How to Apply to Navteq (Here)

Key Takeaways

HERE Technologies is owned by a German automotive consortium led by Audi, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz, plus Intel, Bosch, and others — this shapes strategy, customer focus, and culture significantly.
Berlin is the operational headquarters and largest engineering site; Eindhoven is the legal HQ; Chicago, Mumbai, Bangalore, Krakow, and Tokyo are major secondary hubs.
The ATS is iCIMS, accessed via here.icims.com — submit clean single-column PDFs and mirror posting terminology exactly.
Core business is enterprise location data, automotive navigation, HD maps for autonomous driving, and developer location services — the consumer HERE WeGo app is a side product.
Competition from Google Maps, Apple Maps, Mapbox, TomTom, and OpenStreetMap is intense and ongoing — interview answers should acknowledge this honestly.
Interview culture is technical, structured, and multicultural; expect cross-site video loops and pragmatic engineering questions rather than competitive coding puzzles.
Tenure is long, pace is measured, and the company rewards deep domain expertise — joining HERE is a multi-year commitment, not a stepping stone.
German labor law applies to Berlin roles including Betriebsrat involvement; Dutch law applies in Eindhoven; offer timelines are slower than US tech norms.

About Navteq (Here)

HERE Technologies is a global mapping and location data company with one of the most complicated corporate histories in the geospatial industry. The business began as Navteq, a Chicago-founded digital mapping pioneer that built the foundational map data behind in-car navigation systems for decades. Nokia acquired Navteq in 2008 for approximately $8.1 billion at the height of Nokia's mobile dominance, then rebranded the asset progressively from Nokia Maps to HERE between 2012 and 2015. When Nokia exited the consumer mapping business, HERE was sold in 2015 to a consortium of German automakers — Audi, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz — for roughly €2.8 billion. That consortium has since expanded to include Intel, Bosch, Mitsubishi Corporation, NTT, Pioneer, Tencent, and Continental, making HERE one of the few major tech companies majority-owned by automotive industrial interests rather than venture capital or public markets. The company is legally headquartered in Eindhoven, Netherlands, but its operational center of gravity sits in Berlin, Germany, where the largest engineering and product teams work. Chicago retains significant R&D presence as a Navteq legacy site, and HERE operates substantial offices in Mumbai, Bangalore, Tokyo, Beijing, Krakow, and smaller hubs worldwide. Total headcount sits around 9,000 employees globally. CEO Edzard Overbeek, a Dutch executive with a long Cisco background, has led the company since 2015 and provided unusual leadership continuity through the consortium era. HERE's product portfolio centers on enterprise location data rather than consumer navigation. Core offerings include HERE Map Data (the licensed map content powering automotive infotainment systems), HERE SDK and Location Services APIs for developers, HERE Tour Planning for logistics routing, HERE Workspace as a developer platform, HERE Tracking for fleet visibility, Indoor Maps and floor plans, GIS data for governments and utilities, and HD Live Map for autonomous driving. HERE WeGo, the consumer navigation app, exists but has struggled against Google Maps and Apple Maps and is not a strategic priority. The customer base reflects ownership: BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Audi, Volkswagen, Hyundai-Kia, Stellantis, and most major German and Korean automakers rely on HERE for embedded navigation. Logistics customers include UPS, FedEx, DHL, and parts of Amazon's logistics operation. Enterprise customers span utilities, retail location intelligence, insurance usage-based pricing programs, and government smart-city initiatives. The competitive landscape is brutal. Google Maps and Google Maps Platform dominate consumer and developer mindshare. Apple Maps and MapKit are entrenched in the iOS ecosystem. Mapbox competes aggressively for developer-first customers with VC funding. TomTom, listed in Amsterdam, fights for the same automotive accounts. OpenStreetMap provides an open-source alternative with growing commercial traction. Esri owns the enterprise GIS market through ArcGIS. The autonomous driving HD-map race pits HERE against Mobileye REM, Google Waymo's internal stack, and various crowdsourced mapping efforts. Meta's 2020 acquisition of Mapillary and NVIDIA's investments in automotive AI mapping have intensified the AI-mapping front. Joining HERE means joining a serious mapping company with deep automotive relationships and credible engineering — but also one navigating heavy competitive pressure and structural dependence on its automotive owners.

