Staff Engineer - Android / Kotlin Platform

Job Description

Job Description

Description:

About Blue Sparq

Blue Sparq, Inc. is a rapidly growing leader in custom product development and manufacturing, and part of The Middleby Corporation—a global leader in commercial and residential cooking and industrial process equipment.

We specialize in delivering connected hardware and software solutions for the commercial kitchen and vending industries, combining product innovation, embedded systems, and cloud-connected experiences.

About the Role

Blue Sparq is seeking a Staff Engineer – Android / Kotlin Platform to lead architecture and technical direction for Android applications powering our connected commercial kitchen equipment.

This role goes beyond feature development. You will define technical direction across Android software systems, drive platform architecture, and partner closely with firmware, Qt/BSP, cloud, and hardware engineering teams to deliver reliable and scalable product experiences.

You will serve as a technical leader for Android development—balancing architecture, execution, performance, and long-term maintainability while mentoring engineers and helping establish engineering standards across teams.

Key Responsibilities

Technical Leadership & Architecture

• Own technical architecture for Android applications used across multiple product lines
• Define scalable Android platform architecture using Kotlin, Jetpack Compose, and modern Android frameworks
• Drive architectural decisions for UI, device communication, and system integration
• Partner with firmware, Qt/BSP, cloud, and hardware teams to ensure end-to-end system alignment
• Lead design reviews and serve as the technical escalation point for complex Android and device integration issues
• Balance delivery speed with maintainability, reliability, and long-term platform scalability

Android Platform Development

• Design and develop Android applications using Kotlin and Java
• Build modern UI using Jetpack Compose and Android UI frameworks
• Establish reusable components and patterns to accelerate future product development
• Implement clean architectures such as MVVM, MVI, and modular design
• Optimize application performance, responsiveness, startup time, and memory usage

Connected Device Integration

• Architect and implement communication with embedded controllers using MQTT and Modbus
• Define robust patterns for real-time device communication and fault tolerance
• Integrate Android applications with backend systems using REST APIs and JSON
• Collaborate with embedded and cloud teams to improve system interoperability

Engineering Excellence

• Lead code reviews and raise engineering quality standards
• Mentor Android engineers and help grow technical capability across the team
• Contribute to testing strategy, CI/CD pipelines, release processes, and observability
• Improve development workflows and recommend tools and practices that increase team effectiveness
• Partner with Product and Engineering leadership on roadmap planning and technical tradeoffs

Required Qualifications

• 6+ years of Android development experience
• 3+ years of hands-on Kotlin experience
• 2+ years with Jetpack Compose in production environments
• Strong expertise in Android SDK, Kotlin, Java, and mobile architecture patterns
• Proven experience designing scalable Android systems across multiple applications or product lines
• Strong experience with Jetpack libraries (Navigation, ViewModel, LiveData, Room, etc.)
• Experience integrating REST APIs and JSON-based services
• Working knowledge of MQTT and Modbus or similar device communication protocols
• Experience profiling Android applications for performance and memory optimization
• Experience leading design reviews and architectural discussions
• Strong Git/version control experience
• Experience with automated testing and CI/CD pipelines

Nice to Have

• Experience with industrial Android devices or ELO tablets
• Experience with embedded Linux or Qt/BSP environments
• Experience with connected devices, IoT platforms, or industrial applications
• Familiarity with OTA update workflows or fleet device management
• Experience building reusable platform components shared across products

Leadership & Collaboration

• Strong cross-functional communication with firmware, cloud, hardware, and product teams
• Ability to lead through influence without direct authority
• Proven ability to prioritize across competing technical demands
• Comfortable operating in a fast-paced product environment
• Experience with Agile development and JIRA

Applicants must be authorized to work in the U.S.

Blue Sparq is an Equal Employment Opportunity (EOE/M/F/Vets/Disabled) employer.
Principals only. No recruiters or unsolicited offers, please.

Salary commensurate with experience.