Software Engineer III

Yum! Brands; Irvine (CA); Hybrid; USD 118,000 - 140,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid work schedule

Onsite childcare

Onsite dining center

Onsite gym

Up to 4 weeks vacation

Tuition reimbursement

Parental leave

401(k) with 6% match

Medical & dental benefits

Discounts and free food

Job summary

Taco Bell, part of Yum! Brands, is seeking a Software Engineer III to design, build, test, and support scalable software within the Customer Middleware platform. You will connect digital ordering, loyalty, identity, messaging, and restaurant experiences as part of a collaborative engineering team.

The role emphasizes hands-on development, cloud-based architectures on AWS, and strong collaboration with product and security teams to ensure reliable, scalable systems in a high-volume environment.

Qualifications

• At least 5 years of professional software engineering experience in production apps, APIs, distributed services, or integration platforms.
• Experience with a modern server-side language and ecosystem (TypeScript/JavaScript + Node.js), including unit/integration tests and debugging.
• Experience developing and integrating REST or GraphQL APIs, event-driven architectures, and service-to-service integrations.
• Experience building/operating apps on AWS, using services like Lambda, API Gateway, S3, DynamoDB, EventBridge, SQS, CloudWatch.
• Familiar with Git, GitLab CI/CD, IaC (CDK or CloudFormation), Jira, Confluence, API specs, and observability platforms.
• Strong collaboration with product, QE, security, and partner teams to deliver high-volume, reliable systems.

Responsibilities

• Build, test, deploy, and maintain cloud-based APIs, event-driven services, and data workflows.
• Translate product requirements into technical designs, API contracts, and engineering stories.
• Coordinate with cross-functional teams to identify dependencies, edge cases, and risks.
• Participate in design reviews and uphold standards for reliability, security, and observability.
• Investigate production issues with logs, metrics, and traces; contribute to remediation.
• Drive improvements in the engineering lifecycle through automation and IaC practices.

Skills

TypeScript/Node.js

REST/GraphQL APIs

AWS services

CI/CD (Git/GitLab)

Infrastructure as Code

Observability

Cross-functional collaboration

Education

Bachelor's in CS

Tools

Git

GitLab CI/CD

AWS CDK/CloudFormation

Jira

Confluence

API specs

S3/DynamoDB

API Gateway

Job description

Who is Taco Bell?

Taco Bell was born and raised in California and has been around since 1962. We went from selling everyone's favorite Crunchy Tacos on the West Coast to a global brand with 7,500+ restaurants, 350 franchise organizations, that serve 42+ million fans each week around the globe. We're not only the largest Mexican-inspired quick service brand (QSR) in the world, we're also part of the biggest restaurant group in the world: Yum! Brands. Much of our fan love and authentic connection with our communities are rooted in being rebels with a cause. From ensuring we use high-quality, sustainable ingredients to elevating restaurant technology in ways that haven't been done before... we will continue to be inclusive, bold, challenge the status quo and push industry boundaries. We're a company that celebrates and advocates for different, has bold self-expression, strives for a better future, and brings the fun while we're at it. We fuel our culture with real people who bring unique experiences. We inspire and enable our teams and the world to Live Más.

At Taco Bell, we’re Cultural Rebels. Want to join in on the passion-fueled fun? Learn more about the career below.

About the Job

The SOFTWARE ENGINEER III is responsible for developing, testing, deploying, and supporting scalable software and integration services within Taco Bell's Customer Middleware platform, helping connect digital ordering, loyalty, customer identity, messaging, and restaurant experiences. In this role, you will contribute to technical design, implement solutions within established architecture and engineering patterns, and help strengthen the reliability and maintainability of Taco Bell's customer technology ecosystem alongside an experienced team of engineers. The SOFTWARE ENGINEER III will report to the Sr. Manager, Software Engineering as an individual contributor.

Qualifications

Is This You?

