Full-Time
Director of Engineering
PHP & Laravel
Posted on 1/12/2026
Insomnia Cookies
1,001-5,000 employees
Late-night delivery of cookies to students
No salary listed
Philadelphia, PA, USA
Hybrid
Relocation assistance available to move to the Greater Philadelphia area.
 Software Engineering (1) |
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- 7+ years in full-stack development with increasing levels of responsibility; 2+ years in people leadership, ideally in fast-paced or high-growth environments
- Strong proficiency in full-stack web development, especially with ReactJS and PHP/Laravel
- Proven experience managing, mentoring, and scaling engineering teams
- Deep understanding of modern engineering principles, including object-oriented programming, testing strategies, and agile development
- Familiarity with tools or approaches that enhance developer efficiency—whether through AI copilots, DevOps automation, or architectural simplification
- Excellent communication skills and ability to translate technical concepts for non-technical stakeholders
- Track record of launching and scaling digital products, especially in ecommerce or omnichannel consumer brands
- Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related technical field (or equivalent work experience)
- Lead, coach, and grow a team of engineering leads and their direct reports, creating an environment of accountability, collaboration, and continuous learning
- Cultivate an engineering culture focused on innovation, speed, and quality—balancing long-term architecture with near-term delivery
- Own the technical rhythm of the team: rituals, code quality, reviews, standups, and release cadence
- Encourage experimentation and exploration of emerging technologies, including AI tooling, to improve developer velocity and product performance
- Establish and maintain engineering best practices, code quality standards, and architectural consistency across teams
- Partner with the VP of Digital Product & Development to ensure seamless execution of the product roadmap and sprint planning
- Champion agile methodologies, promote cross-functional collaboration, and streamline development operations
- Lead development across the full stack (ReactJS, PHP/Laravel, MySQL) with deep involvement in architecture, performance optimization, and scaling
- Evaluate and implement modern tooling, patterns, and frameworks to keep our platform cutting-edge, including cloud infrastructure improvements, system integrations, and CI/CD enhancements
- Drive adoption of developer productivity tools and testing automation to reduce friction and improve release confidence
- Oversee code reviews, release cycles, testing coverage, and post-release monitoring to uphold high quality and reliability
- Contribute to the technology strategy and participate in long-term planning with product, design, and data teams
- Identify areas for innovation and optimization across frontend, backend, APIs, and infrastructure
- Actively collaborate on platform modernization and refactoring initiatives that improve performance and reduce technical debt
- Stay ahead of trends in software engineering and propose new methods to boost reliability, speed, and team effectiveness
- Build a healthy engineering culture grounded in transparency, innovation, and ownership
- Provide career development support and mentorship to engineers and leads
- Champion inclusivity and diversity within the engineering team
- Experience with Postgres
- Open to exploring new stacks and tools where they provide meaningful business or developer productivity gains
Insomnia Cookies delivers warm, freshly baked cookies late at night, mainly to college students, through a mix of company-owned bakeries and franchised locations. Cookies are baked on-site and delivered or available for pickup, focusing on a late-night window to ensure warm, fresh treats. The company differentiates itself with a dedicated late-night delivery niche and a scalable franchise program that provides standardized systems, training, and marketing support. Its goal is to grow both company locations and franchisees to expand its footprint and revenue as the top choice for late-night, warm cookies.
Company Size
1,001-5,000
Company Stage
Acquired
Total Funding
$631.8M
Headquarters
East Norriton Township, Pennsylvania
Founded
2003
Simplify's Take
What believers are saying
- The chain reached **362 U.S. stores** after the May 2026 Philadelphia opening.
- Management targets **50-75 new bakeries annually**, supporting sustained unit growth.
- Limited-time collaborations like Hostess and M3GAN 2.0 drive seasonal traffic and repeat visits.
What critics are saying
- Aggressive expansion to **1,800 stores** strains leases, labor, and nighttime execution.
- Heavy promotion use trains customers to wait for discounts, compressing margins.
- Late-night delivery increases food-safety, contamination, and reputational risk across the chain.
What makes Insomnia Cookies unique
- Insomnia owns **warm, late-night cookie delivery** across college-town and urban markets.
