Software Engineer

Job description

Porter is building the operating system for intra-city logistics in India. With ~20 million orders per month , 500K+ daily-active drivers , and rapid scale ahead ( 1.5x growth expected next year ), we solve complex real-world problems at massive scale, balancing speed, reliability, and cost efficiency in a highly operational environment. Role Overview As an SDE 3 at Porter , you will own and build large, business-critical systems operating at scale. This role goes beyond codingyou'll design scalable architectures, make thoughtful trade-offs, influence engineering standards, and mentor other engineers while working closely with product and business stakeholders. You are expected to think from first principles , leverage AI responsibly , and build systems that are reliable, observable, and cost-aware. Key Responsibilities Technical & System Design • Design, build, and own scalable, high-availability distributed systems handling millions of transactions. • Drive Low-Level and High-Level Design , including APIs, data models, and service architectures. • Perform capacity planning, back-of-the-envelope calculations, and identify system bottlenecks early. • Ensure engineering excellence across reliability, observability, security, and cost optimization . Coding & Execution • Write clean, maintainable, and testable production-grade code. • Apply SOLID principles, design patterns, and sound engineering practices. • Use AI tools to accelerate development while critically evaluating outputs knowing when to use AI and when not to. Ownership & Delivery • Own end-to-end delivery of systemsfrom design to production and long-term maintenance. • Drive projects with high autonomy, handle ambiguity, and deliver under tight timelines. • Participate actively in operational reviews, incident management, and system improvements. Collaboration & Leadership • Collaborate closely with Product, Data, and Business teams to balance tech decisions with real-world logistics constraints. • Mentor junior engineers, influence code quality, and help raise the engineering bar. • Contribute to hiring, technical interviews, and culture-building initiatives. What We're Looking For Experience • 4+ years of software development experience (SDE 3 or equivalent role). • Proven experience owning and scaling production systems. • Experience working in fast-paced, high-ownership environments (startups or scale-ups preferred). Technical Skills • Strong fundamentals in data structures, algorithms, and object-oriented design . • Hands-on experience with system design at scale. • Familiarity with modern backend stacks, distributed systems, and cloud infrastructure. • Strong understanding of engineering operations: monitoring, alerting, reliability, and performance tuning. AI & First-Principles Thinking • Ability to use AI as a productivity tool, not a crutch. • Strong judgment to validate AI-generated outputs and reason independently. • Comfortable breaking down complex problems to fundamentals rather than pattern-matching solutions. Leadership & Mindset • Strong sense of ownership and accountability (Own It). • User-first thinking with an understanding of business impact (User Obsession). • Bias for action and execution in ambiguous situations (Keep Moving). • Collaborative, empathetic, and resilient under pressure. • Desire to raise the bar for talent, quality, and execution. Why Join Porter? • Build systems that operate at massive real-world scale . • Solve unique logistics and operational challenges. • Work in a culture that values ownership, frugality, speed, and impact . • Significant scope to grow beyond SDE 3 into technical or leadership paths.