Senior Backend Software Engineer

Los Angeles, CASenior$167,000 - $230,0003+ years

Who we are

In the past, to be a successful restaurateur, you simply had to have a passion for food and a passion for people - but to succeed as a digital restaurateur you also need to have a passion for technology. We believe in the joy of serving others, and that's why we created Otter – to help restaurateurs succeed in online food delivery. Restaurants around the world, both large and small, including Chick-fil-A, Ben & Jerry’s, KFC, and Eataly trust our software to power their delivery business. We increase sales, reduce order issues, and decrease delivery headaches.

What you’ll do

At Otter Grow, we are a fast-paced, product-focused engineering team building the future of Direct-to-Consumer (D2C) dining. Otter Grow provides the end-to-end platform for direct ordering, merchant storefront configurations, and hyper-targeted customer engagement.

As a backend generalist on this team, you will design and scale the services that power our customizable front-end web experiences, facility direct ordering, and advanced merchant tools, ensuring a seamless experience for customers.

Core Responsibilities

Architecture, build, and maintain highly scalable backend services in Java to power our direct ordering ecosystem and storefront configuration tools.
Design and optimize robust, flexible APIs
Work closely with front-end engineers, product managers, and designers to translate merchant and consumer needs into reliable backend logic.

What we are looking for

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or equivalent experience is required.
3+ years of professional software engineering experience.
Deep understanding of backend system design, APIs, data stores, microservices, concurrency, and distributed systems
Our stack heavily utilizes Java and Go, but we care more about your engineering fundamentals than the specific languages you've used.
Experience with relational and/or NoSQL databases (e.g., PostgreSQL, MongoDB, Redis)
Experience with cloud platforms like AWS, Google Cloud, or Azure

Preferred Qualifications

Working on D2C, e-commerce, or transactional product engineering teams.
Experience building microservices that handle complex merchant configurations, ordering states, or payment flows.
A full-stack background or comfort working closely with front-end technologies. While this is a backend-heavy generalist role, an understanding of how backend systems impact front-end web customization and performance is highly valued.
Passion for product impact and building systems that directly support customers and operators

Why join us

Demand for online food delivery is growing really fast! In the last 5 years, just in the US, the overall market has expanded 10X from $10B to $100B, and could expand to $500bn- $1T by 2030.
Changing the restaurant industry: You’ll be part of a team that helps restaurants succeed in online food delivery.
Collaborative environment: You will receive support and guidance from experienced colleagues and managers, helping you to learn, grow and achieve your goals, and you’ll work closely with other teams to ensure our customer’s success.

What else you need to know

This role is based in our Los Angeles office location. As a company driven by innovation and continuous change, close collaboration is essential. We’re constantly reimagining our industry, creating new products, and refining our processes, and we do our best work together. That’s why all of our office-based teams work onsite, five days a week.

The base salary range for this role is $167,000 - $230,000 per year.

Actual compensation will be determined on an individual basis and may vary depending on experience, skills, and qualifications.

Base salary is just one part of your total rewards package. You may also be eligible for equity awards and an annual performance-based bonus.

Benefits Summary (USA Full-Time Exempt Employees):