• At least 5 years of professional software engineering experience developing and supporting production applications, APIs, distributed services, or integration platforms, with a degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or equivalent years of experience.
• Hands-on experience with a modern server-side programming language and ecosystem (preferably TypeScript/JavaScript and Node.js), including automated unit and integration testing, debugging, dependency management, and maintainable software-development practices.
• Experience developing and integrating REST or GraphQL APIs, asynchronous events, queues, and service-to-service integrations, with an understanding of authentication, error handling, retry behavior, idempotency, and API-contract management.
• Experience building or operating applications on a major cloud platform, preferably AWS, using services such as Lambda, API Gateway, AppSync, S3, DynamoDB, EventBridge, SQS, CloudWatch, or comparable managed services.
• Experience with modern delivery and engineering tools and practices such as Git, GitLab CI/CD, infrastructure as code (AWS CDK or CloudFormation), Jira, Confluence, API specifications, and observability platforms.
• Demonstrated experience collaborating with product, QE, platform, security, senior engineers, and partner engineering teams to move work from technical discovery and implementation through testing, production deployment, monitoring, and operational support in high-volume transactional systems.

Work-Hard, Play-Hard

• Hybrid work schedule and year-round flex day Friday
• Onsite childcare through Bright Horizons
• Onsite dining center and game room (yes, there is a Taco Bell inside the building)
• Onsite dry cleaning, laundry services, carwash
• Onsite gym with fitness classes and personal trainer sessions
• Up to 4 weeks of vacation per year plus holidays and time off for volunteering
• Tuition reimbursement and education benefits
• Generous parental leave for all new parents and adoption assistance program
• 401(k) with a 6% matching contribution from Yum! Brands with immediate vesting
• Comprehensive medical & dental including prescription drug benefits and 100% preventive care
• Discounts, free food, swag and... honestly, too many good benefits to name

Talent Acquisition Salary Range

$117,800 - $140,000 annually + bonus eligibility + equity (if applicable) + benefits The above represents the expected salary range for this job requisition. Ultimately, in determining your pay, we'll consider your location, experience, and other job-related factors. At Taco Bell, we Live Más and invite you to do the same. Take a seat at our table. Bring your voice. Bring you, just as you are, a Cultural Rebel. We want you to be your best self! Taco Bell is proud to be an equal opportunity employer and is committed to equity, inclusion, and belonging for all dimensions of diversity. We do not discriminate based on race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran status, disability status, age, or any other protected characteristic. Taco Bell is committed to working with and providing reasonable accommodation to applicants with disabilities or special needs. US Job Seekers/Employees - Click here to view the 'Know Your Rights' poster and supplement and the Pay Transparency Policy Statement. Employment eligibility to work with Taco Bell in the U.S. is required as the company will not pursue visa sponsorship for this position.

Responsibilities

The Day-to-Day

• Build, test, deploy, and maintain cloud-based APIs, event-driven services, integrations, and data-processing workflows that support customer identity, loyalty, digital ordering, messaging, customer care, and restaurant experiences.
• Contribute to translating product and business requirements into technical designs, API contracts, implementation plans, and well-defined engineering stories, working with senior engineers, architects, and partner teams to identify integration dependencies, edge cases, and operational risks.
• Partner with software engineers, quality engineers, product leaders, platform teams, vendors, and external delivery teams to coordinate implementation, testing, defect resolution, and production validation across connected systems (including E-Commerce, Braze, Akamai, and AWS).
• Participate in code and technical design reviews, provide actionable feedback to peers, and apply and contribute to established engineering standards for reliability, security, maintainability, observability, automated testing, and deployment.
• Investigate and help resolve complex production and non-production issues using application logs, metrics, traces, dashboards, and test results; collaborate with engineering and platform teams on remediation of environment-dependent behavior, rate limits, integration failures, and security findings.
• Contribute to improvements in the engineering lifecycle by addressing technical debt, applying reusable software patterns, expanding automation, documenting system behavior, and supporting secure, dependable releases through CI/CD and infrastructure-as-code practices.