software engineer sr - ST; Seattle, WA

Starbucks

📍Seattle, WA
Posted May 23, 2026

Job Overview

Position

software engineer sr - ST; Seattle, WA

Company

Starbucks

Location

Seattle, WA

Work Type

On-site

Job ID

li-4417572668

Job Description

Now Brewing – Engineer (Senior+)! #tobeapartner

From the beginning, Starbucks set out to be a different kind of company. One that not only celebrated coffee and rich tradition, but also created a sense of connection. We are known for developing extraordinary leaders who share this passion and are guided by their service to others.

As a senior or lead Engineer, you’ll play a critical role in delivering high-quality, reliable, and secure technology that enables teams across Starbucks to build, release, and operate software with confidence. This advanced role focuses on owning complex engineering capabilities end-to-end—partnering across business and technology teams to improve reliability, scalability, and operational excellence.

As an Engineer, you will…

  • Design and operate reliable systems at scale by implementing high-availability solutions, service monitoring, deep telemetry, and automation to ensure performance, resiliency, and continuous availability.

  • Enable strong engineering delivery by supporting development teams, resolving complex technical and developer issues, and engineering robust build and release processes.

  • Ensure security and compliance by design through stable, secure application and infrastructure solutions, maintaining hardened configurations and baselines, and upholding company policies and regulatory requirements.

  • Influence technical direction and standards by researching and recommending tools, platforms, and best practices, and partnering across teams and vendors to improve outcomes.

We’d Love To Hear From People With

  • 4–10 years of professional experience in software development or systems engineering

  • Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or a related field

  • Preferred programming languages: one or more of Python, Java, Go, C/C++, Ruby, or Perl (especially for automation, tooling, and systems work)

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 and 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.

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, 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*
applicantaccommodation
*or 1(888) 611-2258.*

Interview Prep

AI-powered insights to help you prepare

Key Skills

Required:
Preferred:

Practice Questions

💡Technical Questions (3)
  • 1.How do you approach designing a system for high availability and implementing the necessary telemetry to ensure continuous performance and resiliency?
  • 2.Can you explain your process for engineering robust build and release pipelines while ensuring security and compliance are maintained by design?
  • 3.Given the preference for Python, Java, or Go, how have you used one or more of these languages to build automation or tooling that resolved a complex developer issue?
🎯Behavioral Questions (3)
  • 1.Tell me about a time you had to influence the technical direction or standards of a team by researching and recommending a new tool or best practice.
  • 2.Describe a situation where you partnered across business and technology teams to improve operational excellence for a complex engineering capability.
  • 3.Give me an example of a time you resolved a highly complex technical or developer issue that was impacting software delivery.
🧩Situational Questions (2)
  • 1.You notice that a newly released service is experiencing intermittent latency spikes, but the existing monitoring dashboards show everything as green. How do you handle this?
  • 2.A development team wants to push a critical feature to production, but your automated compliance check flags a hardcoded secret and a non-hardened base image in their deployment artifact. The team argues it's safe for this one release due to tight deadlines. What do you do?

Resume Keywords

Make sure these keywords appear on your resume

High-AvailabilityTelemetryAutomationBuild and ReleaseCompliance by DesignInfrastructure HardeningOperational ExcellenceService MonitoringPythonJavaGoScalability

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