Software Developer (Backend)

Cambridge Systematics, Inc. (CS) is shaping the future of transportation. We are industry leaders, transportation specialists dedicated to ensuring that transportation investments can deliver the best possible results. By providing innovative policy and planning solutions, objective analyses and technology applications, we help our clients anticipate and meet future transportation needs while improving the performance of existing infrastructure and operations. Above all, we are committed to our clients’ success in making transportation better for future generations.

Our Software team delivers technology solutions to help public transportation agencies solve complex operational and data challenges. We combine deep domain expertise in transit and mobility with modern software engineering practices to design, build, and support scalable, cloud-based applications. Our work spans real-time information systems, data integration and analytics, and tools that support planning, operations, and decision-making.

The Software Developer builds and maintains full-stack software that millions of travelers depend on. Our systems power transit agency websites and apps and feed the third-party platforms riders use.

This is a hands-on engineering role with a backend emphasis. You will spend most of your time in Java and Spring Boot services, and meaningful time in the React front ends that consume them. You will work within an established architecture, with technical direction set in collaboration with senior engineers, and take on progressively larger and less-defined work as you learn the systems and the transit domain.

We use AI coding assistants as a normal part of how we build software, and we expect developers at every level to work effectively with them.

This position is fully remote and includes participation in an on-call rotation.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

Software Development

• Implements features across the stack — Java and Spring Boot services on the backend, React with HTML and CSS on the front end — working from defined requirements and agreed-upon designs
• Contributes to design discussions and proposes approaches for the components they own; surfaces ambiguity and asks questions early rather than guessing at intent
• Writes clean, readable code and refactors as they go to keep the codebase maintainable
• Designs and consumes REST APIs, and works with transit data feeds and geospatial data
• Takes full ownership of assigned work and exercises good judgment about when to work independently and when to ask for help
• Learns new tools, technologies, and transit domain concepts at a steady pace, taking on progressively larger and less-defined work

Quality and Testing

• Writes unit, integration, and end-to-end tests as part of every change, not as a follow-up task
• Participates in code review as both author and reviewer, and treats review as a way to learn the codebase
• Diagnoses and resolves defects across the full stack, including in deployed environments
• Works alongside our QA liaison throughout development rather than handing off at the end

Delivery and Operations

• Works within existing CI/CD pipelines and deployment processes to get changes safely to production
• Builds meaningful logging and error handling into code, and uses monitoring tooling to investigate production behavior
• Participates in an on-call rotation, responding to production issues with support from senior staff
• Follows established practices for authentication, authorization, and secure data handling

Collaboration and Client Delivery

• Works in an agile team: planning, estimation, daily standups, and retrospectives
• Produces clear, concise documentation for the code and systems they work on
• Participates in client-facing discussions, demos, and troubleshooting with support from senior staff
• Delivers assigned work on time and on budget, and communicates schedule or technical risk early

Required Skills/Experience

• 3–5 years of professional software engineering experience
• Proficiency in Java, including hands-on experience in a Spring or Spring Boot application
• Experience building web interfaces with React, HTML, and CSS
• Working knowledge of relational databases (MySQL or PostgreSQL) and the ability to write and reason about efficient SQL
• Experience designing and consuming REST APIs
• Demonstrated proficiency with data structures, algorithms, and general problem solving
• Experience writing automated tests — unit, integration, and end-to-end
• Experience using AI coding assistants as part of a normal development workflow
• General working knowledge of AWS or a comparable cloud hosting environment
• Comfort with Git-based workflows: branching, pull requests, and code review
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Software Engineering, or a related field — or equivalent practical experience

Preferred Qualifications

• Exposure to CI/CD tooling such as Jenkins or GitHub Actions
• Familiarity with Docker and containerized development
• Exposure to mapping or geospatial data in a web application
• Familiarity with GTFS, GTFS-Realtime, or other transit and mobility data standards
• Exposure to open-source transportation software such as OpenTripPlanner or OneBusAway
• Experience in a consulting or client-facing environment
• Familiarity with Jira and Atlassian tooling

Cambridge Systematics is an equal opportunity employer. We strive to create a culture in which every voice is valued, where employees have a sense of belonging and connection with one another and to the organization, and they feel empowered to do their best work. We are committed to providing an inclusive culture within the firm and we encourage people of all backgrounds to apply to our open positions.

If you think you have what it takes but aren’t sure you meet all the requirements of this job, we invite you to connect with us. We value all perspectives and life experiences and want to hear about yours.

EOE AA M/F/VET/DISABILITY

Salary: $115k-$145k