principal engineer, Cloud Foundation Services
- Location
- Seattle
- Workplace
- Hybrid
- Compensation
- $177k – $296k
About this role
Now Brewing – principal engineer, Cloud Foundation Services! #tobeapartner
From the beginning, Starbucks set out to be a different kind of company. One that not only celebrated coffee and the rich tradition, but that also brought a feeling of connection. We are known for developing extraordinary leaders who share this passion and are guided by their service to others.
At Starbucks, our mission is with every cup, with every conversation, with every community - we nurture the limitless possibilities of human connection. Starbucks Technologists work to achieve this mission using cutting-edge technology delivered to our partners, customers, stores, roasters, and global communities.
Cloud Foundation Services (CFS) is the engineering organization responsible for designing, building, and operating the foundational cloud capabilities that enable Starbucks teams to develop, and scale modern applications. CFS is part of a Unified Cloud Organization (UCO) that provides enterprise cloud platforms, developer tooling, automation frameworks, and governance capabilities, supporting workloads across AWS, Azure, and future cloud technologies.
As a Principal Engineer, you will play a critical role in defining and executing the long-term technical vision for CFS. You will influence cloud strategy across UCO, drive platform innovation, establish engineering standards, and partner with senior leaders to build the next generation of cloud capabilities that support Starbucks' digital transformation.
This role requires deep technical expertise, strong architectural leadership, exceptional communication skills, and the ability to influence outcomes across multiple engineering teams.
As a principal engineer, you will...
Cloud Platform Strategy & Architecture
- Define and evolve the technical strategy for enterprise cloud platforms and foundational services.
- Drive adoption of modern platform engineering practices that improve developer productivity and cloud platform reliability.
- Establish architectural standards and technical guardrails for cloud-native application development.
Platform Engineering & Developer Experience - Champion self-service platform capabilities that enable engineering teams to build and deploy applications with greater speed and consistency.
- Drive improvements in developer experience through automation, reusable platform services, and streamlined engineering workflows.
- Guide platform investments that reduce cognitive load for application teams while improving security and governance.
Cloud Governance, Security & Reliability
- Partner with Security, Architecture, and Engineering teams to implement secure-by-default cloud solutions.
- Define enterprise standards for cloud governance, compliance, operational resilience, and risk management.
- Lead initiatives that improve reliability, disaster recovery readiness, observability, and service health across cloud platforms.
Technical Leadership & Influence
- Influence technical roadmaps across multiple organizations and programs.
- Mentor senior engineers and help establish a culture of engineering excellence.
- Lead complex cross-functional initiatives that span multiple cloud platforms and business domains.
Innovation & Future-State Platform Evolution
- Evaluate emerging technologies and industry trends, including AI-enabled platform operations, automation, cloud-native architectures, and developer productivity tooling.
- Drive strategic investments that position Starbucks for future growth and technology modernization.
- Help shape the future vision of the Unified Cloud Organization and Cloud Foundation Services.
We’d love to hear from people with...
Must-Have Qualifications
Experience
- 10+ years of experience in software engineering, cloud engineering, platform engineering, or infrastructure engineering.
- 5+ years leading architecture and technical strategy for enterprise-scale platforms.
- Demonstrated experience influencing engineering direction across multiple teams and organizations.
- Proven experience designing and operating highly available, mission-critical cloud platforms.
Technical Expertise
- Deep expertise in AWS, Azure, or multi-cloud environments.
- Strong understanding of platform engineering principles and internal developer platforms.
- Expertise in infrastructure as code, cloud automation, and platform lifecycle management.
- Experience with Kubernetes, container platforms, cloud networking, observability, and distributed systems.
Leadership
- Ability to lead through influence without direct authority.
- Strong executive communication and stakeholder management skills.
- Experience mentoring senior engineers and technical leaders.
Nice-to-Have Qualifications
- Experience building Internal Developer Platforms (IDPs).
- Expertise in FinOps and cloud cost optimization strategies.
- Experience with AI/ML platform infrastructure.
- Experience implementing platform observability and AIOps capabilities.
- Background in large-scale retail, e-commerce, or consumer-facing technology organizations.
- AWS, Azure, Kubernetes, or cloud security certifications.
- Experience with Datadog, Terraform, Backstage, GitHub Actions, or similar cloud-native tooling.
- Experience supporting multi-cloud operating models.
Why Join Cloud Foundation Services?
Cloud Foundation Services sits at the center of Starbucks' cloud transformation journey. As part of the Unified Cloud Organization, you will help build the foundational capabilities that empower engineering teams across the company to innovate faster, operate more reliably, and deliver exceptional experiences to customers and partners worldwide.
This is a unique opportunity to:
- Influence enterprise-wide cloud strategy.
- Shape the future of platform engineering at Starbucks.
- Build cloud capabilities that serve hundreds of engineers and critical business systems.
- Drive innovation in automation, security, observability, and developer experience.
- Provide direct business value through enabling Starbucks Mobile and Coffee House technologies
- Leave a lasting technical legacy by defining the future-state cloud platform for Starbucks.
How This Role Contributes to the Future of CFS
In addition to operating a cloud platform that enables our Starbucks digital ecosystem, as a CFS Principal Engineer you will help define the next generation of cloud capabilities for Starbucks.
Success in this role will directly contribute to:
- A unified cloud operating model across AWS and Azure.
- Increased developer productivity through self-service platforms.
- Improved reliability and resilience of enterprise cloud services.
- Stronger governance and security automation.
- Reduced operational complexity and cloud spend.
- Faster adoption of emerging technologies, including AI-enabled engineering platforms.
- The continued evolution of Cloud Foundation Services as a strategic platform organization rather than a traditional infrastructure support team.
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.
We believe we do our best work when we're together, which is why we're onsite four days a 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.
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