Software Engineer, AI Engineer (Applied​/Software), Backend Developer

Who We Are

At Jonny Pops, our team is empowered to make an impact at work every day — from producing high-quality, innovative frozen novelties to spreading kindness one pop at a time. We look for bright, ambitious people who seek out challenges, thrive in fast-paced, high-growth environments, align with our core values, and get fulfillment from seeing their work transform the world around them.

Founded in 2012 and headquartered in Elk River, MN, Jonny Pops is the #1 frozen novelty brand in the Natural Channel, growing 60%+ YTD in 2026. We manufacture in-house at our SQF Certified facility and operate a corporate office in Plymouth, MN. We are building an in-house team to make Jonny Pops an AI‑Native business, and we are looking for curious, growth-minded engineers who want to learn fast, contribute from day one, and grow alongside a brand that is going places.

Jonny Pops is making a dedicated commitment to building an AI‑Native business — sponsored directly by our co‑founders and executive team. We are standing up a small, in‑house, cross‑functional team purpose‑built to ideate, prototype, deploy, and sustain AI‑Native solutions across the company. This is not side‑of‑desk experimentation; it is a focused team with a company committed to innovation and growth that is equipped with a clear mandate to help reinvent the manufacturing CPG business model.

The Senior Software Engineer is a founding technical member of that team. You will not just write code — you will design how an AI‑Native company actually runs, building the agentic workflows, applications, and infrastructure that compound into durable productivity, yield, and capability advantages for the business. The time is now, and you will be one of the people who builds it.

Jonny Pops is looking for a Software Engineer to join its AI Initiative as a hands‑on contributor. Working closely with the AI Initiative team, you will help build and maintain the agentic workflows, AI‑powered tools, automations, and data flows that make the business run more intelligently. This is a great role for someone with a solid technical foundation who is ready to apply and grow their skills on work that the business actually relies on.

• Direct Manager: Chief Financial Officer, who currently serves as Team Lead of the AI Initiative.
• Day-to-Day Technical Lead: Senior Software Engineer, who provides mentorship, code review, and direction; the Principal Technology Engineer also supports your growth.
• Run-the-Business Systems: The Director of IT (dotted line) owns existing systems and infrastructure so this team can stay focused on the AI‑Native build.
• Cross-Functional Partners: Finance & Accounting, HR & Office, Operations, Supply Chain, Manufacturing, GTM / Commercial.

• Plymouth, MN (corporate office) primary, with occasional visits to the Elk River manufacturing facility.
• Full-time; standard business hours.
• Based in the Minneapolis—St. Paul metro. Relocation may be considered for an exceptional candidate.

• Build, test, and maintain agentic AI workflows, automations, and AI‑powered internal tools under the guidance of the Senior Software Engineer.
• Use Claude Code as part of your daily workflow to plan, write, debug, and iterate on code; learn to configure project‑level context and navigate unfamiliar codebases with confidence.
• Grow your proficiency with the Anthropic API and Claude Agent SDK over time, contributing to AI‑powered tools and agents as your skills develop.
• Embrace an AI‑first development mindset — bringing curiosity and openness to tools that help the team move faster and build better.

• Build and maintain API connections, webhooks, and data flows that let AI‑Native solutions interact with core systems (Net Suite, Microsoft 365, Red Zone, and other SaaS tools).
• Contribute to internal web apps, dashboards, and workflow automations that deliver measurable productivity gains for Finance, HR, Operations, and other teams.
• Help troubleshoot and resolve issues in deployed agents and tools; communicate clearly…