Viam is the engineering platform for robotics and automation, empowering developers, startups, and enterprises to build, deploy, and scale—from prototype to production. Our platform makes robotics development accessible to software engineers, removing traditional barriers to building production-grade automation. We're also pioneering surface finishing automation for marine manufacturing, with solutions for robotic sanding that automate critical processes in roles that are physically demanding, safety-critical, and hard to fill. We were founded in 2020 by former MongoDB co-founder and CTO Eliot Horowitz, Viam is headquartered in New York City.
The Engineering Challenge
Building software for machines introduces challenges that traditional software systems rarely face. Devices operate in real-world environments, networks are unreliable, and software must interact with hardware, sensors, and real-time data.
At Viam, engineers build the platform and tools that make those machines programmable, observable, and manageable at scale.
About the Team
New York City (Hybrid — 3+ days per week in office)
The Fleet Management team builds the control plane for machines running on Viam — the cloud systems and web applications that allow developers to configure devices, deploy software across fleets, and operate machines at scale.
The team owns the lifecycle of machine configuration and software running on those devices, along with the platform infrastructure that supports it — including authentication and permissions, machine logs uploaded from deployed devices, and the usage tracking behind Viam’s billing systems.
Our work sits at the intersection of product engineering and platform infrastructure. Engineers on this team build systems developers interact with directly while also evolving the backend architecture that supports machines operating in the real world.
The stack includes Golang backend services, modern web applications (Svelte / Typescript), MongoDB, and gRPC APIs.
What You'll Own
Engineers on this team own systems end-to-end, from architecture and implementation through production operation. As the number of machines and developers using Viam grows, the team is focused on evolving the architecture that allows fleets of machines to be managed reliably at scale.
As a Senior or Staff Engineer, you’ll help raise the engineering bar through architecture discussions, mentorship, and guidance on complex projects.
Examples of work in this role include:
- designing and building backend services that manage machine configuration and fleet state
- developing full-stack features across APIs, databases, and web applications used to operate machines
- building systems that deploy configuration and software updates across fleets of machines
- evolving authentication and permissions systems used across the Viam platform
- building infrastructure for storing and retrieving logs uploaded from deployed machines
- improving the systems that track machine usage and power Viam’s billing platform
- shaping architecture decisions that help the fleet platform scale as deployments grow
What You Bring
We’re looking for an experienced engineer who enjoys owning systems end-to-end and shipping production software.
You may have experience:
- building production systems in distributed or cloud environments
- designing APIs and backend services that operate reliably at scale
- debugging complex distributed systems or production services
- working across teams to improve shared platform capabilities, developer tooling, or user-facing systems
- making sound technical tradeoffs as systems and architecture evolve
Experience with robotics or IoT is not required.
How We Work
Our culture emphasizes ownership, curiosity, and decisive execution.
- This space has brand new challenges and we all have an appetite to learn
- Good work in production beats perfect work in review
- We know that the best teams help each other succeed through feedback
We know great engineers come from many backgrounds. If you're excited about the challenges we’re solving, we encourage you to apply. The salary for this role is between $ 190,000 - 259,000 /year.
Viam’s base salary range for this role is posted above. Your exact offer will vary based on factors, including experience level, skillset, market location, and balancing internal equity relative to peers at the company. We recognize that the person we hire may be less experienced, or more senior, than this job description as posted. In these situations, the updated salary range will be communicated to you as a candidate. In addition to cash compensation, Viam offers a comprehensive Total Rewards package that includes equity grants, health benefits, and more.
- 100% covered medical/dental/vision insurance plans, commuter benefits
- 25 days paid vacation and generous holiday observances
- Free lunch every day that you’re in the office
- One Medical Membership
- Citi Bike memberships
- Monthly wellness stipend to be used for a variety of fitness-related items like gym memberships, fitness classes, fitness equipment, and more
- Paid parental leave
- Reproductive Health Benefits, including Fertility Benefits and Abortion Access Travel Benefits
- Yearly Learning and Development Budget
- Vision Driven
- Collaborate Openly
- Act Decisively
- Succeed Through Diversity
- Hold Ourselves Accountable
- Lead with Curiosity