engineer lead (Java) - ST, Seattle WA

Starbucks Coffee Company•Seattle, WA

23h•$152,500 - $254,100•Onsite

About The Position

At Starbucks, our mission is to nurture limitless possibilities of human connection through every cup, conversation, and community. Starbucks Technologists support this mission by delivering technology to partners, customers, stores, roasters, and global communities. This role contributes to Starbucks success by delivering high-quality, reliable, and stable technologies and security capabilities in support of the Starbucks Engineering Platform. The position is accountable for installation, configuration, monitoring, analysis, maintenance, and technical support of the platform. It leads and guides a team delivering business features, supports developers, and helps ensure application and infrastructure solutions are stable, secure, compliant, highly available, and continuously monitored.

Requirements

7–10 years of professional industry experience with software development.
Bachelor’s degree in computer science or a related field.
5+ years of experience with one or more of the following languages: Python or Java.
3+ years of experience with large-scale distributed systems and client-server architectures.
3+ years of experience with microservices and containerization.
3+ years of experience with Kafka or similar distributed messaging platforms.
2+ years of experience with Cassandra or similar NoSQL databases, and working knowledge of other database technologies.
2+ years of experience with Microsoft Azure or another cloud platform, such as AWS or Google Cloud.
2+ years of experience in system administration, network administration, or systems engineering.
Experience running and maintaining 24x7 production environments.
Proven experience building and managing high-capacity, redundant, mission-critical environments.
Proven ability to debug and optimize code and automate routine tasks.
Experience with AI-driven development frameworks and tools, such as GitHub Copilot or Cursor.

Nice To Haves

Strong interest in designing, analyzing, and troubleshooting large-scale distributed systems.
Experience in application development and supporting development environments.
Proven ability to turn technical insights into business recommendations.
Knowledge of relevant legal and regulatory requirements, such as SOX, PCI, HIPAA, and data protection.

Responsibilities

Lead and guide the team to deliver business features.
Communicate complex ideas and concepts to non-technical peers and customers.
Establish collaborative relationships with business and technology partners across functions.
Support the development team and resolve developer issues promptly and accurately.
Engineer build and release processes.
Manage and partner with technology vendors to deliver business objectives.
Research and make recommendations on standards, products, and services.
Ensure application and infrastructure architectural solutions are stable, secure, and compliant with company standards and practices.
Implement technologies in accordance with Information Security principles for highly sensitive data.
Provide high-availability operational support and automate solutions across the environment.
Implement deep telemetry capabilities to provide ongoing success and performance metrics.
Implement service monitoring across platforms to ensure continuous availability and operational continuity of critical systems.
Uphold company policies and legal and regulatory requirements, such as PCI.
Implement and maintain system configurations and baselines that support secure application development software control best practices and standards.

Benefits

Medical, dental, and vision insurance.
Basic and supplemental life insurance and other voluntary insurance benefits.
Short-term and long-term disability.
Paid parental leave.
Family expansion reimbursement.
Paid vacation from date of hire.
Sick time accrued at 1 hour for every 25 hours worked.
Eight paid holidays and two personal days per year.
401(k) retirement plan with employer match for eligible partners.
Discounted company stock program (S.I.P.).
Starbucks equity program (Bean Stock).
Incentivized emergency savings and financial well-being tools.
100% upfront tuition coverage for a first-time bachelor’s degree through Arizona State University’s online program via the Starbucks College Achievement Plan.
Student loan management resources and access to other educational opportunities.
Backup care and DACA reimbursement.