Lead Software Engineer - Backend

Description

Whisker is the maker of Litter-Robot, Feeder-Robot, and Litterbox.com. At Whisker, we believe pet parenthood can always get better.

As leading innovators in pet tech and refined pet accessories, we work tirelessly to solve problems and deliver smarter insights for pet parents while enriching the lives of pets. Whether it’s a self-cleaning litter box that automates scooping, an automatic feeder that helps pets develop healthier eating habits, or a modern cat tree that delights both humans and felines, we strive to deliver better solutions for consumers while transforming pet care along the way. To us, having a pet is the best thing ever. At Whisker, life together just keeps getting better.

Whisker is based in Auburn Hills, Michigan and Juneau, Wisconsin with 700+ passionate team members.

What You’ll Do:

As a technical team lead you will develop and maintain robust services backend APIs and global cloud infrastructure that power Whisker’s digital ecosystem. This role ensures high availability, scalability, and reliability while enabling seamless integrations and enhancing customer experiences across all products worldwide.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

This list of duties and responsibilities is not all-inclusive and may be expanded to include other duties and responsibilities as deemed necessary.

• Designs and implements high-quality, scalable, and maintainable backend API services
• Writes clean, efficient, and well-documented code following company standards
• Develops and executes unit tests, integration tests, and supports system-level testing efforts
• Reviews code written by other team members and provides constructive feedback to ensure quality and consistency
• Troubleshoots and resolves technical issues throughout the development lifecycle
• Leads and mentors a software development team, providing guidance on architecture, design, coding standards, and best practices
• Orchestrates seamless integration between API, infrastructure, and services teams, ensuring cohesive efforts result in exceptional performance and reliability across all products
• Defines and tracks KPIs for API performance, uptime, and reliability across global regions
• Establishes and enforces best practices for securing APIs, infrastructure, and data across international markets while maintaining compliance with GDPR and other global regulations
• Drives the adoption of modern technologies, frameworks, and practices to keep Whisker at the forefront of API, infrastructure, and global service development
• Collaborates with Product, Program, Engineering, and Operations teams to ensure seamless integration of backend services with internal components and customer facing applications
• Balances short-term deliverables with the long-term strategic vision
• Manages technical dependencies between Services Engineering and other teams such as Mobile, Data, and Firmware
• Identifies risks and proposes mitigations to ensure timely delivery
• Leads crisis management efforts to quickly resolve critical service and infrastructure issues, minimizing downtime and customer impact on a global scale
• Regularly reports progress, challenges, and achievements to stakeholders
• Represents the API and Infrastructure teams in executive meetings
• Achieves best practices through proactive communication, cross-functional workflows, and implementation of integrated development processes
• Creates and maintains software specifications, technical architecture documents, and implementation plans
• Contributes to defining the development roadmap and ensuring alignment with business goals
• Will perform additional duties are required 

Requirements

What You’ll Bring:

• Bachelor’s and/or Master’s in Computer Science or a related field and / or equivalent years of experience 
• 6+ years of experience, including in engineering lead roles
• Strong expertise in services backend API development, including RESTful and GraphQL design, performance tuning, and security best practices
• Proven experience with cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, Azure) and services like EC2, S3, RDS, and IoT-specific components, with a strong focus on multi-region deployments for performance and reliability
• Expertise in IaC (Terraform, CloudFormation, CDK) and microservices architecture & deployment (Kubernetes)
• Experience with CDN technologies and strategies for optimizing global content delivery
• Strong understanding of network protocols, database design, and system optimization techniques for global-scale applications
• Experience with CI/CD pipelines and DevOps practices to enable efficient software delivery
• Has a proven track record of delivering complex, globally distributed projects at scale and on time, ensuring high-quality outcomes through rigorous architecture, execution, testing, and automation
• Excellent communication (verbal & written) and presentation skills
• Strong interpersonal and leadership skills.
• Ability to maintain a professional atmosphere in a fast-paced environment with numerous interactions and interruptions
• A high degree of initiative, self-motivation, and ability to motivate others
• Ability to establish and maintain cooperative working relationships with Team Members and colleagues
• Comfortable with office pets (cats, dogs) 

Benefits & Purrks:

Join a tenacious, inventive company that empowers team members to chart their own path, lead by grounding decisions in the “why”, and has a strong sense of empathy and openness to new perspectives. Be a part of exciting growth, work with incredible people, and create tomorrow’s pet products—plus a whole lot of extras. You will also be provided with:

• Premium Medical/Dental/Vision insurance
• Paid parental leave
• Whisker Parents Program
• 1 day "pawternity" leave for new pet adoption
• Pet Insurance Discount
• 401K match
• Flexible spending accounts
• Company-paid short-term disability and life insurance
• Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
• Generous paid time off
• 14 Paid Holidays
• Top of the line equipment
• Pet-friendly office
• Whisker products and swag
• Continuing education Support
• On-site gym with Peloton
• Referral program

Statement of Inclusivity:

We believe different perspectives make Whisker better and strive to create a place where everyone has equal opportunities to thrive.

Please ensure to regularly check your email spam folder for any communication from Whisker to avoid missing important updates regarding your application status.

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