Backend Software Engineer III

Job Description

Our Opportunity

Chewy is seeking a Backend Software Engineer III in Boston, MA to help build and scale the platform-driven ecosystem powering Chewy Vet Care across clinics, digital experiences, and pharmacy. You will design and develop highly available backend services, APIs, and event-driven systems that support critical capabilities such as scheduling, prescriptions, medical records, payments, and more.

In this role, you will partner closely with Product, Data, Clinical, and Engineering teams to solve complex technical problems and support both organic growth and integrations resulting from acquisitions. You will also contribute to the evolution of CVC toward a unified, platform-first architecture while helping establish strong engineering practices across the team.

About You

You are a hands-on backend engineer who enjoys solving complex problems within scalable, distributed environments. You approach system design thoughtfully, balancing immediate business needs with long-term reliability, maintainability, and performance. You work effectively through ambiguity, collaborate across technical and nontechnical teams, and provide technical leadership through design discussions, code reviews, and mentorship.

You have experience working with loosely coupled services, real-time event processing, vendor integrations, event-driven architecture, and modern CI/CD practices. You also understand how AI-assisted development tools, such as GitHub Copilot, Cursor, or Claude, can improve engineering productivity while recognizing where careful review and human judgment remain essential.

What You'll Do

• Design, build, test, and maintain scalable distributed systems using Java, Spring Boot, and AWS services such as Lambda, SQS, DynamoDB, S3, and API Gateway.
• Own features throughout the software development lifecycle, from requirements gathering and architecture review through implementation, deployment, and post-launch measurement.
• Translate ambiguous business and clinical needs into reliable, maintainable, and scalable technical solutions.
• Collaborate with Product, Data, Clinical, and Engineering partners to deliver capabilities across clinic, customer, and pharmacy experiences.
• Contribute to platform-first architecture and API-driven integrations across Chewy Vet Care and third-party systems.
• Improve system reliability by strengthening observability, troubleshooting production issues, conducting root-cause analyses, and addressing recurring operational risks.
• Advance engineering practices in automated testing, secure coding, CI/CD, infrastructure as code, and performance optimization.
• Provide technical guidance through design sessions, code reviews, documentation, and mentorship.
• Participate in an on-call rotation and support the operational health of production services.

What You'll Need:

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Computer Information Systems, a related field, or equivalent professional experience.
• 7+ years of experience developing scalable, distributed applications using Java, JavaScript, AWS, Spring Boot, or comparable technologies.
• Hands-on experience designing, building, deploying, and operating scalable, highly available systems.
• Experience troubleshooting distributed applications using technologies such as SNS, Kafka, Dynatrace, or Amazon CloudWatch.
• Strong knowledge of software engineering practices across the full development lifecycle, including coding standards, code reviews, source control, build processes, testing, deployment, and production operations.
• Proficiency in object-oriented design, data structures, algorithms, problem-solving, and complexity analysis.
• Ability to participate in an on-call rotation and respond effectively to production issues.

Bonus

• Experience in e-commerce.
• Familiarity with Agile methodologies such as Scrum or XP.
• Experience with configuration and deployment tools such as Terraform, along with knowledge of infrastructure, debugging, networking, compute, storage, and virtualization.
• Experience with React and Typescript
• The specific salary offered to a candidate may be influenced by a variety of factors including but not limited to the candidate’s relevant experience, education, and work location. In addition, this position is eligible for 401k and a new hire and annual equity grant. C08+ positions may also be eligible for annual bonus.

We offer different types of insurance and benefits, such as medical/Rx, vision, dental, life, disability, hospital indemnity, critical illness, and accident. We offer parental leave, family services benefits, backup dependent care, flexible spending accounts, telemedicine, pet adoption reimbursement, employee assistance program, and many discounts including 10% off pet insurance and 20% off at Chewy.com.

Exempt salary team members have unlimited PTO, subject to manager approval. Team members will receive six paid holidays per year. Team members may be eligible for paid sick and family leave in compliance with applicable state and local regulations.

Chewy is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, ancestry, national origin, gender, citizenship, marital status, religion, age, disability, gender identity, results of genetic testing, veteran status, as well as any other legally-protected characteristic. If you have a disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act or similar law, and you need an accommodation during the application process or to perform these job requirements, or if you need a religious accommodation, please contact CAAR@chewy.com.

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