Staff Software Engineer, Backend

Toast creates technology to help restaurants and local businesses succeed in a digital world, helping business owners operate, increase sales, engage customers, and keep employees happy.

The Android Systems team bridges the gap between hardware and software to build the foundational platform for Toast POS devices. The team develops the end-to-end software driving our device management product suite—including system applications, cloud-based services, and web user interfaces designed to secure and manage Toast's hardware ecosystem.

We are seeking a Staff Software Engineer who is hands-on with coding, is able to design end to end systems, and will pave the path for the team to build modern technical solutions keeping customer empathy in mind. If you are a leader who collaborates well with teams within the organization, can think big, and are passionate about building software systems used to manage hardware devices with high focus on quality, this position is for you!

About this roll* (Responsibilities):

• Hands-on design and implementation of Kotlin backend services to improve our device management workflows for customers.
• Lead the design and development of the next generation of Toast’s software services and applications to bring a seamless device configuration and user experience for customers.
• Collaborate with Product Management, Hardware, QA and other Software teams on the product roadmap and requirements to build a long term vision for Toast.
• Create technical requirements and detailed designs of the software system being developed.
• Lead effort estimation sessions and use sound judgment to enable planning of projects.
• Diagnose performance bottlenecks and implement optimizations.
• Make solid technical decisions keeping software quality, security, and maintainability in mind.
• Help set the standard for software quality by adopting modern software test frameworks and practices in day to day development.

Do you have the right ingredients*? (Requirements):

• 8+ years of experience in designing and implementing robust backend services
• Proficient in a modern object-oriented programming language such as Java or Kotlin.
• Demonstrated technical leadership, with the ability to drive cross-team alignment and influence across engineering, product, and business stakeholders.
• Demonstrated experience with microservices architecture and containerization technologies for enhanced scalability and maintainability.
• Applied knowledge of best practices in backend application lifecycle management, including database, service, & API design strategies, with the ability to share this amongst the team and peers.
• Experience developing single-page frontend applications using React.
• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to articulate complex technical concepts to diverse audiences.
• Familiarity with AI-augmented development workflows and tools (e.g., Claude Code, GitHub Copilot, or similar).

Bonus ingredients*:

• Demonstrated proficiency with DynamoDB or PostgreSQL.
• Proficiency in Kotlin (or Java and willing to learn Kotlin) and Kotlin-specific frameworks and libraries for building efficient backend solutions.
• Experience with monitoring tools to debug and resolve tough customer issues.
• Understanding of mobile device management (MDM) concepts and enterprise device management platforms.

 

AI at Toast

At Toast, one of our company values is that we're hungry to build and learn. We believe learning new AI tools empowers us to build for our customers faster, more independently, and with higher quality. We provide these tools across all disciplines, from Engineering and Product to Sales and Support, and are inspired by how our Toasters are already driving real value with them. The people who thrive here are those who embrace changes that let us build more for our customers; it’s a core part of our culture.

 

Our Total Rewards Philosophy 
We strive to provide competitive compensation and benefits programs that help to attract, retain, and motivate the best and brightest people in our industry. Our total rewards package goes beyond great earnings potential and provides the means to a healthy lifestyle with the flexibility to meet Toasters’ changing needs. Learn more about our benefits at https://careers.toasttab.com/toast-benefits.