Full-Time
Senior Software Engineer
Tovala
51-200 employees
Smart oven and meal delivery service
Compensation Overview
$130k - $160k/yr
Chicago, IL, USA
Hybrid
 Software Engineering (1) |
|---|
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- 5+ years of professional software engineering experience, with meaningful depth in backend development (APIs, data pipelines, distributed systems, cloud infrastructure).
- Strong fundamentals in systems design and architecture. You can make sound decisions about how services communicate, how data flows, and where complexity should live.
- Demonstrated experience with AI-assisted software development. You’ve integrated AI tools into your daily workflow and can speak concretely about how they’ve changed the way you build software.
- Ability to work across the stack. You have backend depth but can pick up frontend work (React, TypeScript, or equivalent) and contribute meaningfully when needed.
- Excellent communication skills. You can explain technical decisions clearly to both engineers and non-technical partners, write well, and navigate cross-functional collaboration with ease.
- Strong problem-solving instincts. You’re the kind of engineer who digs into the root cause, thinks about second-order effects, and finds pragmatic solutions.
- A track record of owning and shipping projects with meaningful business impact, ideally in a fast-paced environment where priorities shift.
- Design, build, and maintain backend systems and services that support Tovala’s software products across web and mobile. Our current backend stack is Go and AWS, but we value your ability to learn and adapt over specific language experience.
- Own problems end-to-end. You’ll scope work, make technical decisions, implement solutions, and see them through to production. You won’t wait to be handed a spec.
- Use AI-assisted development tools and workflows as a core part of how you work. We expect you to have real experience here, whether that’s with tools like Cursor, Copilot, Claude Code, or similar, and to help shape how the broader team adopts these practices.
- Work across the stack when the situation calls for it. While your depth is in backend engineering, you’re comfortable contributing to frontend work and aren’t boxed in by a single domain.
- Collaborate directly with stakeholders and other engineers to understand customer problems, define solutions, and make smart trade-offs between speed and quality.
- Contribute to architectural decisions and help evolve our technical approach as the team and product grow.
- Review code thoughtfully, both human-written and AI-generated, with an eye toward system-level coherence, maintainability, and performance.
- Mentor and support other engineers. Share what you know, raise the bar on engineering practices, and help create an environment where people do their best work.
- Experience with Go and/or AWS (our current primary backend stack).
- Familiarity with infrastructure-as-code tools (Terraform, CloudFormation) and CI/CD pipelines.
- Experience helping define or evolve AI development practices for a team or organization.
- Experience building or integrating AI/ML features into production products (RAG systems, LLM integrations, chatbots).
- Background working in a consumer product or food-tech company.
Tovala creates a connected home cooking system that combines a countertop smart oven with chef-prepared meals delivered to customers. The core idea is simple: customers buy the Tovala Smart Oven and subscribe to a meal-delivery service. Meals come with a QR code; when scanned, the oven automatically cooks the dish to avoid prep and guesswork, giving a ready-to-eat, home-cooked meal with minimal effort. The product works through an integrated hardware-software-food platform: the oven communicates with the meal service to set the correct cooking program, so users get consistent results without manual settings. Compared with competitors, Tovala blends hardware and direct-to-consumer meal kits in one seamless experience, offering both the physical appliance and a subscription meal plan instead of just selling devices or food. Its goal is to save time for busy households by making nutritious, home-style meals easy and hassle-free through technology-enabled cooking.
Company Size
51-200
Company Stage
Series C
Total Funding
$71.7M
Headquarters
Chicago, Illinois
Founded
2017
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Simplify's Take
What believers are saying
- February 2026 Winfield, Illinois factory starts scaling capacity for eastern-half distribution by 2027.
- April 2026 La Terra Fina quiches and new partnerships broaden menu relevance.
- May 2026 CMO Scott Braun and constant incrementality testing sharpen customer acquisition efficiency.
What critics are saying
- JobsWithStartups flagged a 2026 restructuring; employee chatter linked departures to layoffs.
- Amazon sold the standalone oven for $350; bundled economics depend on subscriptions.
- If subscriber growth stalls, the oven becomes a commodity toaster oven and margins collapse.
What makes Tovala unique
- Tovala’s scan-to-cook oven-plus-meals system makes dinner automated, not just convenient.
- April 7, 2026 Family Meals cook four servings in one 25-minute cycle.
- Tovala’s vertically integrated food manufacturing supports hardware, software, and meal subscriptions together.
