Lead Software Engineer - Backend

Company: Whisker
Location: Auburn Hills
Posted on: May 10, 2025

Job Description:

Description:

Please double check you have the right level of experience and qualifications by reading the full overview of this opportunity below.

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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Keywords: Whisker, Elyria , Lead Software Engineer - Backend, IT / Software / Systems , Auburn Hills, Ohio