Automation Software Engineer · Barrington, IL

Building the software behind restaurants, retail, and automation.

I architect end-to-end IoT to∂ cloud platforms that bridge Quick Service Restaurant operations with next-generation autonomous and unattended retail — from POS systems running in 7,000+ Taco Bell and KFC restaurants to in-restaurant kitchen platforms, and self-service kiosks. Under Vendistax, I also designed, built, and run wash.pet, a live self-serve dog wash, end-to-end — hardware, software, and facility.

See my work Download Résumé
  • 7,000+Taco Bell & KFC POS deployments
  • 20+ yrsEmbedded, mobile & cloud engineering
  • 4Patents & applications
  • 1Business built ground-up — wash.pet

About

Decades of hardware-to-cloud engineering.

I'm an innovative engineering leader with a track record of building end-to-end platforms that bridge Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) operations with next-generation autonomous and unattended retail experiences. I architect scalable IoT-driven ecosystems that power self-service kiosks, commercial kitchen integrations, and industrial automation — enabling frictionless, always-on customer interactions.

With decades of hands-on experience spanning cloud, mobile, embedded, and firmware development, I specialize in transforming complex hardware-software systems into cohesive, production-ready solutions with real-time telemetry, device orchestration, and intuitive user experiences. I hold multiple patent applications and have delivered mission-critical systems for leading brands including Yum! Brands, Taco Bell, and KFC. I'm also an AI-augmented software developer, using tools like GitHub Copilot & Claude CLI as a core part of my day-to-day workflow to build and ship faster without cutting corners.

More recently, I founded wash.pet, a self-serve dog wash operating under Vendistax — a live, production business I own and operate, not a side project. It runs on the same self-service kiosk, payment, and equipment-telemetry systems I build for Vendistax's enterprise clients, with real customers using real hardware every day, and I'm fully accountable for the entire stack end-to-end.

Quick Facts

Based in
Barrington, IL
Focus
IoT, embedded, cloud, mobile
Workflow
AI-augmented development
Languages
Kotlin, C, Java, JS, GraphQL, SQL
Education
B.A. Computer Science, Principia College
Currently
Principal Engineer, Vendistax

Career

Experience

  1. 2025 — Current

    Principal Engineer, Full Stack & Embedded Systems

    Vendistax · Barrington, IL

    • Build distributed edge and IoT systems for real-time operations across QSR and autonomous retail environments, leading both product development and enterprise client delivery.
    • Delivered a scalable IoT platform for managing and monitoring unattended retail dispensing machines. Solution enables remote provisioning, configuration, telemetry, and transaction tracking.
    • Built backend services (Node.js/Express, Redis, MQTT), a React provisioning and management UI, and an Android middleware/SDK for device orchestration.
    • Established a hardware-agnostic abstraction layer (HAL) supporting Modbus, MQTT, TCP, and USB across diverse unattended retail hardware.
    • Founded and operate wash.pet, a Vendistax company — a live self-serve dog wash in Buffalo Grove, IL that serves as a real-world production deployment of Vendistax's kiosk, payment, and equipment-telemetry platform.
  2. Nov 2025 — May 2026

    Engineer, Byte Edge — KFC Next-Gen Kitchen Platform

    Yum! Brands / KFC · via Vendistax

    • Helped design and implement an in-restaurant platform (KFC Edge Platform) integrating POS, Kitchen Display Systems, predictive demand, and ordering for KFC's next-generation kitchen in GoLang.
    • Designed and benchmarked NATS JetStream implementation powering real-time order-event streaming, with event replay support if other kitchen systems went down or were unavailable.
    • Defined, implemented, tested and delivered a client side Node SDK for the KFC Edge platform.
    • Evangelized and implemented GraphQL support for the platform to steer other teams and their domain needs.
  3. 2024 — 2025

