Principal Software Engineer

What's the role?

As a Principal Software Engineer, you will be playing as an important contributor located in Japan as part of HERE Map and Service The products that team is operating in Japan, includes Map products, Location Services and SDK.

In this role, you will own and decisively influence cross‑team / cross‑system technical outcomes, solving non‑standard, ambiguous problems with organization‑level impact and take decisions measurably affecting delivery speed, quality, scalability, or reliability across multiple teams.

Your main responsibilities include:

• Owning and shaping the technical and architectural direction of complex, cross‑component software systems within the HERE Map and Services portfolio, ensuring long‑term scalability, reliability, and maintainability.
• Solving complex, ambiguous technical problems with organization‑level impact, acting as a technical authority and escalation point across teams and components.
• Designing, documenting, and evolving system and software architectures, making and defending clear trade‑offs across performance, quality, cost, risk, and delivery speed.
• Driving engineering excellence and productivity through technical leadership, including design and code reviews, architectural guidance, and the adoption of best practices across multiple teams.
• Leveraging AI and AI‑powered tools to improve engineering efficiency and quality, influencing teams to adopt new technologies, automation, and modern development approaches where they provide clear value.

Who are you?

You are motivated to explore and deliver high quality solutions to our customers. You  have a strong passion for technology and a strong customer-centric, product sense. You enjoy working outside your comfort zone and love to learn new technologies.

You will have success in this role if you possess the following skills, competencies and experience:

• 12+ years’ experience in software development, especially around SDK development, back-end service development and APIs
• Proficiency in Python/Java/Scala or C++ programming language
• Experience working with continuous integration tools like Jenkins or CI workflows in Gitlab or GitHub. 
• Knowledge of JIRA and test management systems
• Strong communication skills in Japanese and English
• Knowledge of location-based services such as mapping, navigation, GPS etc is nice to have
• Exposure to AWS or other Cloud Ecosystems.
• Previous working experience in the Automotive Industry or supporting Automotive OEMs is an advantage.

HERE is an equal opportunity employer. We evaluate qualified applicants without regard to race, color, age, gender identity, sexual orientation, marital status, parental status, religion, sex, national origin, disability, veteran status, and other legally protected characteristics.

Who are we?

HERE Technologies is a location data and technology platform company. We empower our customers to achieve better outcomes – from helping a city manage its infrastructure or a business optimize its assets to guiding drivers to their destination safely.

At HERE we take it upon ourselves to be the change we wish to see. We create solutions that fuel innovation, provide opportunity and foster inclusion to improve people’s lives. If you are inspired by an open world and driven to create positive change, join us. Learn more about us on our YouTube Channel.