Sr. Software Engineer

Job Description

Job Description

Who We Are
At JonnyPops, our team is empowered to make an impact at work every day — from producing high-quality, innovative frozen novelties to spreading kindness one pop at a time. We look for bright, ambitious people who seek out challenges, thrive in fast-paced, high-growth environments, align with our core values, and get fulfillment from seeing their work transform the world around them.

Founded in 2012 and headquartered in Elk River, MN, JonnyPops is the #1 frozen novelty brand in the Natural Channel and one of the fastest-growing CPG brands in the country — growing 60%+ YTD in 2026. We manufacture in-house at our SQF Certified facility, serve 13M+ students annually through food service, and operate a corporate office in Plymouth, MN. Technology is central to how we scale — and this role sits at the heart of that work.

The Opportunity
JonnyPops is making a dedicated commitment to building an AI-Native business — sponsored directly by our co-founders and executive team. We are standing up a small, in-house, cross-functional team purpose-built to ideate, prototype, deploy, and sustain AI-Native solutions across the company. This is not side-of-desk experimentation; it is a focused team with a company committed to innovation and growth that is equipped with a clear mandate to help reinvent the manufacturing CPG business model.
The Senior Software Engineer is a founding technical member of that team. You will not just write code — you will design how an AI-Native company actually runs, building the agentic workflows, applications, and infrastructure that compound into durable productivity, yield, and capability advantages for the business. The time is now, and you will be one of the people who builds it.

Job Summary
We are looking for a Senior Software Engineer to design, build, deploy, and sustain production-grade agentic AI workflows and AI-powered applications that change how JonnyPops operates. You will work with an AI-first development philosophy — using tools like Claude Code and the Anthropic API to plan, build, test, and ship at high velocity — and partner closely with Finance, Operations, Manufacturing, HR, and GTM to turn high-friction processes into intelligent, automated solutions. This is a high-autonomy role for a self-starter who wants their work to be visible, impactful, and genuinely central to the business.

Reporting & Partnership

• Direct Manager: Chief Financial Officer, who currently serves as Team Lead of the AI Initiative.
• Technical Leadership: Partners closely with the AI Initiative team on architecture, standards, and execution.
• Run-the-Business Systems: Coordinates with the Director of Information Technology (dotted line) on existing systems and infrastructure — the IT function owns run-the-business operations so this team can stay focused on the AI-Native build.
• Cross-Functional Partners: Finance & Accounting, HR & Office, Operations, Supply Chain, Manufacturing, GTM / Commercial.

Work Hours / Location

• Plymouth, MN (corporate office) primary, with regular on-site presence at the Elk River manufacturing facility as needed.
• Full-time; standard business hours with flexibility for deployment and support windows.
• Based in the Minneapolis—St. Paul metro. Relocation may be considered for an exceptional candidate.

Essential Duties & Responsibilities
Agentic Workflow Design, Build & Deployment

• Design, build, deploy, and sustain production-grade agentic AI workflows that automate and augment core business processes across Finance, Operations, Manufacturing, HR, and GTM — moving solutions from prototype to reliable, monitored production.
• Own the full lifecycle of AI-Native solutions: problem framing, architecture, build, testing, deployment, observability, and iteration.
• Establish the patterns that let agentic processes run reliably and, over time, around the clock.

AI-Native Development Framework & Infrastructure

• Stand up and maintain the company’s standardized AI development framework, infrastructure, and agile delivery pipeline as a founding contributor.
• Configure and maintain markdown project context files and MCP server integrations so AI tools have deep, accurate understanding of the codebase and connected systems.
• Use subagent orchestration to parallelize work across large tasks — delegating, reviewing, and merging results with precision.
• Advance the data foundation for AI-Native work: help harmonize data sources and permission structures, and contribute to on-prem AI compute and agent-to-agent collaboration as the platform matures.

Building with Claude & the Anthropic Platform

• Build AI-powered applications and intelligent agents using Claude Code, the Anthropic API, tool use / function calling, and the Claude Agent SDK.
• Connect agents to core systems — NetSuite (ERP/HRIS), Microsoft 365 (SharePoint, Teams), RedZone (manufacturing MES), and the broader SaaS stack — so AI-Native solutions are grounded in real business data and can take real action.

AI Code Quality & Responsible Delivery

• Champion responsible software development — establishing patterns for code review, testing, and human-in-the-loop oversight when AI-generated code ships to production.
• Exercise strong judgment on when to trust, verify, and override AI-generated output before it reaches production.

