Principal Software Engineer

Company Description Toast is the operating system that powers busy restaurants and retailers, providing tools designed to perform reliably under pressure. Its POS platform unifies hardware, software, AI, and financial technology to help operators start, grow, and manage their businesses effectively. With thousands of features built for critical service moments, Toast focuses on practical innovation that directly supports frontline teams. Toasters collaborate closely with customers, iterating on solutions that reflect real-world needs. Applicants can learn more about the culture and opportunities at Toast by visiting the company’s careers site. Role Description As a Principal Software Engineer at Toast, you will lead the design and development of high-impact, customer-facing systems within our POS and payments platform. You will partner with product, design, and other engineering teams to define technical direction, break down complex problems, and deliver scalable, resilient solutions. Day-to-day responsibilities include writing and reviewing code, mentoring and coaching engineers, driving architectural decisions, and improving engineering practices and standards. You will also collaborate with cross-functional stakeholders to ensure system reliability, performance, and security, and help guide long-term technical strategy for key product areas. This is a full-time, on-site role based in Dublin. Qualifications Strong expertise in designing and building distributed, scalable systems, including service-oriented or microservices architectures.Hands-on proficiency with modern programming languages and frameworks commonly used in backend, web, or cloud-based development.Experience with cloud infrastructure, observability, performance tuning, and reliability engineering for high-traffic production environments.Demonstrated ability to lead complex technical initiatives, set engineering standards, and influence architecture across multiple teams.Proven track record of mentoring engineers, fostering inclusive collaboration, and promoting high-quality engineering practices.Comfort working closely with product, design, and operations stakeholders to translate business needs into robust technical solutions.Background in payments, POS systems, or fintech is beneficial, along with experience in security and compliance for financial applications.Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related technical field, or equivalent practical experience.