    Principal Engineer

    BlueSparq, a Middleby Company · Cape Coral, FL

    • Led the redesign of an Android food-delivery-cabinet application used by QSR restaurants, resolving technical debt and performance issues to improve reliability and scalability.
    • Supported and expanded an automatic soda dispensing machine deployed for Yum! Brands / Taco Bell. Product also won an innovation award at NRA show.
    • Represented the company at industry trade shows, delivering live demos and advising customers on integration strategy.
  4. 2019 — 2024

    Principal Engineer

    Yum! Brands · Chicago, IL

    • Principal engineer on a greenfield "restaurant in a box" POS platform — now known as Byte By Yum!™ — deployed to all 7,000+ Taco Bell U.S. restaurants, integrating in-store servers, kiosks, payment devices, kitchen display screens, and order confirmation boards.
    • Core member of the small team that integrated the POS platform with Yum!'s first Voice-AI-powered drive-thru assistant, now active in 300+ stores.
    • Go-to engineer for all things Couchbase — from in-store POS architecture to synchronization with the Couchbase server cluster.
    • Productionized an automated drink dispensing machine (Yum "Red Innovation Lab"), evolving a proof of concept into a scalable, observable system with enhanced UX — patent pending.
  5. 2018 — 2019

    VP, Android Mobile Development

    GPShopper, a Synchrony Financial Company · Chicago, IL

    • Oversaw mobile platform development for eCommerce apps serving national retail and fashion chains including Foot Locker, Tillys, Shoe Carnival, Ardene, and Boohoo.
    • Supervised a team of nine programmers, coaching individual developers while remaining hands-on with backend integration work.
  6. 2018

    Android Platform Development · Consultant

    Parrish Systems LLC · Barrington, IL

    • Improved BMW's Android app to reduce EV drivers' "range anxiety," factoring vehicle location, battery level, and traffic into points-of-interest recommendations.
    • Led new feature development for REXEL's native Android ecommerce app.
Earlier career — 2006 – 2018
  1. 2016 — 2018

    Mobile App Lead

    Parts Town LLC · Addison, IL

    • Built cloud backend and mobile app for commercial kitchen operators and service technicians using AWS IoT Core, Lambda, Cognito, and DynamoDB.
  2. 2015 — 2016

    Android Consultant

    CNH Industrial · Burr Ridge, IL

    • Built precision-agriculture Java daemons on embedded Linux to monitor and control tractor equipment, plus Android apps to discover and configure it.
  3. 2014 — 2015

    Senior Android Software Developer

    ContextMedia Health LLC · Chicago, IL

    • Led Android and Linux software for media players and interactive kiosks; integrated Ruby on Rails for remote device management.
  4. 2006 — 2014

    Principal Android and Linux Software Engineer

    D2 Technologies · Barrington, IL

    • Extended the Google Android SDK with native C (NDK) modules delivering VoLTE, RCSe, and RCS communication capabilities.

Selected Work

Projects

A mix of large-scale food-industry platforms and one small business built from scratch.

Founder A Vendistax Company Full-Stack + Embedded + Facility Build

wash.pet

Self-Serve Dog Wash · 1505 W. Dundee Rd, Buffalo Grove, IL

Founded and built wash.pet end-to-end under Vendistax — from the village-approved facility construction to every layer of software and hardware running each wash bay, unattended, 24/7. It's a live, revenue-producing deployment of Vendistax's kiosk and IoT platform, not a side project.

Visit wash.pet →
  • Built a purpose-built POS/kiosk Android app (Kotlin, Jetpack Compose) with integrated automation control, letting customers start, monitor, and pay for a wash cycle from a single touchscreen.
  • Wrote C firmware running on a PLC to drive mission-critical dog wash operations — water, soap, and dryer sequencing — engineered for reliable, unattended operation.
  • Designed the control panels for the water and dryer systems with industrial hardware, translating operational requirements directly into physical control circuitry.
  • Built a Node.js backend plus an MQTT and Apache Superset backed analytics/telemetry platform to monitor wash bay health, usage, and machine status in real time across the facility.
  • Integrated EMV payment devices directly into the POS app and up through backend cloud services for end-to-end transaction processing.
  • Designed the facility's plumbing and electrical systems, submitted plans for village approval, and custom-built all hardware installed on site.
  • Kotlin / Jetpack Compose
  • C (PLC Firmware)
  • Node.js
  • PostgreSQL
  • MQTT & Modbus
  • EMV Payment Integration
  • AWS Services
  • Plumbing & Electrical Design
Food IndustryYum! Brands · Taco Bell

