--- title: 'Staff Software Engineer, Backend at Motive' canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/staff-software-engineer-backend-motive-san-francisco-q2jv9f5hvche' type: 'job' last_seen: '2026-09-09' --- # Staff Software Engineer, Backend at Motive - **Company:** Motive - **Location:** San Francisco, CA - **Compensation:** $200k–$235k - **Work type:** hybrid - **Posted:** 2026-08-18 - **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-09 - **Apply:** https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/gomotive/jobs/8706541002 ## Job description Who we are: Motive empowers the people who run physical operations with tools to make their work safer, more productive, and more profitable. For the first time ever, safety, operations and finance teams can manage their drivers, vehicles, equipment, and fleet related spend in a single system. Combined with industry leading AI, the Motive platform gives you complete visibility and control, and significantly reduces manual workloads by automating and simplifying tasks. Motive serves nearly 100,000 customers – from Fortune 500 enterprises to small businesses – across a wide range of industries, including transportation and logistics, construction, energy, field service, manufacturing, agriculture, food and beverage, retail, and the public sector. Visit [gomotive.com](http://gomotive.com) to learn more. About the Role: As a Software Engineer at Motive, you will design and build scalable product and platform capabilities that power mission-critical customer experiences, with meaningful ownership from architecture through production operations.  In this role, you will report into an Engineering Manager, and help shape technical direction, raise engineering standards, and mentor other engineers while partnering across product and engineering teams to deliver reliable, secure, and maintainable systems. What You’ll Do: - Design, build, and ship scalable services, APIs, and product features with a strong emphasis on reliability, maintainability, and performance. - Drive technical design and make sound architecture decisions for new capabilities and improvements to existing systems. - Partner with cross-functional stakeholders to refine requirements and deliver high-quality solutions that solve meaningful customer problems. - Improve engineering excellence through code reviews, testing, monitoring, logging, debugging, and operational best practices. - Mentor engineers and contribute to team direction by sharing knowledge, providing technical guidance, and helping scale effective engineering practices. What We’re Looking For: - 5+ years of software engineering experience building production systems, platforms, or customer-facing products. - Strong experience with one or more modern programming languages such as Go, Ruby, Python, Java, Kotlin, Swift, or similar. - Proven experience designing scalable distributed systems, data models, APIs, and cloud-native services. - Strong technical judgment and problem-solving skills, including the ability to identify risks, bugs, and bottlenecks early. - Experience mentoring engineers and collaborating effectively with cross-functional stakeholders to deliver complex technical initiatives. ## Preferred Qualifications - 8+ years of software engineering experience building production systems, platforms, or customer-facing products. - Experience mentoring engineers and collaborating effectively with cross-functional stakeholders to deliver complex technical initiatives. - Experience leading technical projects, designing distributed systems. Pay Transparency Your compensation may be based on several factors, including education, work experience, and certifications. For certain roles, total compensation may include restricted stock units. Motive offers benefits including health, pharmacy, optical and dental care benefits, paid time off, sick time off, short term and long term disability coverage, life insurance as well as 401k contribution (all benefits are subject to eligibility requirements). Learn more about our benefits by visiting[Motive Perks & Benefits](https://www.comparably.com/companies/motive/perks-and-benefits) The base compensation range for this role is: $200,000—$235,000 USD Creating a diverse and inclusive workplace is one of Motive's core values. We are an equal opportunity employer and welcome people of different backgrounds, experiences, abilities and perspectives. Please review our Candidate Privacy Notice [here](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1X9AbvQHki8zZCyjDjip1g0NtdZHcykJc/view?usp=drive_link). UK Candidate Privacy Notice [here](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nqdWTJ7WJJikhj1Yhlo4jxDRA_6yXZbd/view). The applicant must be authorized to receive and access those commodities and technologies controlled under U.S. Export Administration Regulations. It is Motive's policy to require that employees be authorized to receive access to Motive products and technology. All job postings are for existing vacancies. Please note; some interviews or new-hire training sessions may be held in person at one of our global offices. ## About Motive ## Company Overview - **One-liner**: Motive provides an all-in-one, AI-powered fleet management and driver safety platform that helps over 100,000 companies manage their physical operations. - **Entity Type**: Private (venture-backed; no public ticker) - **Headquarters**: San Francisco, California, United States - **Founded**: Not publicly available in provided sources - **Founders**: Shoaib Makani (co‑founder, CEO) – other co‑founders not listed in provided sources ## Core Business - **Industries**: Fleet management, driver safety, workforce management, equipment monitoring, spend management. - **Target Customers**: B2B – enterprises and SMBs that operate commercial fleets or manage physical assets (e.g., transportation, logistics, construction, field services). - **Mission/Purpose**: “Transforming the physical economy” [gomotive.com](https://gomotive.com/company/careers/). ## Products & Services - **Fleet Management**: AI‑powered platform for tracking vehicles, optimizing routes, and managing compliance. - **Driver Safety**: Real‑time dashcams and AI alerts to reduce accidents and improve driver behavior. - **Workforce Management**: Tools for scheduling, time tracking, and managing drivers and staff. - **Equipment Monitoring**: IoT‑based tracking and diagnostics for trailers, trailers, and other assets. - **Spend Management**: Fuel card, expense tracking, and invoicing solutions to control costs. All products are part of a fully integrated suite [gomotive.com](https://gomotive.com/). ## Market Standing - **Valuation**: Not disclosed in provided sources. - **Key Metric**: Headcount – more than 4,000 employees globally [gomotive.com](https://gomotive.com/company/careers/). - **Notable Investors/Partners**: Not listed in provided sources. - **Growth Signals**: - 100,000+ customers [gomotive.com](https://gomotive.com/company/careers/). - Recognized on the **Forbes Top Cloud 100** list. - Named a **Best Remote Large Places to Work** by Fortune, **Best Company for Career Growth** by Comparably, and **Best Workplaces in Technology** by Great Place to Work [gomotive.com](https://gomotive.com/company/careers/). ## Competitive Advantages - **Integrated AI‑Driven Suite**: Combines hardware (dashcams, IoT sensors) with software in a single platform, offering a unified view of fleet operations. - **Scale and Brand Trust**: Serving over 100,000 companies, with a strong industry reputation and multiple workplace awards. - **Remote‑First Culture**: Attracts top global talent by offering a flexible work model supported by robust perks and development programs. ## Strategic Focus - Deepening AI capabilities across all products to improve safety, efficiency, and cost control. - Expanding global footprint through ten office locations and a remote‑first hiring approach. - Continuous investment in employee growth and diversity initiatives to sustain innovation. ## Why Work Here - **Flexibility**: Fully remote, hybrid, or in‑office options with a work‑from‑home stipend. Offices in San Francisco, Nashville, Buffalo, Vancouver, London, Mexico City, Taipei, Lahore, Islamabad, and Bengaluru [gomotive.com](https://gomotive.com/company/careers/). - **Benefits**: Competitive salaries, health/vision/dental insurance, mental health support, generous PTO, enhanced parental leave, retirement plan, and referral bonuses [gomotive.com](https://gomotive.com/company/careers/). - **Development**: Leader Academy, Engineering Academy, transparent career paths, quarterly mentorship meetups, and inclusive leader training [gomotive.com](https://gomotive.com/company/careers/). - **Culture**: Employee resource groups (AAPI, Keep Parenting, Melanin, MoPride, Women, DNA, Veterans), diversity‑focused recruiting events, and a supportive, inclusive environment where 96% of employees feel they have supportive working relationships [gomotive.com](https://gomotive.com/company/careers/). ## Sources 1. [gomotive.com – Careers page](https://gomotive.com/company/careers/) 2. [gomotive.com – Company page](https://gomotive.com/company/) 3. [gomotive.com – Homepage](https://gomotive.com/) 4. [gomotive.com – Job openings](https://gomotive.com/company/careers/jobs/) 5. [gomotive.com – Leadership page](https://gomotive.com/company/leadership/) ## Other roles at Motive - [Director, Product Design](https://feeny.ai/job/director-product-design-motive-san-francisco-s952qyncbhcz) — San Francisco, CA - [Senior Manager, Strategic Accounts Customer Success Managers](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-manager-strategic-accounts-customer-success-managers-motive-united-states-1hyzvw8g3g9c) — United States - [Internal Communications, Director (Individual Contributor)](https://feeny.ai/job/internal-communications-director-individual-contributor-motive-united-states-1d811cevpxm2) — United States - [Telematics Coverage Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/telematics-coverage-engineer-motive-united-kingdom-z8sq3xapg54j) — United Kingdom - [Business Strategy & Operations Analyst II (Enterprise)](https://feeny.ai/job/business-strategy-operations-analyst-ii-enterprise-motive-islamabad-3kzv5asx3jnq) — Islamabad - [Product Marketing Manager - Fleet Management and Equipment Monitoring](https://feeny.ai/job/product-marketing-manager-fleet-management-and-equipment-monitoring-motive-jbcfdwpnjn1e) — United States - [Business Operations Lead - Order Management](https://feeny.ai/job/business-operations-lead-order-management-motive-pakistan-t2hkmynfn4ff) — Pakistan - [Marketing Project Manager - Web & Operations](https://feeny.ai/job/marketing-project-manager-web-operations-motive-pakistan-yyx0fcmnama9) — Pakistan - [Senior Partner Marketing Manager](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-partner-marketing-manager-motive-united-states-4skf6mv7rr5t) — United States - [Staff Product Manager - Partnership & Shop Network](https://feeny.ai/job/staff-product-manager-partnership-shop-network-motive-united-states-pm84djjxtbgr) — United States