Associate Director, Software Engineering
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Role details
Tech stack
Job description
Wonder is the mealtime platform built to feed every craving in one order. With Wonder, you can mix and match hundreds of dishes from 20+ exclusive restaurants in a single order, so everyone gets exactly what they’re craving. Enjoy everything from tacos to Thai with $0 delivery fees, plus dine-in or pick up at a Wonder location near you. Each dish is made to order on-site by our culinary team and served hot.
Behind the scenes, Wonder owns and operates every step of the dining experience, from recipe development to the technology that powers our experience, allowing us to deliver quality, variety, and consistency at scale.
Join us as we work to make great food more accessible.
Within Wonder, the Robotics team is a core pillar of our innovation strategy. We build the automation solutions that help make Wonder’s ‘no-compromise’ promise possible at scale. Our mission is to use robotics to enable incredible variety and culinary authenticity. By reimagining the kitchen environment, we improve the daily experience of our team members and ensure every customer receives a perfect meal, every time.
About The Opportunity
The Infinite Kitchen is the heart of Wonder’s automation future. Having successfully deployed to 30 locations, we are now entering a pivotal phase: scaling our footprint, expanding partnerships, and diversifying our menu capabilities.
As the Associate Director, Software Engineering for Infinite Kitchen, you will take the baton from our Director of Engineering to become the primary technical owner of the Infinite Kitchen software ecosystem. You will ensure that our unique stack-spanning industrial automation (PLC), robotic planning (Python), and real-time distributed systems (Elixir/Phoenix)-works in perfect harmony.
This is a high-impact leadership role for a “polyglot” technical leader and is focused on strategic technical management and mentorship rather than formal people management.
You will have technical authority for the Infinite Kitchen software. You will lead standups, mentor software engineers across functional silos, and hold the “tie-breaking vote” on critical architectural decisions.
The Impact You Will Make
- Technical Stewardship: Own the end-to-end software architecture of the Infinite Kitchen. You’ll ensure that changes in the Python robotics layer or PLC firmware integrate seamlessly with our Elixir-based APIs and Vue.js frontends.
- Pragmatic Problem Solving: Lead the design and implementation of new high-priority features, such as multi-tenancy support for B2B clients and complex new menu logic, without over-engineering for the “scale of a million” before we hit the “scale of a hundred.”
- Cross-Functional Leadership: Run daily/thrice-weekly standups. Review technical specs and code across the stack, providing feedback that levels up the entire team.
- Software Quality & Velocity: Champion a culture that balances engineering excellence with business objectives. Enforce high-quality release standards and lead critical operational decisions, such as deployment rollout strategies and production monitoring.
- Operational Excellence: Participate in the on-call rotation, a standard responsibility for all Infinite Kitchen engineering roles.
- Bridge the Gap: Collaborate closely with Product Managers to translate business requirements into technical reality. You’ll be the person who identifies edge cases before they hit the lab floor.
- Hands-on Mentorship: Get into the weeds with engineers to debug complex race conditions or integration hurdles. You aren’t just drawing diagrams; you’re helping the team ship.
Requirements
- 6+ years of professional software experience
- 2+ years in a leadership or staff-level capacity
- Track record of quickly learning new paradigms and languages
- Experience with physical systems, IoT, or industrial automation
- A pragmatist mindset to know when to build robust, scalable solutions and when to ship a “good enough” version to unblock a B2B pilot.
- Experience making design decisions collaboratively with engineers
Benefits & conditions
Pulled from the full job description Paid parental leave Parental leave 401(k) Health insurance Paid time off Vision insurance Dental insurance, This role requires 4 days a week in the office. You’re welcome-and encouraged-to be in the office up to 5 days a week if it works for you.
This role is based in our Boston office in Charlestown, MA
Massachusetts: $208,000 - $240,000
LI-Hybrid
Wonder uses geographic-specific salary structures, which means the salary offered may vary depending on where the job is located. The final salary offer will take into account various factors, such as the candidate’s skills, education, training, credentials, and experience., The benefits applicable to this role include a competitive compensation package with equity and a 401(k). We also offer a choice of medical, dental, and vision plans, company paid short and long term disability coverage, paid time off including flexible time off for exempt employees, paid vacation for non-exempt employees, and paid sick leave in compliance with applicable law in addition to paid parental leave, discounted meals and exclusive perks across the Wonder family of brands.
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