Director of Engineering

Whataburger

San Antonio (TX)

On-site

USD 180,000 - 260,000

Full time

14 days+

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Benefits offered by this job

Competitive base compensation

25% bonus potential

5 weeks paid time off

Health insurance

Vision insurance

401(k)

Job summary

A national fast food chain based in San Antonio, Texas, is seeking a Director of Engineering to lead the development of scalable digital solutions. The role requires proficiency in managing engineering teams, a strong understanding of API platforms, and experience in scaling web and mobile applications. Candidates should have 10+ years of experience and excellent communication skills. The job offers a competitive salary, 25% bonus potential, and 5 weeks paid time off, making it an attractive opportunity.

Qualifications

10+ years leading and managing engineering teams.
5+ years hands-on engineering experience.
Experience scaling eCommerce web and mobile applications.
Demonstrated leadership of an API platform or API engineering organization, including standards, tooling, security, and lifecycle management.
Deep understanding of agile development, system integrations, cloud‑native architectures, and mobile/web ecosystems.
Strong leadership, communication, stakeholder engagement, and technical strategy skills.
Experience managing third‑party engineering vendors and implementation partners.

Responsibilities

Lead design and development of scalable digital ordering experiences.
Drive API-first strategy with oversight of the API platform.
Manage departmental budgets and resource planning.
Defines, tracks, and continuously improves engineering KPIs: velocity, quality, uptime, technical debt, incident response, system performance, and delivery predictability.
Oversees integrations with the eCommerce engine, loyalty systems, POS, payments, delivery service providers, and other third‑party platforms.
Partners with Product, UX, Security, Data, Infrastructure, Restaurant Tech, and business stakeholders to align on priorities, shared roadmaps, and delivery outcomes.
Ensures strong engineering operations, including CI/CD, release automation, environment management, observability, alerting, and root‑cause analysis.
Strengthens vendor relationships with engineering partners, implementation firms, and cloud providers to ensure consistent and high‑quality delivery.
Manages departmental budgets, resource planning, timelines, delivery risks, and reporting for leadership.
Evaluates new technologies and features, providing strategic and ROI‑driven recommendations to support Whataburger’s digital roadmap.
Assumes additional responsibilities as assigned.

Skills

Leadership

Communication

Stakeholder engagement

Technical strategy skills

Education

BS in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Systems, or related field

Tools

Cloud-native architectures

API platform management

API tooling

Job description

Join to apply for the Director of Engineering role at Whataburger.

About the Company

Since 1950, Whataburger has been serving bold flavors and warm hospitality. We’re modernizing our digital platforms so guests can order, pay, and enjoy Whataburger—anywhere, anytime—while keeping restaurant operations simple and reliable.

About the Role

The Director of Engineering will lead the technical direction, engineering execution, and digital delivery for Whataburger’s Digital Technology organization, supporting the expansion and modernization of our digital ecosystem. This includes consumer-facing web ordering, mobile apps (iOS/Android React Native), digital payments, loyalty, and integrations with third‑party service and delivery partners.

Reporting to the Head of Digital Engineering, this role oversees engineering managers and cross‑functional teams to build scalable, resilient digital experiences that support Whataburger’s growth and customer‑first mission.

What You’ll Do:

Leads design and development of highly scalable web and mobile digital ordering experiences for Whataburger guests.
Drives an API‑first strategy, including oversight of the API platform, governance, standards, versioning, and overall API lifecycle management.
Establishes and enforces engineering best practices, development standards, code quality guidelines, reliability patterns, and operational excellence.
Defines, tracks, and continuously improves engineering KPIs: velocity, quality, uptime, technical debt, incident response, system performance, and delivery predictability.
Oversees integrations with the eCommerce engine, loyalty systems, POS, payments, delivery service providers, and other third‑party platforms.
Partners with Product, UX, Security, Data, Infrastructure, Restaurant Tech, and business stakeholders to align on priorities, shared roadmaps, and delivery outcomes.
Ensures strong engineering operations, including CI/CD, release automation, environment management, observability, alerting, and root‑cause analysis.
Strengthens vendor relationships with engineering partners, implementation firms, and cloud providers to ensure consistent and high‑quality delivery.
Manages departmental budgets, resource planning, timelines, delivery risks, and reporting for leadership.
Evaluates new technologies and features, providing strategic and ROI‑driven recommendations to support Whataburger’s digital roadmap.
Assumes additional responsibilities as assigned.

What You’ll Bring:

Education:

BS in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Systems, or related field.

Experience:

10+ years leading and managing engineering teams; 5+ years hands‑on engineering experience.
Proven experience scaling eCommerce web and mobile applications, ideally in high‑volume or retail/restaurant environments.
Demonstrated leadership of an API platform or API engineering organization, including standards, tooling, security, and lifecycle management.
Deep understanding of agile development, system integrations, cloud‑native architectures, and mobile/web ecosystems.
Strong leadership, communication, stakeholder engagement, and technical strategy skills.
Experience managing third‑party engineering vendors and implementation partners.

Whataburger Perks:

This position offers competitive base compensation, 25% bonus potential, 5 weeks paid time off to start, and additional benefits such as health, dental, vision, and 401(k). Most importantly Whataburger is growing and that means growth opportunities for you and your team, and a culture that feels like family. You’ll be part of a team that’s passionate about food, service, and making a difference in the communities we serve.

Seniority level: Director

Employment type: Full‑time

Job function: Information Technology; Industry: Restaurants