principal engineer, Next-Gen Point of Sale & Retail Systems

Now Brewing – principal engineer! #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 that 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 principal engineer, you will cross functionally support the engineering teams responsible for the mission‑critical platform capabilities that power Starbucks retail experiences across thousands of stores. Your charter spans cloud services, edge computing, distributed systems, observability, and Next‑Generation Point of Sale (NGPOS). You will help shape the vision and delivery of platforms that support millions of daily transactions and enable seamless, reliable in‑store experiences.

This role requires a blend of strong technical leadership, cross‑functional collaboration, and the ability to operate at scale. You will partner closely with Engineering, Product, Security, SRE, Retail Operations, and senior technology leadership to translate business needs into scalable technical solutions.

As a principal engineer, you will...

Summary of Key Responsibilities: Responsibilities and essential job functions include, but are not limited to, the following:

Technical Leadership & Architecture: Setting direction and enabling sound engineering decisions

• Drive the technical vision and architecture for store-edge and cloud platform services services supporting 12k+ retail locations while shaping the roadmap for next-generation POS, ordering and Coffeehouse platform systems.
• Lead architecture decisions across distributed retail systems, balancing reliability, security, performance, cost, and customer experience.
• Drive technology innovation that expands capabilities while reducing complexity and technical debt.
• Establish engineering standards, reusable patterns, and reference architectures across teams.
• Serve as the senior technical advisor for complex cross-system challenges and strategic decisions.

Strategy, Planning & Execution : Connecting business priorities to technology outcomes

• Translate business and product strategy into multi-year technical roadmaps and investment plans.
• Partner with product and program leaders to shape priorities, milestones, and success measures.
• Provide technical leadership through design, development, deployment, and ongoing operation of major initiatives.
• Identify risks, dependencies, and architectural constraints early, and drive mitigation plans.
• Communicate strategy, tradeoffs, progress, and risks effectively to technical and executive stakeholders.

Engineering Excellence, Reliability & Operations: Delivering stable and scalable retail technology

• Champion engineering best practices for quality, automation, observability, performance, and operational excellence.
• Lead resolution of complex production issues and drive long-term systemic improvements.
• Design resilient architectures that support high availability, recovery, and uninterrupted store operations.
• Use operational and customer insights to improve performance, reliability, and supportability.
• Partner with support and sustainment teams to strengthen incident response and 24x7 operational readiness.

Security, Privacy & Compliance: Embedding controls in architecture and delivery

• Integrate security, privacy, risk, and compliance requirements into architecture and delivery processes.
• Promote secure-by-design principles, resilient systems, and responsible data practices.
• Lead technical reviews and drive remediation of identified risks and compliance requirements.

Cross-Functional Influence & Talent Development: Raising capability across the organization

• Build alignment across engineering, product, architecture, security, operations, and external partners.
• Mentor engineers and technical leaders, fostering strong technical decision-making and growth.
• Create a culture of ownership, collaboration, accountability, and continuous learning.
• Evaluate emerging technologies and vendor solutions to guide strategic platform decisions.
• Represent NGPOS engineering across the enterprise and share best practices across teams.

Technology Domains

• Retail Payments & POS: Next‑generation POS systems, retail payment workflows, edge services
• Programming Stack: Golang, TypeScript, React Native
• Data & Messaging: Distributed data sync, Kafka/MQTT/SNS/SQS
• Services: REST/gRPC APIs, GraphQL, config & secrets management, AuthN/AuthZ (OIDC, certificates)
• Observability & Reliability: Datadog, Open Telemetry
• Edge Compute & Retail Systems: Kubernetes/k3s, edge fleet management, Linux/Android POS systems, device & policy management
• Cloud & Infrastructure: AWS (EC2, EKS, VPC, IAM, CloudWatch, S3), Terraform/CloudFormation, CI/CD (GitHub Actions, Jenkins, Argo CD)

We’d love to hear from people with...

Required Qualifications

• 10+ years in software engineering, with progressive professional software engineering experience with scope and responsibility comparable to this role.
• 7+ years of experience leading architecture and delivery for Retail Systems such as point of sale or PED
• 2+ years of experience leading delivery of architectures that span cloud and edge compute
• Bachelor’s degree in computer science, software engineering, information systems, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
• Ability to convert ambiguous business needs into clear technical direction, executable plans, and measurable outcomes.
• Ability to evaluate technology options and make pragmatic tradeoffs based on customer value, risk, cost, scalability, and maintainability.
• Experience developing technology strategies, technical roadmaps, and architectural standards across multiple teams.
• Demonstrated ability to influence across organizational boundaries, facilitate decisions, and build durable alignment.
• Ability to mentor engineers, raise engineering standards, and foster a culture of technical excellence and continuous improvement.
• Strong understanding of reliability engineering, performance, telemetry, release strategies, resiliency patterns, and incident management.
• Strong communication skills across technical and executive stakeholders.

Preferred Qualifications

• Hands‑on experience with Golang, GraphQL, and REST
• Strong experience with distributed data sync and offline‑first architecture.
• Strong background in Kubernetes, cloud‑native architecture, and fleet‑scale device management.

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. Apply today!

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 [email protected] or 1(888) 611-2258.