Job Description
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.
As a Staff Software Engineer on Traffic Engineering at Toast you will design build and operate the traffic infrastructure that carries every request across Toast — from the public edge through cloud networking down to service-to-service routing. The team owns the systems that move traffic at Toast: edge and CDN DNS cloud networking and the service mesh and control plane that route requests between services.
Toast has invested in a strong foundation of networking and platform infrastructure. This role is an opportunity to build on that foundation by evolving how services connect route and secure traffic at scale — making the platform faster safer and easier for service owners to depend on.
AI-assisted development is deeply embedded in engineering at Toast. The majority of engineers use AI tools daily and AI agents participate in code review build triage and operational workflows. This is your chance to shape how the team's traffic platform evolves building systems that empower both humans and agents to operate with speed and confidence.
A day in the life (Responsibilities)
- Design build deploy and operate the traffic infrastructure that carries every request across Toast — from the public edge through cloud networking down to service-to-service traffic
- Lead complex multi-team projects that improve how Toast services discover route to secure and observe one another
- Own the reliability of critical traffic infrastructure end-to-end from design through on-call response post-incident learning and long-term hardening
- Design solutions that anticipate future scale and product needs (multi-region new protocols evolving service-mesh patterns) while making explicit tradeoffs
- Partner with the team on cloud networking edge routing (Cloudflare) DNS and IaC-driven automation
- Act as a force multiplier: mentor engineers improve developer ergonomics for service owners and make the platform easier and safer to operate
- Lead through influence across multiple teams and reporting lines setting technical direction and driving adoption of platform standards without direct authority
- Leverage cutting-edge AI tools to enhance your development workflow improve velocity and help pioneer new approaches to building — contributing to a culture of innovation and productivity across the team
What you'll need to thrive (Requirements)
- Experience shipping and operating mission-critical production services
- Led complex projects that span multiple teams and have presented technical plans to both engineering and non-engineering audiences
- Have a growth mindset with an emphasis on improving yourself the engineers around you and your functional area
- Deep hands-on experience in Kotlin or another JVM language (Java Scala)
- Built or operated a service mesh in production — Envoy Istio Linkerd Consul Connect or similar
- Managed cloud infrastructure with Infrastructure as Code (Terraform or similar)
- Hands-on experience with DNS and edge routing through a CDN such as Cloudflare Cloudfront Akamai or Fastly
- Working knowledge of TLS — termination mTLS and certificate lifecycle management at scale
- Comfortable working across the networking stack and are comfortable digging into different network layers
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.
#LI-Remote
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.
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. To learn more: https://careers.toasttab.com/ai-in-hiring
Diversity Equity and Inclusion is Baked into our Recipe for Success
At Toast our employees are our secret ingredient—when they thrive we thrive. The restaurant industry is one of the most diverse and we embrace that diversity with authenticity inclusivity respect and humility. By embedding these principles into our culture and design we create equitable opportunities for all and raise the bar in delivering exceptional experiences.
We Thrive Together
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 restaurant community. To learn more about how we work globally and regionally check out: https://careers.toasttab.com/locations-toast.
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].
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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.
Skills Required
- Experience shipping and operating mission-critical production services
- Led complex projects that span multiple teams
- Deep hands-on experience in Kotlin or another JVM language
- Built or operated a service mesh in production
- Managed cloud infrastructure with Infrastructure as Code
- Hands-on experience with DNS and edge routing through a CDN
- Working knowledge of TLS
- Comfortable working across the networking stack
What the Team is Saying
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Toast Compensation & Benefits Highlights
- Parental & Family Support—Paid parental/family/medical leave is extensive featuring 16 weeks for all parents with additional time for birthing parents alongside fertility guidance/stipends and subsidized backup child/adult care.
- Leave & Time Off Breadth—Flexible PTO paid company holidays and a paid sabbatical available after five years expand rest options and long‑term renewal.
- Wellbeing & Lifestyle Benefits—No‑cost therapy and coaching a wellness stipend financial education work‑enablement and professional development stipends donation matching and preferred pet‑insurance pricing support holistic wellbeing.
Toast Insights
What We Do
Toast is the all-in-one platform built for restaurants of all sizes. Toast provides a single platform of software as a service (SaaS) products and financial technology solutions that give restaurants everything they need to run their business including point of sale payments supplier management digital ordering and delivery marketing and loyalty and team management. By serving as the restaurant operating system across dine-in takeout and delivery channels Toast helps restaurants increase revenue streamline operations and deliver amazing guest experiences.
Why Work With Us
Our recipe for an awesome workplace: One splash of friendship A dollop of impact A sprinkle of no hierarchy & A heavy spoonful of individuality Mix these ingredients in a fast-paced and hardworking environment. Best paired with a side of interesting people who always bring their whole selves to work. *100% Sunday scary free
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Hybrid Workspace
Employees engage in a combination of remote and on-site work.
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Date Posted
05/22/2026
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