Location: Costa Mesa, California, US - Hybrid #LI-HYBRID / #BI-HYBRID

As a member of the Enterprise Drive-Thru team, you'll help ensure the quality and reliability of the next generation of drive-thru technology powering some of the largest restaurant brands in the industry. You can read more on our Toast for Enterprise page and Toast Drive-Thru page.

Drive-thrus are rapidly evolving through advancements in software, hardware, automation, and AI-powered technologies. We're looking for a Senior Quality Engineer who thrives in complex environments and is passionate about delivering high-quality products that combine software, hardware, and real-world operational workflows.

In this role, you'll work closely with Product, Engineering, Hardware Operations, Customer Care, and Go-To-Market teams to validate new products from concept through launch. You'll play a critical role in testing and validating everything from AI-powered solutions and drive-thru software to media players, digital menu boards, kiosks, payment devices, and other restaurant technology.
A day in the life (Responsibilities)

• Own test automation strategy. Design, build, and maintain automated testing frameworks and test suites that improve coverage, reduce manual effort, and increase release confidence across software and hardware products.
• Own quality across software and hardware solutions. Develop and execute testing strategies that ensure reliable performance across drive-thru applications, hardware devices, integrations, and customer environments.
• Support zero-to-one product development. Partner closely with Product and Engineering teams throughout discovery, development, pilots, and commercialization efforts to bring new products from concept to scale.
• Test AI-powered and solutions. Validate voice AI, speech recognition workflows, computer vision systems, camera technologies, and other AI-powered products through structured testing, automation, and real-world validation.
• Lead test planning and execution. Create test plans, test cases, regression suites, and release validation processes to ensure product quality and reliability.
• Validate hardware integrations. Test and troubleshoot cameras, media players, digital menu boards, kiosks, payment devices, networking equipment, and other drive-thru technologies.
• Partner directly with customers and field teams. Support pilots, field testing, customer deployments, and issue investigation in real-world restaurant environments.
• Collaborate across teams. Work closely with Product, Engineering, Hardware Operations, and Customer Care to identify risks, resolve issues, and continuously improve quality.
• Leverage AI tools to improve quality. Utilize AI tools to accelerate test creation, debugging, issue investigation, and overall testing efficiency.
• Embrace and advocate for the use of AI tools to accelerate product discovery, streamline execution, and explore new product experiences - helping shape how we build and what we build.
• Organized & Systems-Minded: Proven ability to bring structure to complex workflows, leveraging spreadsheets to organize personal workload, track team deliverables, and streamline processes.

What you'll need to thrive (Requirements)

• QA and automation experience. 5+ years of experience testing software products, including designing, building, and maintaining automated testing frameworks and test suites across web, mobile, API, hardware-integrated, or distributed systems.
• Programming and scripting experience. Experience developing automated tests and quality tooling using languages such as Java, Kotlin, JavaScript/TypeScript, Python, or similar technologies.
• Hardware testing expertise. Strong comfort working with physical devices, hardware integrations, networking, and troubleshooting real-world system issues.
• Test planning and quality ownership. Proven ability to create test plans, regression strategies, release validation processes, and quality standards.
• Technical fluency. Ability to work closely with engineering teams to understand system architecture, APIs, integrations, and technical implementation details.
• Customer-focused mindset. Experience supporting pilots, customer deployments, and validating products in production-like environments.
• Cross-functional collaboration. Strong communication skills and experience partnering with Product, Engineering, Operations, and Customer-facing teams.

What will help you stand out (Nonessential Skills/Nice to Haves):

• Experience testing Voice AI, speech recognition, conversational AI, natural language processing, or voice-enabled applications.
• Experience testing AI, machine learning, computer vision, camera systems, or video analytics products.
• Experience testing hardware and software integrated solutions.
• Familiarity with real-time audio or video streams, camera feeds, microphones, sensor-based systems, or latency-sensitive applications.
• Experience with drive-thru, restaurant, retail, kiosk, or point-of-sale technologies.
• Experience supporting field pilots and customer deployments.
• Experience leveraging AI tools to improve software quality and test automation.

You'll be measured on:

• Product quality. Delivery of reliable, high-quality products with reduced defects and improved customer outcomes.
• Automation coverage. Expansion of automated test coverage and reduction of manual testing effort across products and platforms.
• Release confidence. Improved release quality, reduced production issues, and faster validation cycles.
• Customer success. Successful execution of pilots, customer deployments, and field validation efforts.
• Operational excellence. Identification and resolution of quality risks before they impact customers.

AI at Toast

At Toast, one of our company values is that we're hungry to build and learn. We believe learning new AI tools empowers us to build for our customers faster, more independently, and with higher quality. We provide these tools across all disciplines, from Engineering and Product to Sales and Support, and are inspired by how our Toasters are already driving real value with them. The people who thrive here are those who embrace changes that let us build more for our customers; it's a core part of our culture.

Our Total Rewards Philosophy

We strive to provide competitive compensation and benefits programs that help to attract, retain, and motivate the best and brightest people in our industry. Our total rewards package goes beyond great earnings potential and provides the means to a healthy lifestyle with the flexibility to meet Toasters' changing needs. Learn more about our benefits at https://careers.toasttab.com/toast-benefits.

The base salary range for this role is listed below. The starting salary will be determined based on skills, experience, and geographic location. In addition to base salary, our total rewards components include cash compensation (overtime, bonus/commissions if eligible), equity, and benefits. You can learn more about how we align pay with local labor markets in our Geographic Pay Zone Philosophy.

Pay Range

$108,000-$173,000 USD

How Toast Uses AI in its Hiring Process

Throughout the hiring process, our goal is to get to know you. We use AI tools to support our recruiters and interviewers with tasks like note-taking, summarization, and documentation of interviews to ensure they can be fully focused on your conversation. All hiring decisions are made by people. To learn more: https://careers.toasttab.com/ai-in-hiring

Our Approach to Hybrid Working

We embrace a hybrid work model that fosters in-person collaboration while valuing individual needs. Our goal is to build a strong culture of connection as we work together to empower the hospitality community, regardless of location. Please visit the Locations page on our career site to learn more about our in-office expectations by region: https://careers.toasttab.com/locations-toast

Apply today!