- Founder Seth Berkowitz launched it in 2003 from a University of Pennsylvania dorm room.
- Its branded operations emphasize heat-retaining packaging and speed-optimized logistics.
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People at Insomnia Cookies who can refer or advise you
Benefits
Health Insurance
Dental Insurance
Vision Insurance
Pet Insurance
401(k) Company Match
Paid Vacation
Unlimited Paid Time Off
Hybrid Work Options
Growth & Insights and Company News
6 month growth
↑ 0%1 year growth
↑ 0%2 year growth
↑ 14%Insomnia Cookies, founded by CEO Seth Berkowitz in 2003 as a University of Pennsylvania student craving late-night treats, has expanded to 370 locations globally and plans to reach 1,800 stores within eight years. The company targets 50-75 new bakeries annually, focusing on college campuses, cities and suburban markets. The brand's core business remains Saturday nights at 1am, though it has expanded to daytime consumers. Insomnia operates primarily near college campuses and late-night thoroughfares, competing alongside pizza and sandwich chains whilst maintaining its cookie-focused approach. Previously owned by Krispy Kreme for six years, the company is now held by private equity firms Mistral Equity Partners and Verlinvest, alongside Berkowitz. The founder credits staying disciplined and focusing on warm cookie delivery as key to the brand's longevity in a competitive sweet treats market.
Insomnia Cookies introduces protein-packed cookies for March Madness. 03.11.2026 March Madness and NCAA Tournament bracket season is here, and Insomnia Cookies is leaning into late-night energy with a new lineup of limited-edition cookies designed to keep watch parties fueled from tip-off to final buzzer. The late-night bakery chain has announced the launch of two new protein-packed warm cookies with up to 10g of protein per cookie. The new flavors include: * Loaded Cookie Butter Deluxe - This cookie butter cookie is filled with even more melty cookie butter and topped with Biscoff cookie crumbs, and is packed with 11 grams of protein * Double Chocolate Cookie Dough Deluxe - This deluxe-sized Double Chocolate Chunk cookie has a chocolate chip cookie dough filling and is packed with 10 grams of protein Starting March 15, fans will also be able to score the new "Snack Madness" limited edition cookie box, with two interactive brackets on the inside of the box for double the madness. Additionally, Insomnia Rewards members can score a cookie deal starting March 17-20 by wearing college apparel in-store to receive a buy-one-get-one free warm Classic cookie with purchase. Get better retail baking industry search results. Adding BakeMag tells Google to prioritize bake stories.
Insomnia Cookies opens second Long Island store. The new 875-square-foot store at 55 Deer Park Ave. is the chain's second on Long Island, following one at 730 Fulton Ave. in Hempstead that opened two years ago. Catering to those with late-night munchies, the concept began in 2003 in Seth Berkowitz's dorm room at the University of Pennsylvania, with the idea of delivering fresh and warm cookies to fellow college students. In 2006, the company opened its first brick-and-mortar location in Syracuse and the chain has since expanded to more than 380 locations across the U.S. Insomnia Cookies offers a wide variety of cookies, ice cream, and ice cream cakes in-store, for local delivery, and ships its cookies nationwide. The Babylon store, which had a soft opening this week, is open from 11 a.m. to 1 a.m. on Mondays through Thursdays, from 11 a.m. to 3 a.m. on Fridays, from noon to 3 a.m. on Saturdays, and from noon to 1 a.m. on Sundays. To mark the Babylon grand opening, customers who visit the new store from noon on Saturday, March 14 until 3 a.m. the next morning will receive a free cookie. Dan Bodner of Alvarez & Marsala Property Solutions represented Insomnia Cookies, while Jamie Winkler of Winkler Real Estate represented the landlord, Gabrielle Realty Corp., in the lease transaction. Winkler also represented the business in getting its approvals from the Village of Babylon. "This is the first Insomnia Cookies opened in Suffolk County," Winkler told LIBN. "This well-known cookie company will be a great addition to the village and I was happy to have been a part of getting them to open here."
Insomnia Cookies announced they will be opening a location in Eau Claire.
Insomnia Cookies aims to open Stamford store by end of the year.