Application Process

1
Search open roles at careers
Search open roles at careers.here.com and filter by location — Berlin, Eindhoven, Chicago, Mumbai, Bangalore, Krakow, and Tokyo are the largest hiring sites with very different role mixes.
2
Create an iCIMS profile at here
Create an iCIMS profile at here.icims.com (the backend powering HERE careers) and upload a clean ATS-friendly PDF resume — single column, standard headings, no graphics or text boxes.
3
Tailor your resume to the specific posting using the same terminology HERE uses
Tailor your resume to the specific posting using the same terminology HERE uses — for example HERE SDK, HD Live Map, Tour Planning, location services, geospatial, cartography, OSM, or specific automotive customer integrations.
4
Submit through the iCIMS portal rather than emailing recruiters directly
Submit through the iCIMS portal rather than emailing recruiters directly — applications outside the ATS are rarely tracked and often lost.
5
Expect an initial recruiter screen within one to three weeks for active roles; B
Expect an initial recruiter screen within one to three weeks for active roles; Berlin and Eindhoven roles often move faster than Chicago or India sites due to time zone alignment with European hiring managers.
6
Technical roles typically include a coding or systems-design screen
Technical roles typically include a coding or systems-design screen — Java, Kotlin, C++, Python, and SQL appear most often, with geospatial or distributed-systems questions for senior backend roles.
7
Onsite or virtual loops usually run four to six interviews covering technical de
Onsite or virtual loops usually run four to six interviews covering technical depth, system design, behavioral questions, and a meeting with the hiring manager and skip-level.
8
For automotive-facing roles, expect questions about embedded systems, ASPICE, IS
For automotive-facing roles, expect questions about embedded systems, ASPICE, ISO 26262 functional safety, or specific OEM integration experience even for software-only positions.
9
Offers in Germany and the Netherlands take longer to finalize due to Betriebsrat
Offers in Germany and the Netherlands take longer to finalize due to Betriebsrat consultation and EU labor formalities — two to four weeks after final interview is typical.
10
Relocation support exists for senior roles moving to Berlin or Eindhoven but is
Relocation support exists for senior roles moving to Berlin or Eindhoven but is not guaranteed; clarify visa sponsorship and relocation package terms in writing before accepting.

Resume Tips for Navteq (Here)

recommended

Lead with mapping, geospatial, GIS, location services, or automotive software ex

Lead with mapping, geospatial, GIS, location services, or automotive software experience if you have it — these are HERE's core domains and instantly signal fit.

recommended

Quantify scale wherever possible — number of map tiles served, requests per seco

Quantify scale wherever possible — number of map tiles served, requests per second, fleet size tracked, road kilometers processed, accuracy improvements in meters or percentage.

recommended

Name specific tools and standards HERE uses — Java, Kotlin, C++, Python, Scala,

Name specific tools and standards HERE uses — Java, Kotlin, C++, Python, Scala, AWS, Kubernetes, PostGIS, GDAL, OSM, Protobuf, gRPC, Spark, Flink, Kafka.

recommended

For automotive roles, mention ASPICE, ISO 26262, AUTOSAR, in-car navigation, ADA

For automotive roles, mention ASPICE, ISO 26262, AUTOSAR, in-car navigation, ADAS, HD maps, or specific OEM platforms like BMW iDrive, Mercedes MBUX, or Audi MMI.

recommended

For consumer or web roles, reference React, TypeScript, mobile SDKs, or location

For consumer or web roles, reference React, TypeScript, mobile SDKs, or location-based services experience — HERE WeGo and developer portal teams use modern web stacks.

recommended

Highlight English fluency clearly — Berlin and Eindhoven offices operate in Engl

Highlight English fluency clearly — Berlin and Eindhoven offices operate in English, but recruiters scanning international applications still look for explicit confirmation.

recommended

If you speak German, Dutch, Hindi, Marathi, Japanese, Mandarin, or Polish, list

If you speak German, Dutch, Hindi, Marathi, Japanese, Mandarin, or Polish, list it with proficiency level — useful for site-specific roles even though daily work is English.

recommended

Keep the resume to one page for early-career roles and two pages maximum for sen

Keep the resume to one page for early-career roles and two pages maximum for senior or principal positions; iCIMS parses cleanly but recruiters skim.

recommended

Avoid generic claims like results-oriented or team player — HERE recruiters valu

Avoid generic claims like results-oriented or team player — HERE recruiters value concrete technical accomplishments and specific customer or product outcomes.

recommended

Include open-source contributions, OpenStreetMap edits, or geospatial side proje

Include open-source contributions, OpenStreetMap edits, or geospatial side projects — they demonstrate genuine domain interest beyond paycheck motivation.

