Sr. Software Engineer

Acoustic Location Engineer

SoundThinking's SafetySmart™ Platform is a suite of products for law enforcement and security customers, including ShotSpotter (real-time gunshot alerts), ResourceRouter (patrol management), and SafePointe (weapons detection). These products are backed by many microservices running in the public cloud, using TypeScript/Node.js, C#/.NET, Go, and Python.

ShotSpotter's acoustic location engine — the core technology that calculates where gunfire occurs — has operated for over two decades as a monolithic LabVIEW implementation running in colocation infrastructure. We are now re-architecting this system as cloud-native AWS microservices, while simultaneously enhancing our location algorithms to incorporate 3D urban models for improved accuracy in complex acoustic environments.

You will contribute to the design and development of next-generation acoustic location services, working directly with a ShotSpotter cofounder who brings deep domain expertise in acoustic science and system design. You will report to the cofounder (Director of Engineering) and work collaboratively with the VP of Engineering on architectural decisions and platform integration. This is life-safety software — your code will directly impact how fast and accurately gunfire is located in real cities.

Essential Duties/Responsibilities

Decompose and re-architect the monolithic LabVIEW-based location engine into AWS microservices (Lambda, EKS/Kubernetes, RabbitMQ, etc.)

Design event-driven pipelines for real-time acoustic data ingestion, multilateration computation, and location refinement

Collaborate with the cofounder to implement enhanced location algorithms incorporating 3D urban models to account for sound reflection, diffraction, multipath, and shadowing

Integrate geospatial data sources (LiDAR, GIS, 3D city models) into the location computation pipeline

Build simulation and back-testing frameworks to validate accuracy improvements against historical incident data

Translate legacy LabVIEW signal processing and mathematical logic into maintainable, well-tested, modern codebases

Define service boundaries, REST/gRPC APIs, CI/CD pipelines, and infrastructure-as-code

Establish observability and monitoring for mission-critical services

Minimum Qualifications

8+ years of software design and development experience in backend/distributed systems

Advanced proficiency in Python and at least one systems-level language (C++, Rust, or Go)

Strong AWS experience — you've designed and shipped microservice architectures using core services

Experience with PostgreSQL, NoSQL databases, and message brokers (RabbitMQ, SQS/SNS)

Experience decomposing monolithic systems into microservices

Experience with complex distributed, event-driven architectures

Strong foundation in applied mathematics, physics, or signal processing — comfortable with multilateration, TDOA, optimization algorithms, and numerical methods

Experience with Kubernetes, Linux, Git, CI/CD tools, infrastructure-as-code

Excellent communication and collaboration skills

Bachelor's degree in computer science, engineering, physics, or related field (advanced degree preferred)

Nice-to-Have

Experience with acoustic modeling, computational acoustics, or wave propagation simulation

Familiarity with 3D geometry processing, ray tracing, or computational geometry

Background with LabVIEW or migrating from LabVIEW/MATLAB to production systems

Experience with IoT device management, GIS platforms, LiDAR, or 3D city model formats

Experience with machine learning pipelines

Experience in defense, public safety, or mission-critical domains

Travel: 15%

Location: Fremont, CA, Office

Hybrid Workplace

SoundThinking follows a hybrid schedule for employees who live equal to or less than 50 miles from one of our office locations, which include Fremont, CA, Tucson, AZ, Washington, D.C., Orlando, Florida, or Iselin, NJ. Employees are expected to work onsite for a minimum of 3 days per week, unless the advertised role has a specific on-site requirement. The specific days for in-office are dependent on the office location.

Compensation: At SoundThinking, we are committed to equitable compensation practices and consider a variety of factors, including skills, experience, and work location. The typical base salary range for this role is $140,000 - $165,000 annually. This range reflects base salary only and does not include bonus, sales incentives, equity, or benefits, where applicable.

Note: The Company reserves exclusive right in its sole discretion to modify, adjust, delete, add or otherwise change the above at any time.

SoundThinking provides equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability or genetics. In addition to federal law requirements, SoundThinking complies with applicable state and local laws governing nondiscrimination in employment in every location in which the company has facilities. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation and training.

SoundThinking expressly prohibits any form of workplace harassment based on race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, genetic information, disability, or veteran status. Improper interference with the ability of SoundThinking's employees to perform their job duties may result in discipline up to and including discharge.

If you are an individual with a disability and require a reasonable accommodation to complete any part of the application process, or are limited in the ability or unable to access or use this online application process and need an alternative method for applying, you may contact SoundThinking at for assistance.

The above salary is based on a good faith estimate made at the time of publication and may be modified in the future. The pay offered to a candidate may vary within this range depending on factors such as education, experience, and geographic location.