Embedded Cross-Functional Partnership

• Embed with department leaders to capture critical business knowledge and turn high-friction processes into intelligent, automated solutions that deliver measurable productivity gains.
• Partner with functional owners; build solutions teams actually adopt, with the documentation and enablement to sustain them.
• Support the company’s AI adoption priority through co-developed department-level tools, process maps, and working sessions.

Standards, Architecture & Team-Building

• Establish and model engineering best practices for a founding team — version control (Git), code review, testing, CI/CD, and documentation.
• Translate business requirements from non-technical stakeholders into clear, well-scoped technical specifications and working software.
• Contribute to architecture and build-vs.-buy decisions alongside the Team Lead and Principal Technology Engineer.
• May assume additional duties as necessary.

Food Safety Responsibilities
This is a primarily corporate, hybrid role with periodic presence at the Elk River manufacturing facility. While on-site, this position is expected to follow all Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs), Good Documentation Practices, and facility food-safety and visitor protocols, and to support — never compromise — the integrity of JonnyPops’ SQF-certified food safety system when designing any solution that touches production or quality data.

Minimum Qualifications
Education & Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a related field; equivalent professional experience considered.
• 5+ years of professional software development experience with a track record of delivering production-quality systems.
• Experience building applications, automations, or internal tools in a business operations or enterprise environment strongly preferred.

Technical Skills

• Proficiency in one or more backend languages (Python, TypeScript/Node.js, or similar); writes clean, testable, maintainable code.
• Strong experience with REST APIs, webhooks, and third-party SaaS integrations.
• Solid SQL skills and comfort with relational databases; ERP data model experience a plus (NetSuite preferred).
• Experience with cloud platforms (Azure, AWS, or GCP) and modern deployment practices (Docker, CI/CD, GitHub Actions).
• Familiarity with Microsoft 365 development surfaces (SharePoint API, Microsoft Graph API, Power Automate) is a strong plus.

AI-Assisted Development

• Demonstrated fluency building software with AI coding tools — reading codebases, planning multi-file changes, running and fixing tests, and shipping at high velocity. This is the core bar for the role.
• A genuine AI-first development philosophy and strong judgment about when to trust, verify, and override AI-generated output.
• Strongly preferred: hands-on experience with Claude Code as a primary development tool; configuring MCP servers and writing effective CLAUDE.md context files; and building with the Anthropic API and Claude Agent SDK (tool use / function calling, custom agentic workflows). Familiarity with other AI coding tools (GitHub Copilot, Cursor, Codex) is also valued — what matters most is a real AI-first development philosophy and the ability to ramp fast on our stack.

Soft Skills & Competencies

• Communicates clearly with non-technical business partners; translates their needs into well-scoped technical solutions.
• Self-directed ownership mentality — defines the problem, scopes the work, and ships the solution without step-by-step management.
• Curious and growth-oriented; genuinely excited about what’s possible when strong engineering meets modern AI tooling.
• Adaptable and resilient in a high-growth environment where priorities evolve quickly.
• Committed to JonnyPops core values: Integrity, Masterful Growth, Excellence, Team Work, Fact-Based Decisions, Alignment, and Service and Contribution.

Expected Pay Range
Expected starting salary range: $135,000 — $170,000 per year, based on experience and qualifications. Hired candidates may be eligible for additional compensation in the form of bonuses and/or commissions.

Benefits
JonnyPops offers a competitive benefits package, including:

• Medical / Health Insurance
• Dental Insurance
• Vision Insurance
• HSA / FSA / DCFSA
• Life & AD&D Insurance
• Short & Long Term Disability
• FTO / PTO
• EAP Programs
• Paid Holidays
• Employee Referral Program
• Sick & Safe Leave
• 401(k)
• Company-provided equipment plus a dedicated AI tooling and professional-development budget

Equal Opportunity
JonnyPops is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. Reasonable accommodations are available for applicants and employees with disabilities; please contact Human Resources to request one.

 

JonnyPops offers a competitive benefits package which includes the following:

• Medical/Health Insurance
• Dental Insurance
• Vision Insurance
• HSA
• FSA
• DCFSA
• Life & AD&D Insurance
• Short & Long Term Disability
• FTO/PTO
• EAP Programs
• Paid Holidays
• Employee Referral Program
• Sick & Safe Leave
• 401k
• Company Sponsored Meal Plan

* Hired candidates may be eligible to receive additional compensation in the form of bonuses and/or commissions.

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