Geospatial Engineer, Doordash Labs

DoorDash DoorDash · Consumer · San Francisco, CA · 311 Autonomy

Geospatial Engineer to work at the intersection of software engineering and robotics to solve key business problems with elegant technical solutions. Responsibilities include processing LiDAR point clouds and sensor logs to classify terrain and identify obstacles, managing the geospatial backend for operational maps and geofences, and building map services to visualize 3D environments and fleet positions. Requires expertise in 3D point cloud processing, advanced routing knowledge, spatial database proficiency, and an algorithmic mindset for geometric problems.

What you'd actually do

  1. Analyze Complex 3D Environments: Build automated pipelines to process LiDAR point clouds and sensor logs. You will write algorithms to programmatically classify terrain, and identify obstacles
  2. Scale the Data Infrastructure: Manage the geospatial backend (PostGIS/Cloud) that acts as the "source of truth" for the fleet’s operational maps and geofences.
  3. Serve & Visualize Map Data: Build high-performance map services (Vector Tiles, APIs) to render complex 3D environments and fleet positions in our web-based mission control dashboards.

Skills

Required

  • B.S., M.S., or PhD. in Computer Science or equivalent
  • 6+ years of industry experience as a geospatial engineer
  • 3D Point Cloud Expertise: Experience using tools like PDAL, PCL, or Python (Open3D/NumPy) to process and analyze raw LiDAR data.
  • Advanced Routing Knowledge: A strong grasp of Graph Theory and pathfinding algorithms (A*, Dijkstra) applied to unstructured environments.
  • Spatial Database Proficiency: Expert-level SQL skills with PostGIS for managing complex geometries and spatial relationships.
  • Algorithmic Mindset: You are comfortable writing logic to solve geometric problems (e.g., "Does this 3D trajectory intersect with this static obstacle?").

Nice to have

  • Experience with Kotlin or Java.
  • Knowledge of Coordinate Reference Systems (CRS) and transformations.