Applied Scientist

Description

Are you ready to redefine the future of traffic and travel information?

We’re looking for an Applied Scientist who designs algorithms in Python and ships to production in Java to improve our traffic services in 70+ countries. Behind it sits one of the largest probe data streams in the world: 5 – 6 billion kilometers of driving data processed every day. Our team in Berlin/Madrid turns that stream into speed and closure information within seconds, shaping how people navigate their daily lives.

Responsibilities

• Design and evaluate algorithms that turn noisy, incomplete probe data into reliable speed and closure information that powers our traffic technology.
• Prototype in Python, then implement in Java in our production services and own the change through rollout.
• Develop against ground truth and use the results to shape what to build next.
• Evolve the existing traffic services. Most of the work improves what millions of drivers use today.
• Work with AI coding assistants such as Claude Code: for exploration, implementation, and analysis. You review what they produce and own full accountability.
• As part of an international development team, you collaboratively run what you build, including monitoring, incident management, and production support.

Requirements

• A PhD, or a Master’s degree + 5 years of industry experience, in computer science, mathematics, physics, or another quantitative field.
• Python for prototyping and data analysis, and Java (or a comparable typed language) at production experience.
• Experience taking algorithmic work from the idea to a production system, making trade-offs and explaining them to engineers and stakeholders.
• Hands-on experience using AI tooling in your daily development work, and a clear view of how it helps, and where it does not.
• You’re a collaborative team player who thrives in an international environment, and you have strong written and verbal communication skills in English.
• Nice-to-have:
• GIS, traffic engineering, or map-matching experience.
• Experience operating services in production: Azure or another cloud, CI/CD, monitoring and incident handling.
• Experience bringing teams together behind one technical initiative and seeing it through to delivery.

Benefits

• A competitive compensation package, of course.
• Time and resources to grow and develop, including a personal development budget and paid leave for learning days, as well as paid access to e-learning resources such as O’Reilly and LinkedIn Learning.
• Time to support life outside of work, with enhanced parental leave plus paid leave to care for loved ones and volunteer in local communities.
• Work flexibility, where TomTom’ers, in agreement with their manager and team, use both the office and home to focus, collaborate, learn and socialize. It’s all about getting the best out of both worlds – we ask TomTom’ers to come to the office two days a week, and the remaining three are free to be worked in either location.
• Improve your home office with a setup budget and get extra support with a monthly allowance.
• Enjoy options to work from your home country and abroad for a set number of days each year, to visit family and friends, or to simply explore the world we’re mapping.
• Take the holidays you want with a competitive holiday plan, plus an extra day off to celebrate your birthday.
• Join annual events like our Hackathon and DevDays to bring your ideas to life with talented teammates from around the world.
• Become a part of our inclusive global culture and have the chance to collaborate with a diverse community – we have over 80 nationalities at TomTom!
• Find out more about our global benefits and enjoy additional local benefits tailored to your location.
• Meet your team
• We’re Maps, a global team within TomTom’s Location Technology Products technical unit. Our team is driven to deliver the most up-to-date, accurate and detailed maps for hundreds of millions of users around the world. Joining our team, you’ll continuously innovate our mapmaking processes, directly contributing to our vision: engineering the world's most trusted and useful map.
• At TomTom...
• You’ll help people find their way in the world. In 2004, TomTom revolutionized how the world moves with the introduction of the first portable navigation device. Now, we intend to do it again by engineering the first-ever real-time map, the smartest and most useful map on the planet.
• Work with a team of 3,300+ unique, curious and passionate problem-solvers. Together, we’ll open up a world of possibilities for car manufacturers, enterprises and developers to help people understand and get closer to the world around them.
• After you apply
• Our recruitment team will work hard to give you a meaningful experience throughout your journey with us, no matter the outcome. Your application will be screened closely and you can rest assured that all follow-up actions will be thorough, from assessments and interviews all the way through onboarding. To find out more about our application process, check out our hiring FAQs .
• TomTom is an equal opportunity employer
• TomTom is where you can find your place in the world. Every day we welcome, nurture and celebrate differences. Why? Because your uniqueness is what makes you, you . No matter your culture or background, you’ll find your impact at TomTom. Research also shows that sometimes women and underrepresented communities can be hesitant to apply for positions unless they believe they meet 100% of the criteria. If you can relate to this, please know that we’d love to hear from you.