Junior Forward Deployed Engineer (Oahu)

Junior Forward Deployed Engineer (Oahu)

Oahu, Hawai‘i | On-Site

Pay Range: $60,000–$70,000/year. Relevant experience will be highly considered in actual wage.

Who We Are

At HFA, we’re proud to be Hawai‘i’s largest local supplier of perishable foods and logistics, serving grocers, retailers, and club chains across the islands. Our team is at the heart of our success, and we invest in our people by creating opportunities to grow, lead, and innovate.

Grow with us. Thrive with us. Join the HFA ‘ohana.

About the Role

We are seeking a Junior Forward Deployed Engineer to build practical, high-impact software in close partnership with the teams who use it. You’ll work at the intersection of engineering and business operations—learning real-world workflows, translating business needs into technical solutions, and helping carry those solutions from prototype through deployment and adoption.

You’ll spend part of your time working directly with internal stakeholders and operational teams and part building alongside the engineering team. You’ll receive mentorship from senior engineers while contributing across frontend development, backend services, APIs, integrations, databases, testing, deployment, and ongoing improvement.

The ideal candidate is curious, collaborative, and resourceful. You enjoy asking questions, learning how a business works, and using modern development practices—including AI-assisted tools and automation—to solve meaningful problems.

Applicants must currently reside on Oahu, Hawai‘i. This position is based on-site at our Oahu office.

Application Requirement: Please submit a tailored cover letter outlining your relevant experience, technical skills, and interest in this position.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Work directly with internal stakeholders and operational teams to understand workflows, constraints, and pain points.
• Observe how existing systems and processes support daily operations.
• Help translate user needs and ambiguous business problems into appropriately scoped technical requirements.
• Assist in designing, building, testing, and maintaining full-stack applications, APIs, integrations, automations, and databases.
• Create prototypes, gather feedback from users, and iterate toward dependable production solutions.
• Write clean, well-structured code using modern development frameworks and tools.
• Support deployments through documentation, demonstrations, user training, and post-launch follow-up.
• Help troubleshoot software, data, workflow, and integration issues.
• Communicate progress, questions, and technical concepts clearly to technical and non-technical teammates.
• Participate in code reviews, pair programming, testing, and design discussions.
• Use AI-assisted development and automation tools responsibly to improve productivity and internal workflows.
• Continue improving deployed solutions as business needs and user feedback evolve.

Qualifications

• 0–2 years of professional experience or equivalent experience through internships, apprenticeships, bootcamps, academic work, or personal projects.
• Exposure to building full-stack applications or meaningful projects demonstrating full-stack concepts.
• Basic experience with frontend technologies such as JavaScript, HTML, and CSS.
• Familiarity with at least one backend language or framework, such as Java, Spring, or similar.
• Introductory experience building or consuming RESTful APIs.
• Basic understanding of SQL databases and data concepts.
• Familiarity with Git or another version-control system.
• Ability to test and debug technical problems with guidance.
• Curiosity about how software supports real business processes.
• Comfort working through requirements that may not be fully defined at the outset.
• Clear written and verbal communication skills.
• Strong listening skills and comfort asking questions, receiving feedback, and explaining technical ideas in plain language.
• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Systems, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
• Must currently reside on Oahu, Hawai‘i.
• Enthusiasm for learning, growing your technical skills, and contributing to systems that support daily business operations.