) — Mapbox, United States
- [Head of Sales, Strategic Accounts](https://feeny.ai/job/head-of-sales-strategic-accounts-mapbox-mapbox-2qzzbjd4r0k5) — Mapbox, United States