ATS System: iCIMS

HERE Technologies uses iCIMS as its applicant tracking system, accessible through here.icims.com and integrated into careers.here.com. iCIMS is a widely deployed enterprise ATS that parses uploaded resumes into structured profile fields, supports keyword-based search by recruiters, and routes applications through configurable workflow stages. Resume parsing accuracy depends heavily on simple formatting — single-column layouts, standard section headings like Experience and Education, and plain PDF or DOCX files perform best.

Upload a single-column PDF resume with standard fonts — Arial, Calibri, Helvetica, or Times New Roman in 10 to 12 point.
Use conventional section headings — Professional Experience, Education, Skills, Certifications — so iCIMS parsing maps fields correctly.
Avoid tables, text boxes, headers and footers, graphics, icons, or columns that confuse ATS parsers.
Mirror the exact terminology in the job posting — if the posting says HERE SDK, write HERE SDK rather than location SDK.
Complete every iCIMS profile field even if your resume already covers it — recruiters often filter by structured fields, not resume text.
Save the file with a clear name like FirstName_LastName_Role.pdf rather than resume-final-v3.pdf.
Apply only once per role — iCIMS flags duplicate applications and they can confuse recruiter dashboards.
Check spam folders for [email protected] or here.com domain emails — interview invites and status updates route through iCIMS notifications.

Interview Culture

HERE interviews skew technical, structured, and pragmatic rather than performative.

Most loops include a recruiter screen, one or two technical screens, a system design or architecture round for senior engineers, a hiring manager conversation, and a behavioral or values round. Expect interviewers from multiple sites — a Berlin engineer, a Chicago architect, and a Mumbai team lead on the same loop is common — which means video interviews are the norm even when you eventually work onsite. Technical questions tend toward real engineering problems rather than competitive-programming puzzles. Backend candidates should expect distributed systems, geospatial indexing, map tile serving, data pipeline design, or routing algorithm questions. Mobile and SDK candidates face C++ memory management, Kotlin coroutines, or iOS Swift questions tied to the actual HERE SDK surface. Data and ML candidates encounter map-matching, point-of-interest extraction, or computer vision for satellite imagery problems. The bar is solid senior engineering competence, not LeetCode hard. Behavioral interviews emphasize collaboration across cultures and time zones — Dutch, German, American, Indian, Chinese, and Polish engineers genuinely work together daily. Interviewers value direct communication, comfort with ambiguity, and the ability to navigate enterprise customer dynamics rather than ship-fast startup energy. Questions about handling disagreement, working with non-technical automotive customers, or driving a project across distributed teams come up frequently. The German cultural influence is real even outside Berlin — punctuality matters, agendas are followed, and decisions are documented. Pace is measured rather than frantic. People stay at HERE for years and tenure of seven, ten, or fifteen years is common, which shapes a long-horizon interview style. Asking about specific products, customers, or technical roadmap signals seriousness; asking only about perks or remote policy can read as misaligned with the culture.

What Navteq (Here) Looks For

Genuine interest in mapping, geospatial systems, or automotive technology — not just any software job that happens to be open.
Solid engineering fundamentals in Java, Kotlin, C++, Python, or Scala depending on team — depth matters more than language breadth.
Comfort working across time zones and cultures — Berlin, Chicago, Mumbai, and Tokyo collaboration is daily reality.
Experience with cloud infrastructure at scale — AWS is HERE's primary cloud, with Kubernetes, Kafka, and Spark heavily used.
For senior roles, system design ability around distributed data pipelines, large-scale storage, or low-latency serving systems.
Pragmatism over perfectionism — HERE ships enterprise software with long support cycles, not weekly experiments.
Customer empathy for automotive OEMs, logistics providers, or government users — these customers have real constraints and slow procurement cycles.
English fluency for any role; German, Dutch, Hindi, Japanese, Mandarin, or Polish helpful for site-specific work.
Long-term mindset — HERE rewards engineers who go deep on a domain over years rather than rotating every eighteen months.
Comfort with enterprise-scale process — code review, documentation, ASPICE for automotive teams, and audit trails are part of the job.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who owns HERE Technologies?

HERE is owned by a consortium of automotive and technology companies. The original 2015 buyers from Nokia were Audi, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz (then Daimler). The consortium has since expanded to include Intel, Bosch, Mitsubishi Corporation, NTT, Pioneer, Tencent, and Continental. There is no single majority owner, and HERE is not publicly listed.