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Benefits
Health Insurance
Dental Insurance
401(k) Company Match
Company Equity
Paid Vacation
Paid Holidays
Growth & Insights and Company News
6 month growth
↑ 0%1 year growth
↑ 0%2 year growth
↑ 0%How Tovala banks on subscriptions and incrementality - But not ads - to profit from its oven. Thursday, June 25th, 2026 - 3:51 pm Smart TVs, refrigerators and other home appliances may pester you with marketing and perhaps even check your presence in the room using a front-facing camera. But at least the hardware is cheap! That's the promise. Some companies, like the TV manufacturing startup Telly, take it to the logical extreme by offering free televisions in exchange for agreeing to data collection and advertising. Although Telly remains in a years-long pre-order phase. Another startup taking a different approach to the same theory is Tovala, which was founded in 2015 and combines a standalone countertop oven appliance with a weekly meal kit subscription. When asked whether the company plans to enable any retail or brand marketing opportunities, CMO Scott Braun said, "We haven't done anything there from the revenue-generating side, and I'm not sure we will." Likelier, he added, the company would pursue relevant food or condiment-type brand integrations to include their products in meal kits. "The team is toying with a couple partnerships" along those lines. Braun joined Tovala only a month ago, following stints as the marketing leader at the alcohol delivery app Drizly (acquired by Uber) and, most recently, at SimpliSafe. The SimpliSafe business model is particularly apt for the current role, he said, since it makes home security hardware, which likewise was sold at cost or even a loss but made up for in long-term customer acquisition revenue via subscriptions. The Tovala oven would retail as a standalone product for more than $300, Braun said. As of this writing, it sells on Amazon for $350. That's because it is a functional countertop toaster oven. One doesn't need the meal kit subscriptions for it to work. On the Tovala site, though, with the meal kit deliveries bundled in (starting with six weeks' worth of meals over the first six months), the oven goes for $69. Tovala's ability to target and acquire the right customers - those who are going to reliably order meal kits for potentially years to come - is the company's lifeblood. For that reason, he said, the startup is a rigorous tester of marketing channels, with incrementality studies running constantly on old channels like branded search and new formats like podcast ads. The company also allows customers to scan items from a grocery store and use the SKU info to set up a preset cook. Like for a particular type of frozen pizza or if someone recreates a Tovala meal recipe they received with grocery store equivalents (since the oven can steam, broil and bake in particular sequences). Right now, that's just a customer experience benefit. But the advertising and attribution temptation is right there, hanging like an apple in the Garden of Eden. Braun said they were not pursuing these right now. But there are marketing integrations the company will pursue, he said. For instance, there are theoretical partnerships just from the fact of Tovala having a subscription revenue stream. Meal delivery services like Instacart or Uber Eats, home office or education services (to include easy and quick lunches), retail memberships, wellness services and other types of subscription-based businesses could be bundled in interesting ways. "Lots of different partnerships could make more or less sense for us to sync up with," Braun said. "It wouldn't be hard to think of some great fits." Tagged in:
Brennan Investment Group has broken ground on a 140,340-square-foot food processing facility for Tovala in Winfield, Illinois. The build-to-suit project brought together leadership from both companies, design-build contractor Arco/Murray, and local officials including Senator Seth Lewis and Village President Carl Sorgatz. The state-of-the-art facility will support Tovala's expanding food manufacturing operations as the meal delivery company continues to grow. Construction is now underway, with completion expected in 2027. Chicago-based Brennan Investment Group specialises in industrial real estate development across the United States. Since 2010, the firm has acquired or developed $6.5 billion in industrial properties, with its current portfolio spanning 29 states and encompassing approximately 57 million square feet.
Tovala, the meal delivery service combining chef-crafted meals with smart oven technology, has launched Family Meals, serving four people in 25 minutes with under five minutes of prep time. The meals cook entirely in Tovala's Smart Oven using scan-to-cook technology, with proteins and sides cooking simultaneously in a single cycle. The offering requires no additional hardware and works alongside Tovala's existing single-serve and two-serving options, allowing customers to mix formats based on their needs. Ingredients arrive pre-prepared with no chopping required, and meals can be customised with individually packaged sauces and toppings. Since launching in 2017, Tovala has delivered over 45 million meals across the US. Family Meals are available now at Tovala.com.
Tovala and La Terra Fina partner to make spring brunch effortless; Chhaya Bhatia and Brett Swensen comment. Teaming up with another food industry operator, the brand strategizes to bring its products to more consumer kitchens. UNION CITY, CA Friday, April 3rd, 2026 Prep-free brunch delivered straight to my kitchen table? Sign me up! In fact, you might be hard-pressed to find consumers who would not jump at this opportunity. They are in luck, because Tovala and La Terra Fina are partnering this season for a one-of-a-kind collab. Starting this month, two flavors of La Terra Fina's personal-size 6 oz quiches - Classic Lorraine and Cheddar & Broccoli - will be featured on the Tovala menu. Chhaya Bhatia, Director of Marketing, La Terra Fina"We're excited to partner with Tovala to bring our personal-size quiches to more kitchens this spring. With just a simple scan, the Tovala Smart Oven delivers perfectly cooked quiches for a warm, satisfying brunch at home, made with high-quality ingredients and no artificial colors or flavors," said Chhaya Bhatia, Marketing Director at La Terra Fina. La Terra Fina quiches are high in protein and crafted with high-quality ingredients, making them a wholesome and satisfying choice for spring gatherings. Starting this month, two flavors of La Terra Fina's personal-size 6 oz quiches - Classic Lorraine and Cheddar & Broccoli - will be featured on the Tovala menu With a simple scan, the quiches cook automatically in the Tovala Smart Oven, creating an elegant, effortless brunch in minutes. Perfect for Easter and Mother's Day, this collaboration lets hosts spend less time in the kitchen and more time with friends and family. Brett Swensen, Senior Director of Partnerships, Tovala"We're excited to partner with La Terra Fina this spring and bring their quiches to Tovala customers. It's an easy way to make something that feels a little more special, without the extra work, especially for occasions like Easter," said Brett Swensen, Senior Director of Partnerships at Tovala. More industry partnerships are most certainly on the horizon, so stick with us at Deli Market News.
Smart oven and meal maker tovala builds new factory. Tovala, a meal delivery service that markets its food alongside a proprietary countertop smart oven, announced today it will begin construction on a new 140,340 sq. ft. food processing facility in Winfield, Ill. The forthcoming factory, which has been leased and designed in coordination with industrial food development firm Brennan Investment Group, will begin construction next month with completion slated for early 2027. Unlock the articles, expert interviews, and data reports that power the food and beverage industry. Join our community and stay ahead with exclusive insights from BevNET and Nosh.