Senior/Staff Software Engineer

Toast creates technology to help restaurants and local businesses succeed in a digital world, helping business owners operate, increase sales, engage customers, and keep employees happy. Engineers at Toast build the mission-critical foundation that powers thousands of restaurants and local businesses every single day. From real-time order processing and resilient payment infrastructure to automated intelligent workflows, our technology solves high-stakes, real-world problems at scale. We value high technical standards, hands-on execution, collaborative problem-solving, and building systems that directly impact our customers’ success. International: Scaling Toast’s core platform globally. You’ll tackle localization, multi-currency architectures, international payment integrations, and regional compliance as we expand into new markets around the world. Retail: Building the next generation of omnichannel commerce tools for retail merchants. You’ll architect solutions that unify inventory, point-of-sale systems, and real-time transaction processing for businesses with physical and digital storefronts. Enterprise: Architecting high-throughput, mission-critical systems designed for multi-location, enterprise-scale brands. You’ll focus on system reliability, massive data scale, custom menu and pricing engine configurations, and complex multi-entity management. [We are hiring across multiple teams and levels. Your specific team, title, & level will be evaluated and determined during the interview process based on scope, technical depth, and experience.] A Day in the Life (Responsibilities) End-to-End Product Execution: Design, build, and ship complete features across the stack—from resilient backend services and APIs to intuitive, responsive web interfaces. Architect & Build: Create highly reliable, scalable systems using Java, Kotlin, and modern frontend frameworks (React, TypeScript) critical to Toast’s core platform. 0-to-1 & Scaled Execution: Drive net-new product development and tackle complex scaling challenges to keep our platforms fast, decoupled, and seamless for users. Technical Leadership & Quality: Turn ambiguous business goals into high-quality, production-ready code. Advocate for engineering best practices, robust testing, and deep system observability across the entire tech stack. Engineering Excellence: Elevate code quality across teams and mentor engineers to help raise the overall technical bar. What You’ll Need to Thrive (Requirements) 5+ years of software engineering experience building production-grade web applications and distributed systems. Strong proficiency with Java, Kotlin, or other object-oriented languages. Hands-on experience with modern frontend frameworks (React, TypeScript) and a strong understanding of web architecture and UI state management. Experience with modern API design (REST, GraphQL) and relational databases or alternative data stores (e.g., PostgreSQL, DynamoDB). Proven ability to solve complex, ambiguous problems and collaborate across product, design, and engineering teams. Ability to work core EST hours if not located near a Toast office. What will help you stand out (Nonessential Skills/Nice to Haves) A passion for removing “human-in-the-loop” friction through intelligent automation. The base salary range for this role is listed below. The starting salary will be determined based on skills, experience, and geographic location. In addition to base salary, our total rewards components include cash compensation (overtime, bonus/commissions if eligible), equity, and benefits. You can learn more about how we align pay with local labor markets in our Geographic Pay Zone Philosophy. Zone A $159,000—$254,000 USD Zone B $138,000—$221,000 USD Zone C $125,000—$200,000 USD How Toast Uses AI in its Hiring Process Throughout the hiring process, our goal is to get to know you. We use AI tools to support our recruiters and interviewers with tasks like note-taking, summarization, and documentation of interviews to ensure they can be fully focused on your conversation. All hiring decisions are made by people. We ask that you complete interviews and assessments on your own, without real-time AI tools, recording, or transcription bots, unless we tell you otherwise in advance. To learn more: https://careers.toasttab.com/ai-in-hiring Our Approach to Hybrid Working We embrace a hybrid work model that fosters in-person collaboration while valuing individual needs. Our goal is to build a strong culture of connection as we work together to empower the hospitality community, regardless of location. Please visit the Locations page on our career site to learn more about our in-office expectations by region: https://careers.toasttab.com/locations-toast People Are the Secret Ingredient in Our Recipe for Success At Toast, our employees are our secret ingredient—when they thrive, we thrive. The restaurant industry brings together people with a wide range of backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives, and we value that same breadth at Toast. We strive to build a culture grounded in authenticity, respect, and humility, where every Toaster has a real opportunity to grow, contribute, and do their best work—raising the bar in delivering exceptional experiences for our customers and each other. Apply today! Toast is committed to creating an accessible and inclusive hiring process. As part of this commitment, we strive to provide reasonable accommodations for persons with disabilities to enable them to access the hiring process. If you need an accommodation to access the job application or interview process, please contact [email protected]. ---— For roles in the United States, it is unlawful in Massachusetts to require or administer a lie detector test as a condition of employment or continued employment. An employer who violates this law shall be subject to criminal penalties and civil liability.