Senior Software Engineer - Systems & Edge (Real-Time)

Derq is an MIT spinoff building AI-powered traffic safety and smart infrastructure. We’re a team of passionate innovators, leveraging the latest in AI and technology to transform the future of mobility. Our platform enhances road safety and traffic management by turning real-time data into actionable insights for cities and road operators. Our patented technology collects and analyzes data from connected sensors like cameras, radar, and traffic signal controllers to help predict and prevent road incidents. We deploy edge and cloud solutions that make intersections and highways safer and smarter.

Role Overview

We’re looking for a Senior Software Engineer to work on real-time systems powering traffic detection and smart mobility solutions while also contributing to web applications, APIs, and third-party integrations.

This role combines systems engineering and software development, with approximately 75% of the work focused on real-time edge and backend systems and 25% focused on application development, integrations, and operational tooling. You'll work across Linux-based systems, cloud-connected services, internal tools, dashboards, and live traffic deployments where reliability, performance, and scalability are critical.

Key Responsibilities

• Design, develop, and maintain production-grade software systems across edge and cloud environments.
• Build and optimize real-time data processing pipelines and system services supporting live traffic deployments.
• Develop and maintain backend services, REST APIs, and integrations with third-party platforms and services.
• Contribute to internal web applications, dashboards, and operational tools used for monitoring and managing deployed systems.
• Integrate software with sensors, cameras, traffic controllers, and other edge devices.
• Profile, debug, and optimize system performance across application, operating system, and networking layers.
• Troubleshoot and resolve complex production issues in distributed and real-time environments.
• Improve system observability through logging, monitoring, diagnostics, and performance tracking.
• Build and maintain CI/CD pipelines, deployment workflows, and automation tooling.
• Collaborate with ML, QA, deployment, and product teams to deliver robust, production-ready solutions.

Requirements

• 8+ years of experience in software engineering or a related field
• Strong experience with C++, Python, or both.
• Solid Linux development experience.
• Experience building, maintaining, or integrating backend services, REST APIs, and web applications.
• Experience working with third-party APIs and software integrations.
• Strong understanding of multithreading, concurrency, system performance, and production troubleshooting.
• Working knowledge of networking fundamentals, including TCP/IP, DNS, routing, and secure connectivity.
• Experience with Git, testing frameworks, and CI/CD practices.
• Experience with cloud platforms, containerized applications, or distributed systems is a plus.
• Exposure to edge computing, embedded Linux, hardware integration, sensors, or IoT systems is a plus.
• Familiarity with frontend technologies, internal tooling, dashboards, or operational web applications is a plus.
• Familiarity with computer vision pipelines or ML-powered systems is a plus.