senior lead, DevEx GenAI Enablement; Seattle WA

At Starbucks, our mission is to inspire and nurture the human spirit – one person, one cup, and one neighborhood at a time. Starbucks Technologists work to achieve this mission through the use of cutting-edge technology delivered to our partners, customers, stores, roasters, and global communities. The Senior Software Engineer - AI Automation & Developer Productivity is a hands-on technical role within our Developer Productivity and Automation organization. This role focuses on designing, building, and operating shared cloud-native platforms and AI-powered automation that enable engineering teams to build, test, and release software more effectively at scale. This engineer brings a platform mindset, thrives in ambiguous problem spaces, enjoys getting hands-on with code, and partners closely with product, platform, DevOps, and SRE teams to deliver production-ready capabilities used by many teams across the organization. Responsibilities and essential job functions include but are not limited to the following: * Designs, builds, and operates AI-powered automation and agent-based systems across multiple phases of the software development lifecycle (SDLC). * Designs and builds shared cloud-native platforms, services, and frameworks that enable other engineering teams to build, deploy, and operate AI agents and automation safely and efficiently. * Provides paved-road infrastructure, APIs, templates, and reference implementations that accelerate adoption of agentic and GenAI capabilities across multiple teams. * Implements agentic workflows to analyze requirements, generate test scenarios, identify risks, and surface quality gaps early in the development cycle. Develops AI-driven solutions for automated testing, performance testing, quality validation, and A/B experimentation. * Integrates AI-driven quality checks, code analysis, and validation into CI/CD pipelines in partnership with DevOps and SRE teams. * Builds and maintains scalable automation frameworks for data processing, model execution, validation, and deployment. * Writes clean, efficient, and well-structured software in an iterative, continuous delivery environment. * Participates actively in design reviews, code reviews, and incident retrospectives to uphold engineering excellence. * Evaluates emerging AI, GenAI, and automation tools through prototypes and proofs of concept, recommending scalable adoption strategies. * Contributes to and promotes strong software engineering practices including testing, observability, documentation, and operational readiness. * Communicates complex technical concepts clearly to both technical and non-technical stakeholders. Basic Qualifications * 8-10 years of professional industry experience with software development * 2 years of leading teams of four or more software developers * Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or related field engineer lead * 7+ years of experience in system administration, network administration, and systems engineering * 7+ years of experience in one or more of the following languages: C, C++, Java, Python, Go, Perl and/or Ruby. * 5+ years Experience with large-scale distributed systems and client-server architectures * Demonstrated ability to debug and optimize code, and automate routine tasks. * Interest in designing, analyzing and troubleshooting large-scale distributed systems. * Proven ability to translate insights into business recommendations * Deep Knowledge in application development and supporting a development environment * Experience with Cloud Computing platforms (e.g. Amazon AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google App Engine) * Demonstrated experience implementing and managing high capacity, redundant, and mission critical environments Preferred Qualifications * Experience applying Generative AI or AI/ML techniques to software development, quality engineering, or automation workflows. * Experience building agentic or GenAI-powered systems using frameworks and platforms such as LangChain, AWS Bedrock, or similar orchestration and model hosting technologies. * Familiarity with agentic AI concepts including LLM orchestration, autonomous agents, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), prompt engineering, and vector databases. * Experience designing enablement platforms, SDKs, or reusable services that allow other teams to build and extend AI-driven or automation workflows independently. * Experience defining guardrails, abstractions, and operational standards that enable teams to safely adopt AI and agent-based systems at scale. * Experience working with open-source LLMs and AI frameworks. * Hands-on experience with data platforms and streaming technologies such as Kafka, Spark, Hadoop, or Databricks. * Knowledge of MLOps practices including model deployment, monitoring, governance, and lifecycle management. * Experience building internal developer platforms, tooling, or productivity solutions. * Ability to mentor other engineers through technical leadership and example, without direct people management responsibility. 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/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, and compensation decisions are dependent upon the facts and circumstances of each position and candidate. If you live in the greater Seattle area, we offer a flexible workplace that allows for hybrid work. Partners can work remotely up to two days per 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, or 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 us at applicantaccommodation@starbucks.com or 1(888) 611-2258.