Software Engineer I, Core Services

Overview

Estes Forwarding Worldwide (EFW) is a leading domestic and international freight forwarder in the United States, providing customized logistics and warehousing solutions for clients around the world and across all industries via air, ground, and ocean freight. A subsidiary of Estes Express lines with corporate located in Richmond, Virginia, EFW is uniquely backed by Estes Express Lines’ extensive line haul network providing EFW clients with a hybrid transportation network. The company has received industry awards, including Specialty Carrier of the Year and E-Commerce Delivery Carrier of the Year, and has been recognized by Global Trade Americas as a leading 3PL to watch.

We are proud to offer highly competitive pay and a comprehensive benefits package, including:

• Paid vacation, sick time, and holidays
• 401(k) plan with company match
• Medical, dental, and vision insurance
• Short- and long-term disability plans
• Life and accidental death & dismemberment insurance
• Job referral bonus program

Responsibilities

The Core Services team builds and maintains foundational APIs and reusable backend services that enable key logistics workflows and power customer/vendor interactions. As a Software Engineer I on this team, you will contribute to the development and support of scalable, event-driven services and APIs that serve as the connective tissue between internal systems and external consumers. This is a growth-focused role, ideal for early-career engineers eager to deepen their backend development and distributed systems experience.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

• Design and develop backend microservices using Node.js (Moleculer) and Go.
• Build and consume RESTful and asynchronous APIs, integrating with both internal services and external third-party systems.
• Collaborate closely with senior engineers or program managers to translate business needs into technical solutions.
• Write clean, testable, and well-documented code and proactively participate in peer code reviews.
• Contribute to continuous integration and delivery pipelines using Jenkins.
• Deploy, monitor, and troubleshoot services in Kubernetes-based environments using tools such as Datadog.
• Participate in incident response and contribute to system reliability improvements.
• Document service architecture, workflows, and operational processes.
• May be asked to participate in an afterhours on call support rotation.
• Comply with company C-TPAT and TSA security procedures.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

Qualifications

QUALIFICATIONS

The qualifications listed below are representative of the minimum knowledge, skill, and/or ability required.

SKILLS AND ABILITIES

• Must have experience with JavaScript or TypeScript in a Node.js environment.
• Exposure to service frameworks like Moleculer (preferred) or similar (e.g., Express, Fastify).
• Must possess familiarity with Go or interest in learning Go-based microservices.
• Understanding of RESTful API design and asynchronous messaging patterns (e.g., NATS, SQS/SNS, or Kafka).
• Familiarity with AWS infrastructure and services such as S3, EC2, SNS, and SQS; experience working in cloud-hosted environments is a plus.
• Understanding of backend development, with exposure to modern development tools, languages, and practices.
• Eagerness to grow as a backend engineer in a production-facing, service-oriented environment.
• Exposure to Kubernetes-based deployments and CI/CD tooling (Jenkins preferred).
• Experience working with relational databases such as PostgreSQL or SQL Server.
• Exposure to Agile development methodologies and collaborative team practices.
• Excellent communication skills and a growth mindset.
• Ability to balance velocity with maintainability and operational excellence.
• Must be eligible to work in the United States.
• At this time, EFW will not sponsor a new applicant for employment authorization for this position.
• EFW prides itself on the quality of its employees and as such, candidates who receive a job offer will be required to successfully pass a drug screen and a background check.
• EFW offers an opportunity to grow and develop your career in an environment that provides a fulfilling workplace for employees, creates an environment for continuous learning, and embraces the ideas and diversity of others. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to sex, pregnancy, race, ethnicity, color, creed, religion, national origin, age, disability status, protected veteran status, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other legally protected status.

SUPERVISION

The position functions with supervision and has no direct reports.

EDUCATION/EXPERIENCE

Minimum of a Bachelor's degree (or equivalent) in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or related field. A combination of experience and/or education will be taken into consideration.

LICENSES/CERTIFICATIONS

None required.

TRAVEL

None required.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential duties of this job.  Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform essential duties.

Typically sitting at a desk or table.  Intermittently sitting, standing, walking or stooping.

WORK ENVIRONMENT

The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential duties of this job.  Reasonable accommodations will be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform essential duties.

Normal office situation.

EFW is an Equal Opportunity Employer, Minorities/Female/Disabled/Veteran.