Engineer lead (Java) - ST, Seattle WA

At Starbucks, our mission is with every cup, with every conversation, with every community – we nurture limitless possibilities of human connection. Starbucks Technologists work to achieve this mission using cutting-edge technology delivered to our partners, customers, stores, roasters, and global communities. This job contributes to Starbucks success by delivering high-quality, reliable, and stable technologies and security capabilities in support of the Starbucks Engineering Platform. This position is accountable for the installation, configuration, monitoring, analysis, maintenance, and technical support of the platform.

Summary of Key Responsibilities

• Leading and guiding the team to deliver business features
• Communicates highly complex ideas and concepts to non-technical peers and customers
• Ability to establish cross-functional, collaborative relationships with business and technology partners
• Support the development team and perform activities to resolve developer issues in a timely and accurate fashion
• Engineer build and release processes
• Ability to effectively manage and partner with technology vendors to deliver against business objectives
• Conducts research and makes recommendations on standards, products, and services
• Ensures application and infrastructure architectural solutions are stable, secure, and compliant with Company standards and practices
• Implements all technologies in accordance with Information Security's guiding principles for highly sensitive data
• Provide high-availability operational support and automate solutions across the environment
• Implements deep telemetry capabilities to provide ongoing success and performance metrics
• Implements service monitoring across all platforms to ensure continuous availability and operational continuity of critical systems
• Upholds company policies, and legal/regulatory requirements, such as PCI
• Implements and maintains system configurations and baselines to support secure application development software control best practices and standards

Basic Qualifications

• Education (minimum education level, degree or certification necessary):
• 7-10 years of professional industry experience with software development
• Bachelor’s degree in computer science or related field

Required qualifications

• 5+ years of experience with one or more of the following languages: Python, 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 (e.g., AWS, 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 to automate routine tasks
• Experience with AI-driven development frameworks and tools (e.g., GitHub Copilot, Cursor)

Preferred qualifications

• Strong interest in designing, analyzing and troubleshooting large-scale distributed systems
• Experience in application development and in 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

As a Starbucks partner, you (and your family) will have access to medical, dental, vision, basic and supplemental life insurance, and other voluntary insurance benefits. Partners have access to 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. Starbucks also offers eligible partners participation in a 401(k) retirement plan with employer match, a discounted company stock program (S.I.P.), Starbucks equity program (Bean Stock), incentivized emergency savings, and financial well-being tools. Additionally, Starbucks offers 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. You will also have access to backup care and DACA reimbursement. Starbucks will comply with any applicable state and local laws regarding employee leave benefits, including, but not limited to providing time off pursuant to the Colorado Healthy Families and Workplaces Act, and in accordance with its plans and policies. This list is subject to change depending on collective bargaining in locations where partners have a certified bargaining representative. For additional information regarding partner perks and more detailed information about benefits, go to starbucksbenefits.com.

*If you are working in CA, CO, IL, LA, ME, MA, NE, ND or RI, you will accrue vacation up to a maximum of 120 hours (190 in CA) for roles below director and 200 hours (316 in CA) for roles at director or above. For roles in other states, you will be granted vacation time starting at 120 hours annually for roles below director and 200 hours annually for roles director and above.

The actual base pay offered to the successful candidate will be based on multiple factors, including but not limited to job-related knowledge/skills, experience, geographical location, and internal equity. At Starbucks, it is not typical for an individual to be hired at the high end of the range for their role, and compensation decisions are dependent upon the facts and circumstances of each position and candidate.

We believe we do our best work when we're together, which is why we're onsite four days a week.

Join us and inspire with every cup. Apply today!

Starbucks Coffee Company is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, national origin, disability, or protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.

Qualified applicants with criminal histories will be considered for employment in a manner consistent with all federal, state and local ordinances. Starbucks Coffee Company is committed to offering reasonable accommodations to job applicants with disabilities. If you need assistance or an accommodation due to a disability, please contact us at applicantaccommodation@starbucks.com or 1(888) 611-2258.