Senior/Staff Fullstack Engineer

About the role

Blackbird Labs is a loyalty and payments platform establishing meaningful connections between the world's best restaurants and their customers. You will own the server-side logic and client behavior for Flycar, the restaurant payments terminal that keeps dining rooms open and checks flowing without interruption. This role demands passion for the product, where you instinctively think like the restaurants we serve and go the extra mile to protect every transaction. You will be an elite performer, driving frontend architecture decisions and ensuring exceptional results under the pressure of live service. You will make other engineers better by elevating their work, giving and receiving feedback that sharpens the entire team. You will hold yourself and others accountable to living out Blackbird's talent principles as we march together to revolutionize the restaurant industry. You will debug real-time payment flows that span our terminal, mobile app, and backend services to keep the system reliable.

Key facts

What you'll do

• Own end-to-end development of Flycar, covering UI, API integration, WebSocket flows, and fallback handling when things go wrong in production.
• Build interfaces that work reliably across FSR and QSR environments, handling inconsistent hardware, spotty networks, and dozens of POS configurations without breaking.
• Drive frontend architecture decisions, shaping how we build across the platform and not just what we ship in the next sprint.
• Debug real-time payment flows that span our terminal, mobile app, and backend services to isolate and resolve issues before they impact restaurants.
• Ship software where failure has immediate, visible consequences, applying lessons from payments, POS, fintech, or other high-stakes systems.
• Comfortably read API contracts, debug backend queries, and reason about system design while collaborating closely with cross-functional partners.
• Strengthen our reliability by implementing graceful degradation on unreliable networks so that service remains consistent for every venue.
• Contribute beyond Flycar across the Blackbird platform, supporting loyalty and restaurant operations where your work has direct operational impact.
• Champion a culture of growth by giving and receiving feedback that improves code quality, team processes, and product outcomes.
• Take initiative to elevate other engineers, turning individual effort into team momentum and raising the standard of excellence across the codebase.
• Work within a Next.js and TypeScript monorepo that powers multiple applications, balancing platform consistency with the needs of specialized workflows.
• Maintain strict ownership of your area of the system, ensuring that changes are safe, well-understood, and aligned with restaurant needs during every service.

Requirements

• 6+ years with React and TypeScript, demonstrating consistent production experience and deep understanding of component design.
• Experience with real-time data through WebSockets and polling, including strategies for graceful degradation when networks fail.
• Track record shipping software where failure has immediate, visible consequences in domains such as payments, POS, fintech, or similar regulated environments.
• Comfort working across the full stack, reading API contracts, debugging queries, and reasoning about system design under constraints.
• Strong ownership instincts in a small, fast-moving team where scope is fluid and priorities can shift without warning.
• Ability to work effectively in hardware-constrained environments where terminals and kiosks impose strict limitations on behavior.
• Understanding of multi-tenant system challenges, including data isolation, security boundaries, and performance under shared loads.
• Familiarity with observability and analytics platforms like Datadog or Amplitude to diagnose issues and measure system health.

Nice to have

• Experience with payments infrastructure, POS systems, or restaurant/hospitality tech that mirrors Blackbird's operational reality.
• Background in multi-tenant systems or hardware-constrained environments such as terminals and kiosks.
• Exposure to blockchain, crypto, or web3 technologies that intersect with payments and loyalty flows.
• Experience with Datadog, Amplitude, or similar observability and analytics platforms for troubleshooting in production.

Practical notes

New York-based role requiring in-person presence during standard business hours.

This position does not require business travel or visa sponsorship at this time.

Candidates must meet the outlined experience and technical requirements without exception.