Senior Backend Software Engineer

M8l; Seattle (WA); On-site; USD 167,000 - 230,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, and vision insurance

401(k)

Health Savings Account (HSA)

Time Off policies

Equity awards

Bonus opportunity

Job summary

Otter is seeking a Software Engineer for the Marketing/Boost team to build the AI-powered platform that drives restaurant growth by automating marketing across delivery platforms. You will translate budgets and goals into real orders, building scalable backend services and an AI-driven Boost engine.

You will own end-to-end responsibilities, instrument and debug services, and ensure reliability at scale, working on on-site Seattle teams five days a week with collaboration across product teams.

Qualifications

• Proficiency in a general-purpose backend language (e.g., Java, Go, or Python).
• Solid foundation in distributed systems, microservices, and API design (gRPC and/or REST).
• Experience with databases (e.g., PostgreSQL, CockroachDB) and writing performant queries.
• Strong debugging skills and an instinct for reliability in systems that integrate with unpredictable third parties.
• Experience operating services in production, and a collaborative, product-minded approach.

Responsibilities

• Build backend services for campaign management, budgeting, and a multi-channel pipeline across delivery platforms.
• Develop the AI-driven Boost engine that analyzes stores, selects marketing, and optimizes within budget.
• Create durable workflows for campaign orchestration, budget enforcement, and auto-pause guardrails.
• Integrate with third-party delivery platforms and handle API reliability, retries, and reconciliation.
• Own services end-to-end: develop, instrument, debug, and improve reliability and performance.

Skills

Java

Go

Python

Distributed systems

APIs (gRPC/REST)

PostgreSQL

CockroachDB

Debugging

Production operations

Tools

PostgreSQL

CockroachDB

gRPC

REST

Docker

Kubernetes

Job description

On-site in Seattle, WA, five days a week.

Who we are

In the past, to be a successful restaurateur, you simply had to have a passion for food and a passion for people - but to succeed as a digital restaurateur you also need to have a passion for technology. We believe in the joy of serving others, and that's why we created Otter – to help restaurateurs succeed in online food delivery. Restaurants around the world, both large and small, including Chick-fil-A, Ben & Jerry’s, KFC, and Eataly trust our software to power their delivery business. We increase sales, reduce order issues, and decrease delivery headaches.

What you’ll do

As a Software Engineer on the Otter Marketing/Boost team, you’ll build the AI-powered platform that puts restaurant growth on autopilot, automating marketing for each storefront across delivery platforms. Your code will turn a merchant’s budget and goals into real orders.

• Build backend services for campaign management, budgeting, and a multi-channel pipeline that deploys campaigns and keeps them in sync across delivery platforms.
• Develop the AI-driven Boost engine that analyzes each store, picks the best marketing for its goal, executes within budget, and recalibrates automatically.
• Build durable workflows for campaign orchestration, budget enforcement, and auto-pause guardrails that run correctly, every day, at scale.
• Integrate with third-party delivery platforms and handle the realities of external APIs: partial failures, retries, and reconciliation.
• Own your services end-to-end: develop, instrument, debug, and improve reliability and performance.

What we’re looking for

We value diversity of experience and are looking for engineers excited to own complex, high-impact systems. We look for a strong sense of ownership, people ready to take their work from idea to production and take responsibility for outcomes.

Basic Qualifications

• Proficiency in a general-purpose backend language (e.g., Java, Go, or Python).
• Solid foundation in distributed systems, microservices, and API design (gRPC and/or REST).
• Experience with databases (e.g., PostgreSQL, CockroachDB) and writing performant queries.
• Strong debugging skills and an instinct for reliability in systems that integrate with unpredictable third parties.
• Experience operating services in production, and a collaborative, product-minded approach.

Nice to Have

• Workflow orchestration (e.g., Temporal, Cadence) or event-driven architectures (Kafka).
• Large-scale data and analytics tooling (Trino, Flink, Iceberg, or equivalent).
• ML systems in production, predictions, ranking, or optimization, or a strong interest in them.
• Cloud platforms (Azure, AWS, GCP) and containers (Docker, Kubernetes)

Why join us

• Demand for online food delivery is growing really fast! In the last 5 years, just in the US, the overall market has expanded 10X from $10B to $100B, and could expand to $500bn- $1T by 2030.
• Changing the restaurant industry: You’ll be part of a team that helps restaurants succeed in online food delivery.
• Collaborative environment: You will receive support and guidance from experienced colleagues and managers, helping you to learn, grow and achieve your goals, and you’ll work closely with other teams to ensure our customer’s success.

What else you need to know

This role is based in our Seattle office location. As a company driven by innovation and continuous change, close collaboration is essential. We’re constantly reimagining our industry, creating new products, and refining our processes, and we do our best work together. That’s why all of our office-based teams work onsite, five days a week.

The base salary range for this role is $167,000 - $230,000 per year.

Actual compensation will be determined on an individual basis and may vary depending on experience, skills, and qualifications.

Base salary is just one part of your total rewards package. You may also be eligible for equity awards and an annual performance-based bonus.

Benefits Summary (USA Full-Time Exempt Employees):

• Medical, dental, and vision insurance (multiple plans, incl. HSA options).
• Company-paid life and disability insurance (short- and long-term).
• Voluntary insurance: accident, critical illness, hospital indemnity.
• Optional supplemental life insurance for self, spouse, and children.
• Pet insurance discount.
• 401(k).
• Health Savings Account (HSA)
• Flexible Spending Accounts (Healthcare, Dependent Care, Commuter)
• Time Off policies:
  • Discretionary vacation days
  • 8 paid holidays per year
  • Paid sick time
  • Paid Bereavement leave
  • Paid Parental Leave

Benefits are subject to change at the company's discretion. Atoms accepts applications on an ongoing basis.

Ready to join us as we serve those who serve others?

#LI-Onsite