Where is HERE Technologies headquartered?

HERE is legally headquartered in Eindhoven, Netherlands, but the operational center of gravity is Berlin, Germany, where the largest engineering and product teams work. Chicago retains significant R&D presence as a legacy from the Navteq era, and major offices exist in Mumbai, Bangalore, Krakow, Tokyo, and Beijing.

Is HERE Technologies the same as Navteq or Nokia Maps?

Yes — same company, three names. Navteq was the original Chicago-founded digital mapping company. Nokia acquired Navteq in 2008 for around $8.1 billion and gradually rebranded it as Nokia Maps and then HERE between 2012 and 2015. Nokia sold HERE to the German automotive consortium in 2015 for roughly €2.8 billion.

What ATS does HERE use for job applications?

HERE uses iCIMS, accessible at here.icims.com and integrated into careers.here.com. iCIMS parses resumes into structured profile fields, so simple single-column formatting and standard section headings perform best.

Does HERE sponsor work visas?

HERE sponsors visas for senior and specialized roles in Germany, the Netherlands, and the US, but sponsorship is not automatic for every position. EU Blue Card sponsorship for Berlin and Eindhoven is the most common route. Always confirm sponsorship and relocation support in writing during the recruiting conversation.

What programming languages does HERE use?

HERE uses Java, Kotlin, C++, Python, and Scala most heavily on the backend and SDK side, with TypeScript and React on web frontends and Swift and Kotlin for native mobile. Data and ML teams use Python, Spark, and Flink. C++ is critical for embedded automotive SDK work.

Is the work culture more German, Dutch, American, or Indian?

It is genuinely mixed. Berlin operates in English with a German organizational backbone — punctuality, structured meetings, documented decisions. Eindhoven adds Dutch directness. Chicago retains a more American R&D feel. Mumbai and Bangalore contribute large engineering teams with their own cultural rhythm. Cross-cultural fluency is a real job skill at HERE.

How does HERE compete with Google Maps and Apple Maps?

HERE does not seriously compete in consumer mapping — Google and Apple dominate that space and HERE WeGo is a small product. HERE competes in enterprise and automotive: embedded in-car navigation for German and Korean OEMs, HD maps for autonomous driving, fleet routing for logistics, and location intelligence for utilities, insurance, and governments. The competitive pressure from Google Maps Platform on the developer side is real and ongoing.

What is HERE HD Live Map and why does it matter?

HD Live Map is HERE's high-definition map product for advanced driver assistance systems and autonomous driving. It provides centimeter-level lane geometry, road furniture, and dynamic updates needed for self-driving stacks. It competes with Mobileye REM crowdsourced maps and the internal mapping efforts of Waymo and other AV programs. It is strategically important for HERE's automotive future.

Does HERE offer remote work?

HERE supports hybrid work in most locations, typically expecting two to three days in office per week for engineering teams. Fully remote roles exist but are the exception rather than the rule, especially for new hires. Specific policies vary by site and team — confirm with the recruiter for the role you are applying to.

How long does the HERE interview process take?

Typical timelines run four to eight weeks from application to offer. Recruiter screen happens within one to three weeks of applying for active roles. Technical loops are usually completed within two to three weeks. Offer paperwork in Germany and the Netherlands takes longer than US tech norms because of Betriebsrat consultation and EU employment formalities.

What is the pay like at HERE?

HERE pays competitively for the European and automotive-tech market but typically below top US tech salaries. Berlin engineering compensation is solid for the German market with strong benefits, pension contributions, and employment stability. US Chicago salaries are competitive for the Midwest market but below Bay Area or NYC levels. Equity is limited because HERE is privately held by the consortium.

Open Positions

Navteq (Here) currently has 22 open positions.

Check Your Resume Before Applying → View 22 open positions at Navteq (Here)

Related Resources

Similar Companies

Sources

HERE Technologies Careers —
HERE Technologies Official Site —
HERE Technologies — About Us —
Nokia Completes Sale of HERE to Automotive Consortium —
Nokia Acquires Navteq (2008) —
HERE Technologies — Wikipedia —
HERE Developer Portal —
HERE HD Live Map —
Edzard Overbeek CEO Profile —
HERE Technologies on LinkedIn —
iCIMS Applicant Tracking System —
Mitsubishi, NTT, Pioneer Invest in HERE (2017) —
Bosch and Continental Join HERE Consortium —
TomTom vs HERE Automotive Mapping Competition —