The posting
Are you bready* for a change?
Toast powers restaurants of every size, from neighborhood favorites to the largest multi-unit brands in the industry. We're investing in Vision AI to help operators see more of what's happening in their restaurants and act on it, so they can run more efficiently, provide better service, and become even more profitable.
We're looking for a Senior Software Engineer, Vision AI to build the platform and the products that bring it to restaurant operators. You'll own major parts of the system end to end, from the services that process video to the customer-facing features operators use every day, and you'll have real influence on how Vision AI is built.
About this roll* (Responsibilities)
- Build full-stack, customer-facing features. Design and build the experiences that bring vision-powered insights to restaurant operators across Toast's products and surfaces, from backend APIs to the user interface.
- Own major platform components. Build and own key parts of the platform, such as the video pipeline and the services that process and analyze footage, so they're secure, reliable, and easy to build on.
- Integrate vision models into products. Work with our ML engineers to bring vision and AI models into production features, and help build the supporting pieces, such as evaluation and monitoring.
- Contribute to architecture and design. Help shape technical decisions with the team, building what's right for today while keeping a clear path to where we're headed.
- Collaborate across teams. Partner with product, design, and teams across Toast on integrations and dependencies when the work calls for it.
- Work AI-forward. Use AI coding tools and agent harnesses as a core part of how you design, build, test, and ship, and share workflows that make the team faster.
- Raise the bar. Set a high standard for quality, testing, reliability, security, and privacy in the areas you own, and help other engineers grow through code reviews and collaboration.
What you'll need to thrive (Requirements)
- Solid engineering experience. 5+ years building and shipping software in production, including customer-facing products.
- Full-stack skills. Strong backend experience with cloud infrastructure (AWS preferred), event-driven systems (e.g. Pulsar or Kafka), storage, and APIs, in Kotlin, Java, or similar languages, plus experience building web front ends.
- Comfort with AI and models. Experience integrating AI or ML models, or LLM and vision-language model APIs, into production features, and curiosity to go deeper alongside ML engineers.
- Pragmatic engineering. You build the simplest solution that solves the problem well, without over-engineering, and know when to invest in more.
- Zero-to-one experience. Experience taking ambiguous ideas from prototype to production with real customers.
- AI-forward ways of working. Daily use of AI coding assistants and agent harnesses (e.g. Claude Code, Cursor).
- Collaboration and communication. Ability to work closely with product, design, and engineering partners and explain tradeoffs clearly.
This role may not be a fit for you if…
- You only want to work on one layer of the stack. This role spans backend services, data pipelines, and user-facing features, and you'll move between them as the work requires.
- You're more attached to the solution than the problem. We want someone obsessed with solving real problems for restaurant operators, who picks the simplest approach that solves them.
- You tend to build for scale before it's needed. We need someone who builds the right solution for where we are today and what customers are telling us, while keeping long-term direction in mind.
- You prefer established processes and tooling. This team moves fast and shapes its own ways of working. You'll help create the workflows, tools, and standards rather than inherit them.
- You're uncomfortable with ambiguity. The problems we take on and the best ways to solve them will keep evolving, and priorities will shift as we learn from customers.
- You'd rather be perfect than experiment. We move fast, test ideas with real restaurants, and accept that some of what we build will be thrown away once we learn what works.
- AI-assisted development isn't part of how you work. We expect AI tools to be central to how we design, build, and ship.
Special Sauce* (Nice to Haves)
- Experience building web front ends with React and TypeScript.
- Experience building computer vision, video analytics, or camera-based products.
- Experience working with video (streams, codecs, tools like ffmpeg) or real-time video pipelines.
- Experience with ML systems, such as inference pipelines, evaluation, or model monitoring.
- Experience with connected device fleets: device provisioning and authentication, remote updates, and constrained networks.
- Experience building data-rich product experiences, such as dashboards, analytics, or alerts.
- Experience building privacy-sensitive systems that handle video or personal data.
- Background in restaurant, retail, hospitality, drive-thru, or other operationally complex environments.
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.
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.
Zone A
$159,000—$254,000 USD
Zone B
$138,000—$221,000 USD
Zone C
$125,000—$200,000 USD
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 industry brings together people with a wide range of backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives, and we value that same breadth at Toast. We strive to build a culture grounded in authenticity, respect, and humility, where every Toaster has a real opportunity to grow, contribute, and do their best work—raising the bar in delivering exceptional experiences for our customers and each other.
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.
