lead engineer, Platform (Seattle, WA)

Starbucks Coffee Company; Seattle (WA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 260,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical insurance

401(k) matching

Tuition assistance

Job summary

Starbucks Coffee Company seeks a lead engineer for Platform to drive design, development, and operations of our internal cloud-based platform. You will provide technical leadership, mentor engineers, and shape platform strategies across multiple domains.

Responsibilities include building scalable deployment pipelines, securing systems, and advancing observability. The role requires strong collaboration with partners and a passion for delivering reliable technology at scale.

Qualifications

• 6-8 years of professional software development and technical leadership experience.
• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or related field is required.

Responsibilities

• Exhibits excellent communication and partners with leadership to guide platform communications and strategy.
• Leads cross‑functional collaborations with business and technology teams to achieve objectives.
• Mentors engineers to resolve issues and advance skills.
• Leads build, release, and deployment processes and strategies for the platform.
• Manages vendor relations and influences product roadmaps in alignment with business goals.
• Leads security, compliance, and telemetry initiatives across the platform.

Skills

Distributed systems

Leadership

Python

Go

Java

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or related field

Tools

Kubernetes

AWS

Azure

Docker

Job description

Now Brewing: lead engineer, Platform! #tobeapartner

From the beginning, Starbucks set out to be a different kind of company. One that not only celebrated coffee and the rich tradition, but also brought a feeling of connection. We are known for developing extraordinary leaders who share this passion and are guided by their service to others.

As a Starbucks lead engineer, you will . . .

At Starbucks, our mission is to inspire and nurture the human spirit – one person, one cup, and one neighborhood at a time. Starbucks Technologists work to achieve this mission through the use of cutting‑edge technology delivered to our partners, customers, stores, roasters, and global communities.

Contribute to Starbucks success by delivering high-quality, reliable, and stable technologies and security capabilities in support of an internal cloud‑based platform for Starbucks Technology. This position is accountable for the installation, configuration, monitoring, analysis, maintenance, and technical support of the platform. Engineers on this team apply modern practices to platform development and operation, including Infrastructure as Code (IaC), container‑based build and deployment tooling, and custom Kubernetes resources and controllers.

What you'll do

• Exhibits excellent communication skills on a daily basis in verbal, written, and visual manner; partners with leadership team to help with platform communications
• Ability to establish and lead cross‑functional, collaborative relationships with business and technology partners
• Provides technical leadership and mentors development team members to resolve developer issues in a timely and accurate fashion
• Leads engineering of build and release processes and deployment strategies
• Effectively manages and partners with technology vendors to deliver against business objectives and influence vendor product roadmaps
• Leads research efforts and makes recommendations on standards, products, and services across multiple domains
• Ensures application and infrastructure architectural solutions are stable, secure, and compliant with Company standards and practices
• Directs implementation of service monitoring across all platforms to ensure continuous availability and operational continuity of critical systems
• Leads high‑availability operational support initiatives and drives automation solutions across the environment
• Oversees implementation of deep telemetry capabilities to provide ongoing success and performance metrics
• Leads and participates in the design and implementation of security controls built and engineered to meet compliance controls
• Upholds company policies, and legal/regulatory requirements, such as PCI
• Accountable for system configurations and baselines to support secure application development software control best practices and standards
• Actively mentors less experienced engineers in technical, business, and soft skills capacity
• Leads complex project decomposition, planning, and estimation efforts

We'd love to hear from people with

• Education (minimum education level, degree or certification necessary):
• 6-8 years of professional industry experience with software development and technical leadership
• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or related field

Preferred Qualifications

• 7+ years of experience in system administration, network administration, and systems engineering with demonstrated leadership experience
• 7+ years of experience in one or more of the following languages: C, C++, Java, Python, Go, Perl and/or Ruby
• Proven ability to lead teams in debugging and optimizing code, and automating routine tasks
• Demonstrated experience in designing, analyzing and troubleshooting large-scale distributed systems across multiple domains
• Advanced knowledge in application development and supporting complex development environments
• Extensive experience with Cloud Computing platforms (e.g. Amazon AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google App Engine)
• High proficiency in TCP/IP networking, architecture and core technologies ( DNS, routing, iptables, etc.)
• Extensive experience building and/or deploying containers; advanced Kubernetes experience required
• Experience designing and implementing Kubernetes Controllers & Operators in Go
• Demonstrated experience mentoring and leading technical teams
• Proven ability to facilitate cross‑functional collaboration and influence without authority
• Strong background in security implementation and compliance frameworks

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.

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 [e-mail] or 1(888) 611-2258.