Senior Software Engineer, Analytics & Search

About Toast and the Role

Toast develops innovative technology solutions to empower restaurants and local businesses in the digital era, enhancing operations, sales, customer engagement, and employee satisfaction. Supporting over 180,000 restaurants, Toast's influence is large-scale. We are seeking a Senior Software Engineer to join our OLAP Platform team in Dublin. This team is responsible for the analytical data layer that provides real-time reporting, search capabilities, and AI-driven data access. The platform aggregates business events, indexes them into OpenSearch, and serves consumer teams via a federated GraphQL interface, focusing on multi-tenant architecture with stringent latency and freshness requirements.

Key Responsibilities

The position focuses on scaling the OLAP platform to accommodate expanding domains and consumers, optimizing for performance and cost efficiency, and securely enabling the next generation of AI-focused products. This role involves building core platform infrastructure utilized by internal engineering teams and, indirectly, tens of thousands of restaurant clients.

Required Qualifications

• Advanced backend development expertise in Kotlin, Java, or similar object-oriented languages with strong emphasis on testing and maintaining code quality.
• Proven experience managing and querying large datasets where accuracy, timeliness, and performance are critical.
• Familiarity with document-oriented or columnar data storage systems such as BigTable or DynamoDB.
• Interest and knowledge in search engineering concepts including ranking algorithms, semantic and natural language search methodologies.
• Ability to collaborate effectively across teams and adapt rapidly to new contexts, given OLAP's broad product impact.
• Strong analytical skills to deconstruct problems, understand consumer requirements, and deliver clear, user-friendly solutions for engineering users.
• Integration of AI tools as an integral component of daily workflows.

Desirable Skills

• Experience designing platform-level APIs consumed by multiple internal teams, emphasizing platform-centered architecture over isolated features.
• Hands-on usage of OpenSearch, Elasticsearch, or scalable search query engines.
• Knowledge of event-driven architectures or data pipeline technologies such as Kafka or Pulsar.
• Experience with federated GraphQL frameworks like ElasticGraph or Apollo Federation as well as REST API design principles.
• Ability to read and modify Ruby code bases.

Technical Environment

• Back-end services primarily developed in Java and Kotlin.
• OpenSearch serves as the principal query engine, with ElasticGraph layered on top for federated GraphQL functionality.
• Message-oriented middleware using Pulsar and Camel.
• Front-end applications built with React, Tailwind CSS, GraphQL, and Storybook.

Work Arrangement

This position follows a hybrid work model, requiring in-office presence two days per week in the Dublin office, balancing collaboration and individual flexibility.

Company Culture and Values

At Toast, continuous learning and innovation, especially in utilizing AI technologies, are cultural cornerstones. Employees are encouraged to embrace change and utilize AI tools to increase productivity and quality. The company prioritizes diversity, inclusion, authenticity, respect, and humility, offering a supportive environment for personal and professional growth.

Compensation and Benefits

Toast provides competitive salary and comprehensive benefits designed to attract, retain, and motivate outstanding talent. The total rewards package supports a healthy work-life balance and evolving employee needs.

Hiring Process and Accessibility

AI-powered tools assist recruiters and interviewers with administrative tasks during hiring, while all final decisions are human-led. Interviewees should complete assessments independently without real-time AI assistance unless informed otherwise. The company commits to accessible hiring and reasonable accommodations for candidates with disabilities. Specific regional legal notices apply.