What are the responsibilities and job description for the Director of Engineering position at FreshDirect?
Brief Description
About Us
At FreshDirect, we are reinventing the grocery experience.
Since day one, our mission has been simple: bring the best, freshest food directly from the farm to people’s homes — faster, fresher, and smarter than anyone else.
We’re not just a food company. We’re a technology-powered, customer-obsessed team building one of the most innovative end-to-end food supply chains in the industry. From proprietary routing systems to our state-of-the-art fulfillment center, every part of our business is designed to deliver unmatched quality, convenience, and care.
We partner directly with farmers, fishermen, and artisans to source the highest quality ingredients — then use smart data, automation, and logistics to deliver them at peak freshness.
It’s grocery shopping reimagined — and we’re just getting started.
If you’re passionate about innovation, care deeply about what people eat, and want to help build the future of food, we’d love to meet you.
The Role
Technical Direction & Architecture
We live these values every day:
A Passion for our customers
Our customers are at the heart of everything we do. We listen, innovate, and act quickly to exceed expectations with every order and interaction.
One team, one mission
Everyone contributes & every role matters. We break silos, lift each other up, and share a relentless focus on delivering results. That way, we win together.
Delivering excellence, every time
We take pride in the quality of our food, service, and the experience we create. Our team goes above and beyond to earn trust and guarantee 100% freshness.
Act with integrity
We operate with honesty, respect, and accountability in how we treat our customers, teammates, and partners. We own our outcomes and always do what’s right, even when no one is watching.
Make fast, bold decisions
We challenge the status quo, embrace technology, and take smart risks to build a better future. At the same time, we stay true to our NYC roots and care for our community.
We love food. Yes, literally all of us.
What You’ll Love About Working Here
$160,000 – $180,000
Total Rewards & Benefits
We embrace an in-office culture, composed of individuals who thrive on the collaboration and energy that comes from working together in a shared space. We are looking for people who excel in this environment, where physical presence enhances connections and engagement. At FreshDirect, we've created an environment that thrives on teamwork, where associates can innovate, grow, and have successful careers. Many of our leaders have successfully come up through our ranks. Because of our team's extraordinary efforts, we are a leading innovator in the e-commerce and grocery industries.
Equal Opportunity
We are proud to be an equal opportunity employer. Fresh Direct, LLC and its affiliates do not discriminate against applicants or employees because of their race, color, citizenship status, national origin, ancestry, gender, disability, sexual orientation, age, religion, creed, marital status, veteran status, domestic violence victim status, political affiliation, or any other factor protected by federal, state, or local law.
The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed by the Team member(s) assigned to this position. They are not intended to be an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, duties, and skills required of individuals in this position. Position expectations may be subject to change as the needs of the organization changes.
About Us
At FreshDirect, we are reinventing the grocery experience.
Since day one, our mission has been simple: bring the best, freshest food directly from the farm to people’s homes — faster, fresher, and smarter than anyone else.
We’re not just a food company. We’re a technology-powered, customer-obsessed team building one of the most innovative end-to-end food supply chains in the industry. From proprietary routing systems to our state-of-the-art fulfillment center, every part of our business is designed to deliver unmatched quality, convenience, and care.
We partner directly with farmers, fishermen, and artisans to source the highest quality ingredients — then use smart data, automation, and logistics to deliver them at peak freshness.
It’s grocery shopping reimagined — and we’re just getting started.
If you’re passionate about innovation, care deeply about what people eat, and want to help build the future of food, we’d love to meet you.
The Role
- Lead, mentor, and grow a multidisciplinary team of full stack, React Native, and senior backend engineers across multiple positions and geographies.
- Own delivery, quality, and reliability across all four last-mile applications, balancing roadmap commitments with technical health.
- Set technical direction, standards, and best practices for code quality, testing, security, and operational excellence.
- Conduct hiring, performance management, career development, and capacity planning for the engineering organization.
Technical Direction & Architecture
- Drive system architecture decisions across Java/J2EE services, microservices, React and React Native front ends, and GCP-based infrastructure.
- Guide the design and development of scalable RESTful APIs and backend services.
- Oversee data architecture and performance across PostgreSQL, MongoDB, and Firebase, including caching and query optimization.
- Champion CI/CD pipelines, automation, observability, and DevOps maturity across teams.
- Ensure compliance with modern security standards and best practices (including PCI where applicable).
- 12 years of professional software engineering experience, with 4 years leading and managing engineering teams (including managers and/or senior engineers).
- Proven track record delivering and operating large-scale, high-transaction web and mobile applications in production.