Byte By Yum!™ POS Platform

Principal engineer on a greenfield "restaurant in a box" POS platform deployed to every Taco Bell restaurant in the U.S. — 7,000+ locations — integrating in-store servers, kiosks, payment devices, and kitchen display systems. Owned the Couchbase implementation for in-store clients that sync to the server cluster.

  • Kotlin
  • Couchbase
  • GraphQL
Food IndustryYum! Brands · KFC

Byte Edge — KFC Next-Gen Kitchen Platform

Coded an in-restaurant platform behind KFC's next-generation kitchen, integrating POS, Kitchen Display Systems, predictive demand, and ordering into one real-time platform — including evangelizing and implementing GraphQL support for orders and live order-event streaming over NATS JetStream. Benchmarked and designed the NATS implementation to deliver real-time updates with the ability to replay events if other kitchen systems went down or were unavailable. Defined, implemented, and tested the client side SDK for the KFC Edge platform.

  • Go
  • GraphQL
  • Mongo
  • NATS JetStream
  • TypeScript SDK
Food IndustryYum! · BlueSparq

Automated Drink Dispensing Machine

Took a proof-of-concept automated drink dispenser from Yum!'s "Red Innovation Lab" to a scalable, observable production system with a redesigned UX, deployed for Taco Bell. Later supported the commercialized version at BlueSparq. GUI is the subject of a design patent application.

  • Android
  • Embedded
  • IoT Telemetry
  • MQTT
IoTAutonomous Retail

Vendistax Autonomous Retail & IoT Platform

Architected a scalable IoT platform for smart unattended retail dispensing machines, supporting remote provisioning, configuration, telemetry, and transaction tracking across custom hardware.

  • Node.js
  • React
  • MQTT
  • Redis
  • Apache Superset
  • Android SDK
  • PostgreSQL
Food IndustryParts Town

Commercial Kitchen Field-Service Platform

Built the cloud backend and mobile app connecting commercial kitchen operators and service technicians to an IoT network of kitchen equipment, using AWS IoT Core, Lambda, and DynamoDB.

  • AWS IoT Core
  • Lambda
  • DynamoDB

Toolbox

Skills & Technical Proficiencies

Languages

  • Kotlin
  • C
  • Java
  • JavaScript
  • GraphQL
  • SQL

Development Tools

  • Unix / Linux
  • VS Code
  • JetBrains
  • Android Studio
  • Android NDK
  • Git
  • Atlassian
  • GitHub Copilot
  • Docker

Databases, Cloud & Frameworks

  • Couchbase
  • PostgreSQL
  • Datadog
  • Cloud Firestore
  • Amazon IoT
  • DynamoDB
  • API Gateway
  • Lambda
  • EC2
  • S3
  • MQTT Brokers
  • Kafka
  • NATS.io

Patents & Applications

  • App. 29/958,027 — Display Screen or Portion Thereof With Graphical User Interface for Automated Drink Dispensing Machine
  • Patent 9,107,049 — Methods and Systems of Advanced Real-time IP Communication in a Mobile Terminal
  • App. 20140079023 — Method of Internet Protocol (IP) to IP Handover
  • App. 20090113460 — Systems and Methods for Providing a Generic Interface in a Communications Environment

Get In Touch

Let's talk

Open to principal / staff engineering roles, consulting, and conversations about automation, IoT, and QSR technology.

parrishsteve2000@yahoo.com linkedin.com/in/steve-parrish wash.pet

Barrington, IL