Staff Software Engineer - Data Platform

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. We are hiring a Staff Software Engineer to join our data platform (AAP) team in Dublin. The AAP team owns the foundational data infrastructure that powers Toast's analytics products and AI/ML capabilities: real-time streaming pipelines, a cloud-native data lakehouse, feature serving for ML-driven product experiences, and the infrastructure that enables product teams across Toast to build intelligent, data-driven experiences for our 170,000+ restaurant customers. We are in the middle of a significant platform evolution: migrating to Apache Iceberg, standing up a new Feature Store, conducting Databricks evaluations, and scaling our streaming infrastructure to meet the demands of a rapidly growing business. As a Staff Software Engineer, you'll be the technical lead for major parts of this evolution. You'll design and lead the delivery of platform capabilities that several teams depend on, doing deep hands-on work and making design calls that account for streaming, storage, serving, and the teams consuming them. You'll be the go-to expert in your area of the platform, working with product and engineering partners inside and outside our line of business. You'll make the engineers around you better through mentorship, design reviews, and the example you set. Success looks like other engineering teams moving faster because of the platform you help build. A day in the life (Responsibilities) • Lead the delivery of significant data platform capabilities, from early design through production rollout, across the AAP team and the teams that depend on it • Work hands-on with Kotlin/Java, Spark, Iceberg, and our streaming infrastructure, diagnosing performance, reasoning through trade-offs, and writing the code that sets the pattern for others • Anticipate how requirements will change and design systems that can absorb that change, exploring the problem fully before settling on a solution • Evolve the platform's API surfaces so that engineers across Toast can self-service - adoption and ease-of-use are part of the job • Lead efforts that measurably improve platform quality, reliability, and observability for the teams and customers who depend on it • Mentor other engineers and raise the bar on engineering practices across the organisation • Use AI tooling as a genuine force multiplier in your day-to-day work and help the team do the same What you'll need to thrive (Requirements) • 5+ years in software engineering with a strong focus on data platforms or distributed systems, including technical leadership of projects involving more than one team • Proficiency in Java, Kotlin or other object-oriented language • Strong hands-on expertise in Apache Spark and Apache Iceberg (or similar) • Experience with streaming infrastructure (Apache Kafka, Apache Pulsar, or similar) and cloud-native data platforms on AWS • Experience building internal platforms and developer-facing abstractions - you think about your platform's users as carefully as product engineers think about end users • Databricks experience is a bonus but we care more that you understand what's running underneath it **This is a hybrid role requiring in-office collaboration two days per week in our Dublin office.** Our tech stack Our data platform runs on AWS and spans Apache Iceberg for table format and lakehouse architecture, Apache Kafka and Pulsar for real-time streaming, Apache Spark for data processing, and DynamoDB and Postgres for operational data stores. We are migrating from legacy ETL patterns toward a modern, cloud-native data lakehouse and building out Feature Store capabilities to power ML-driven product experiences. Our backend services are primarily Kotlin and Java. AI at Toast At Toast, one of our company values is that we're hungry to build and learn. We believe learning new AI tools empowers us to build for our customers faster, more independently, and with higher quality. We provide these tools across all disciplines, from Engineering and Product to Sales and Support, and are inspired by how our Toasters are already driving real value with them. The people who thrive here are those who embrace changes that let us build more for our customers; it’s a core part of our culture. Our Total Rewards Philosophy We strive to provide competitive compensation and benefits programs that help to attract, retain, and motivate the best and brightest people in our industry. Our total rewards package goes beyond great earnings potential and provides the means to a healthy lifestyle with the flexibility to meet Toasters’ changing needs. Learn more about our benefits at https://careers.toasttab.com/toast-benefits. 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 industr