- Deep expertise in core Java/J2EE and related frameworks (Spring, JPA, JMS).
- Strong experience designing and developing RESTful services and microservices architectures.
- Solid command of front-end fundamentals (HTML, JavaScript, CSS) and modern JS frameworks, especially React.
- Experience overseeing mobile application delivery, ideally React Native across iOS and Android.
- Hands-on background with relational and NoSQL data stores (PostgreSQL, MongoDB, Firebase) and performance/query optimization.
- Deep understanding of cloud services, with GCP strongly preferred.
- Experience with CI/CD tooling, build automation, and caching frameworks.
- Practical Linux knowledge and shell scripting.
- Strong problem-solving skills and adaptability in fast-changing requirements.
- Excellent communication, interpersonal, and cross-team collaboration skills, with experience leading globally distributed teams.
- Experience in e-commerce, logistics, or high-transaction-processing environments.
- Knowledge of AlloyDB, SQL/PLSQL, and database design.
- Familiarity with additional JS frameworks and build tools, and CSS frameworks (Bootstrap, Sass/LESS).
- Exposure to routing, geospatial, or timeslot/scheduling systems.
- Familiarity with system administration concepts (load balancers such as F5, firewalls, Akamai/CDN).
- Knowledge of PCI compliance and broader security standards.
- Exposure to data science and machine learning applied to logistics or personalization.
- Experience in e-commerce, logistics, or high-transaction-processing environments.
- Knowledge of AlloyDB, SQL/PLSQL, and database design.
- Familiarity with additional JS frameworks and build tools, and CSS frameworks (Bootstrap, Sass/LESS).
- Exposure to routing, geospatial, or timeslot/scheduling systems.
- Familiarity with system administration concepts (load balancers such as F5, firewalls, Akamai/CDN).
- Knowledge of PCI compliance and broader security standards.
- Exposure to data science and machine learning applied to logistics or personalization.
We live these values every day:
A Passion for our customers
Our customers are at the heart of everything we do. We listen, innovate, and act quickly to exceed expectations with every order and interaction.
One team, one mission
Everyone contributes & every role matters. We break silos, lift each other up, and share a relentless focus on delivering results. That way, we win together.
Delivering excellence, every time
We take pride in the quality of our food, service, and the experience we create. Our team goes above and beyond to earn trust and guarantee 100% freshness.
Act with integrity
We operate with honesty, respect, and accountability in how we treat our customers, teammates, and partners. We own our outcomes and always do what’s right, even when no one is watching.
Make fast, bold decisions
We challenge the status quo, embrace technology, and take smart risks to build a better future. At the same time, we stay true to our NYC roots and care for our community.
We love food. Yes, literally all of us.
What You’ll Love About Working Here
- A fast-paced, innovative environment where ideas turn into action
- Opportunities for growth — many of our leaders have risen through the ranks
- Direct impact on how thousands of customers experience food every day
$160,000 – $180,000
Total Rewards & Benefits
- Competitive compensation and comprehensive benefits
- PTO, Safe & Sick Time, and Paid Holidays
- Medical, Vision, Dental, and Voluntary Disability coverage
- 401(k) with employer match and Life Insurance
- State-of-the-art Bronx campus with on-site basketball court, cafeteria, and employee market
- Onsite FREE parking
- FREE employee shuttle bus service from nearby Subway station
- Training, leadership development, and tuition discount at local colleges
- 20% employee discount on FreshDirect online orders and Brooklyn wine store
- Minimum 50% employee discount at our onsite employee market
- Mobile phone discounts through partnerships with T-Mobile and Verizon
- Gym membership discounts through NYSC
We embrace an in-office culture, composed of individuals who thrive on the collaboration and energy that comes from working together in a shared space. We are looking for people who excel in this environment, where physical presence enhances connections and engagement. At FreshDirect, we've created an environment that thrives on teamwork, where associates can innovate, grow, and have successful careers. Many of our leaders have successfully come up through our ranks. Because of our team's extraordinary efforts, we are a leading innovator in the e-commerce and grocery industries.
Equal Opportunity
We are proud to be an equal opportunity employer. Fresh Direct, LLC and its affiliates do not discriminate against applicants or employees because of their race, color, citizenship status, national origin, ancestry, gender, disability, sexual orientation, age, religion, creed, marital status, veteran status, domestic violence victim status, political affiliation, or any other factor protected by federal, state, or local law.
The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed by the Team member(s) assigned to this position. They are not intended to be an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, duties, and skills required of individuals in this position. Position expectations may be subject to change as the needs of the organization changes.
Salary : $160,000 - $180,000