Senior Product Engineer - Insider - Backend or Fullstack

Faire; Kitchener; On-site; CAD 156,000 - 215,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity and benefits

Hybrid work model

Remote work flexibility

Job summary

Faire is seeking a Senior Engineer to own backend services powering free-shipping coverage, discounts, and the Insider lifecycle for independent retailers.

You will collaborate with Data Science, Product, and Design to ship improvements to the membership experience, run experiments, and drive metrics like enrollment and GMV per Insider. Mentorship and performance improvements are also key.

Qualifications

• 5+ years in backend systems; marketplace experience a plus.
• Proficiency in Kotlin or Java; distributed systems and performance optimization.
• Experience with ML-driven decision systems or real-time data pipelines.
• Strong collaboration with DS, Product, and Design to deliver complex systems.
• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science/Engineering or equivalent experience.

Responsibilities

• Own core Kotlin backend services powering free-shipping coverage and discount delivery.
• Partner with Data Science, Product, and Design to prototype and ship improvements to the membership experience.
• Run experiments to move metrics like enrollment rate and GMV per Insider.
• Ensure Insider value shows up in cart, checkout, discovery, and post-order flow.
• Mentor engineers and raise the bar on design reviews, performance, and architecture.

Skills

Kotlin

Java

Distributed systems

Data-driven decisions

Cross-functional collaboration

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science/Engineering

Tools

JUnit

Hibernate

Guice

Jersey

Job description

About Faire

Faire is a technology wholesale platform built on the belief that the future is local. Independent retailers around the globe collectively represent a multi-hundred-billion-dollar wholesale market that has historically been fragmented and offline. At Faire, we're using the power of tech, data, and machine learning to connect this thriving community of entrepreneurs across the globe. Picture your favorite boutique in town — we help them discover the best products from around the world to sell in their stores. With the right tools and insights, we believe that we can level the playing field so businesses can grow and local communities can thrive.

We’re looking for smart, resourceful and passionate people to join us as we power the shop local movement. If you believe in community, come join ours.

About this Role:

Independent retailers compete with big-box chains on price every day, and losing on landed cost is how they lose a customer for good. Faire's Insider pod owns the membership program that keeps that from happening — free shipping, exclusive discounts, and benefits that make Faire the obvious place for our best retailers to keep buying.

As a Senior Engineer, you'll own the systems that make that promise real: free-shipping coverage, discount targeting, enrollment and activation, and the lifecycle logic that keeps reminding retailers why they joined. When a retailer sees a discount at checkout or gets nudged to renew, that's your code deciding what they see and when.

You're excited about this role because…

• You want to see your code show up directly in what a retailer pays and how they shop, not buried three systems deep
• You're energized by experimentation — you'd rather ship a test and read the data than debate in a room
• You like owning a domain end to end: backend services, the metrics that measure them, and the roadmap that improves them
• You want your work to matter to small business owners, not just to a dashboard

What You'll Do:

• Own core services in our Kotlin backend that power free-shipping coverage, discount delivery, and the Insider lifecycle
• Partner with Data Science, Product, and Design to prototype and ship improvements to the membership experience
• Run experiments that move active Insiders, GMV per Insider, and enrollment rate — and use the results to decide what to build next
• Make sure Insider value shows up everywhere it should: cart, checkout, discovery, and after the order ships
• Mentor engineers and raise the bar on design reviews, performance, and architecture

We’re Excited About You Because You Have:

• Experience: 5+ years in backend systems, with marketplace a nice to have
• Technical Depth: Proficiency in Kotlin, Java, or similar object-oriented languages; comfort with distributed systems, service design, and performance optimization.
• Data Fluency: Experience integrating with ML-driven decision systems, experimentation frameworks, or real-time data pipelines
• Collaboration: Strong communication skills and a track record of partnering with cross-functional stakeholders, from DS to PM, to deliver complex systems.
• Mindset: Curiosity and a drive to understand complex market dynamics; passion for applying data and algorithms to real-world business problems.
• Education: Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science/Engineering or equivalent industry experience.

Technologies We Use and Teach:

• Kotlin, Java, Python
• JUnit, Hibernate, Guice, Jersey
• HTTP, JSON, Protocol Buffers
• MySQL, CockroachDB, Elasticsearch
• AWS

Salary range:

Canada: the pay range for this role is $156,000 - $214,500per year.

This role will also be eligible for equity and benefits. Actual base pay will be determined based on permissible factors such as transferable skills, work experience, market demands, and primary work location. The base pay range provided is subject to change and may be modified in the future.

Hybrid Faire employees currently go into the office 3 days per week on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and a third flex day of their choosing (Monday, Wednesday, or Friday). Additionally, hybrid in-office roles will have the flexibility to work remotely up to 4 weeks per year. Specific Workplace and Information Technology positions may require onsite attendance 5 days per week as will be indicated in the job posting.

Why you’ll love working at Faire

• Move fast: You'll own meaningful problems that serve customers around the globe with the agency to move fast and see your results clearly.
• Equipped to scale: We invest in what matters, including the latest enterprise AI tools, to help you work smarter and get more out of every day.
• Best in class: Our team is full of sharp, kind, and generous colleagues who care about their craft and about helping you grow in yours.
• Real rewards. Competitive pay, equity, and comprehensive benefits designed to support your life inside and outside of work.
• Belonging: We're intentional about building an environment where every Faire employee has equal access to opportunities, growth, and success.

Faire was founded in 2017 by a team of early product and engineering leads from Square. We’re backed by some of the top investors in retail and tech including: Y Combinator, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Forerunner Ventures, Khosla Ventures, Sequoia Capital, Founders Fund, and DST Global. We have headquarters in San Francisco and Kitchener-Waterloo, and a global employee presence across offices in Toronto, London, and New York. To learn more about Faire and our customers, you can read more on our blog.

Faire provides equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, genetics, sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression.

Faire is committed to providing access, equal opportunity and reasonable accommodation for individuals with disabilities in employment, its services, programs, and activities. Accommodations are available throughout the recruitment process and applicants with a disability may request to be accommodated throughout the recruitment process. We will work with all applicants to accommodate their individual accessibility needs. To request reasonable accommodation, please fill out our Accommodation Request Form (https://bit.ly/faire-form)

Privacy

For information about the type of personal data Faire collects from applicants, as well as your choices regarding the data collected about you, please visit Faire’s Privacy Notice (https://www.faire.com/privacy)