Senior Software Engineer – Backend

RIVR is a Swiss robotics company pioneering Physical AI and robotic solutions to revolutionize last-mile delivery, giving 1 human the power of 1000. Through the combination of artificial neural networks and innovative robot designs with wheels and legs, RIVR aims to enhance efficiency, sustainability, and scalability in last-mile delivery. Founded as Swiss-Mile, the company rebranded to RIVR in 2025 to better reflect its mission of driving the future of intelligent robotics. Join our innovative team, renowned for pioneering robotic design and neural network applications in robotics that improve environmental understanding and decision-making. With a robust research foundation and notable contributions from ETH Zurich, we are leaders in translating artificial intelligence and robotics into practical, real-world applications.

RIVR is committed to building a diverse and inclusive team that values every perspective. If you’re passionate about driving innovation in robotics and creating meaningful impact, we encourage you to apply and bring your unique self to our team.

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) / microservices context. You have production experience with:
• 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 with designing, building, and evolving containerized applications in cloud environments.
• 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:
• Strong knowledge and experience with Typescript/Next.js/Node.
• Strong experience with C++ and/or Python
• Familiarity configuring and operating Kubernetes clusters and maintaining CI/CD pipelines.
• Hands-on frontend experience (preferably React)
• Background in robotics, IoT, fleet management, or real-time data streaming systems.

RIVR is committed to building a diverse and inclusive team that values every perspective. If you’re passionate about driving innovation in robotics and creating meaningful impact, we encourage you to apply and bring your unique self to our team.

We believe the best work is done when collaborating and therefore require in-person presence in our office locations.