Staff Software Engineer - Equipment Monitoring

Motive

Hybrid - SeattleFull-time$164,000–$200,000Posted Oct 30, 2026

About the role

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 to learn more.

About the Role:

As a Staff Software Engineer on the Equipment Monitoring team, you will build the backend systems that give fleets unmatched visibility into the location, utilization, and health of their equipment - trailers, reefers, construction machinery, and small assets. Our data comes from IoT devices in the field: Asset Gateways, BLE environmental and door sensors, and Beacons. You will design and operate the ingestion and stream-processing pipelines (Kafka, Flink) that turn this raw sensor telemetry into accurate real-time locations, geofence events, trips, and alerts. You will collaborate closely with our Embedded/firmware and IoT teams on device payloads and end-to-end data flows, making this a great role for engineers who enjoy working near the hardware while building cloud services at scale.

What You'll Do:

Develop highly observable, reliable, and scalable backend services that process telemetry from hundreds of thousands of IoT devices (sensors, beacons, asset gateways).

Build and operate stream-processing pipelines (Kafka, Flink) powering geo-fencing, alerting, trip construction, and asset location.

Design, build, and maintain scalable APIs for both internal and external applications.

Collaborate with Embedded, IoT, and cross-functional teams on device data contracts and end-to-end feature delivery.

Champion engineering excellence by proactively reducing technical debt and improving code quality.

Leverage AI tools such as Cursor, CoPilot to increase productivity and code quality.

Actively work on our AWS Cloud infrastructure, and mentor and learn from other engineers to foster a culture of continuous growth.

What We're Looking For:

B.S. or M.S. in Computer Science or related field

5+ years software development experience

Experience building distributed systems and event-driven/stream-processing pipelines (Kafka, Flink, Kinesis or similar)

Experience in modern programming languages. Proficiency in Ruby, Golang, Kotlin/Java is a plus.

Experience with Relational and NoSQL databases such as PostgreSQL, DynamoDB, Redis, and Cassandra

Experience building for Cloud Infrastructure such as AWS, GCP, Azure or private clouds

Experience with IoT/sensor data or geospatial systems (geofencing, location) is a plus

Ownership and Problem Solving mindset

Hybrid in the office two days a week

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.

The compensation range for this position will depend on where you reside. For this role, the compensation range is:

United States

$164,000—$200,000 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.

UK Candidate Privacy Notice here.

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.

Regarding US-based roles, depending on your role and primary work location, Motive Technologies, Inc. (“Employer”) discloses candidates may be required to execute a non-compete covenant with the Employer. This requirement does not apply to lawyers, interns, or employees working in CA, MN, MT, ND, OK, or where otherwise prohibited by law.

Non-compete covenant terms in all other jurisdictions will be subject to the applicable statutory requirements, including but not limited to, procedures, industry related prohibitions, or salary and compensation thresholds.

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.

Responsibilities

  • Build reliable, scalable backend services to process telemetry from IoT devices.
  • Develop and operate Kafka and Flink pipelines for geofencing, alerting, trip construction, and asset location.
  • Design and maintain APIs for internal and external applications.
  • Collaborate with Embedded, IoT, and cross-functional teams on device data and end-to-end features.
  • Improve code quality, reduce technical debt, and use AI tools to support engineering productivity.
  • Work on AWS infrastructure and mentor and learn from fellow engineers.

Qualifications

  • Bachelor’s or master’s degree in Computer Science or a related field.
  • At least 5 years of software development experience.
  • Experience with distributed systems and event-driven or stream-processing pipelines such as Kafka, Flink, or Kinesis.
  • Experience with modern programming languages; Ruby, Go, Kotlin, or Java are a plus.
  • Experience with relational and NoSQL databases such as PostgreSQL, DynamoDB, Redis, or Cassandra.
  • Experience building on cloud infrastructure such as AWS, GCP, Azure, or private clouds.
  • IoT, sensor-data, or geospatial systems experience is a plus.
  • Ownership mindset and strong problem-solving skills.

Benefits

  • Health, pharmacy, vision, and dental coverage.
  • Paid time off and sick time off.
  • Short- and long-term disability coverage and life insurance.
  • 401(k) contributions, subject to eligibility.

Skills mentioned

GoBackend DevelopmentDistributed SystemsEvent-Driven ArchitectureApache KafkaApache FlinkData PipelinesAWSREST APIsPostgreSQL

About Motive

At Motive, we deliver impactful solutions that resonate. Founded in early 2019 by a team passionate about marketing, we thrive on collaborating with diverse clients and tackling a variety of fascinating projects. Our concierge model strips away the bulk of a traditional agency, making us both nimble and cost-effective. Our expert team of marketing, digital, and creative professionals excels in both digital and print realms. We tailor our services to fit your needs—whether you require a comprehensive brand and design transformation, engaging copy, an elegant brochure, or a detailed website audit and refresh. Our expertise allows us to scale our services to meet your demands, ensuring we adapt seamlessly to your project’s scope. We take pride in the strong relationships we’ve built with our clients, consistently surpassing their expectations with memorable, creative, and intelligent strategies, fully engaging with each unique challenge they present.

Advertising Services11-50 employeesSurrey, Woking

H-1B sponsorship history

Historical employer filing data was found for Motive. The employer record includes 88 historical certified applications. This is employer-level history, not a guarantee that this role currently offers sponsorship.