Category Associate - New Grad Business Program

Whatnot Inc.; Northern (KY); Hybrid; USD 55,000 - 85,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health Insurance

Remote work

Home office setup allowance

Monthly device/internet stipend

Parental leave

401(k) matching

Dogfooding program

Wellness stipend

Job summary

Whatnot is seeking a Category Associate to learn how a fast-growing marketplace operates by owning real relationships and business outcomes from day one. You'll handle seller outreach, onboarding, relationship management, and growth initiatives across a category on our Launch team.

After two years, you'll specialize and grow into a leadership path within Whatnot. You'll be the face of Whatnot for the seller community, leverage social channels, and use basic data analytics to drive insights and

Qualifications

• Internship experience in a fast-paced, client-facing role.
• Curious, action-oriented with bias toward delivering outcomes.
• Experience using data to drive business insights.
• Ability to own strategy and execution across a marketplace.

Responsibilities

• Become the go-to expert on your category.
• Seller outreach and onboarding.
• Relationship management with top sellers and partners.
• Marketing and growth initiatives.
• Data analytics to derive insights and improve processes.

Skills

Category management

Seller outreach

Relationship building

Data analytics

SQL

Project management

Internship experience

Client-facing

Education

Bachelor's degree in progress

Tools

CRM software

Social media outreach tools

Job description

Join the Future of Commerce with Whatnot!

Whatnot is the largest live shopping platform in North America and Europe to buy, sell, and discover the things you love. Whether it's trading cards, fashion, electronics, or live plants, our sellers are building real businesses across hundreds of categories. We're building live commerce at a scale that's never been done in the West, and there's no playbook to copy. The people here are shaping how an entirely new industry develops.

As a remote co-located team, we're inspired by our values and anchored in hubs across the US, UK, Ireland, Poland, Germany, and Australia. We move fast, stay close to our users, and focus on the work that drives the most impact.

We're one of fastest growing marketplaces and were recently named the #1 Best Startup Employer in America by Forbes. Check out the latest Whatnot updates on our news and engineering blogs and join us as we enable anyone to turn their passion into a business and bring people together through commerce.

Role

The Category Associate role is built for people who want to learn how a fast growing marketplace works not from the sidelines, but by owning real relationships and real business outcomes from day one.

How it works:

• Years 1–2: Build a foundational toolkit across our core functions; seller outreach and onboarding, relationship management, marketing, and data analytics. You'll learn what it takes to build a great business at Whatnot by owning a high-growth category on our Launch team.

• After 2 years: You'll specialize. Based on your interests and business needs, you'll be placed into a mature category or function where you'll go deep, become a true expert and build a path toward future leadership at Whatnot.

Responsibilities include:

Go-to expert of your category

• Become the go-to expert on your category, including seller/buyer dynamics, community channels, influencers, and product nuances

• Become the face of Whatnot for the community of sellers and buyers that you represent

Seller outreach and onboarding

• Source and reach out to sellers to convince them to join and grow their business on Whatnot. Leverage social media, outbound channels, and in person events

Relationship management

• Partner with top sellers and strategic partners to build big businesses on Whatnot

• Build and execute seller growth plans to unlock category growth

Marketing and growth

• Spearhead diverse marketing initiatives, such as influencer partnerships, to boost brand awareness and attract more buyers

Data analytics

• Use basic data analytics skills (SQL) to derive insights from projects and enhance process efficiency

• Utilize key data points to assess category growth, success, and areas for improvement, driving continuous iteration

We offer flexibility to work from home or from one of our global office hubs, and we value in-person time for planning, problem-solving, and connection. Team members in this role must live within commuting distance of one of our hubs; New York City, San Francisco, Los Angeles.

You

People who do well at Whatnot tend to be comfortable figuring things out as they go, biased toward action, and genuinely curious about what they're building. They care more about outcomes than credit and stay close to the product and the people using it.

• Graduating by Summer 2027

• You have a passion for our mission at Whatnot—you live and breathe the needs of our communities and work relentlessly to improve their experiences on Whatnot

• You have internship experience working in a fast-paced, client-facing role, and a track record of working quickly and iteratively

• You are scrappy and flexible enough to work in an ambiguous environment with limited guidance

• You are a problem solver with strong project management skills and the ability to fully own strategy and execution on both sides of an emerging marketplace

• You have business acumen, are deeply analytical, and comfortable understanding and manipulating data to gain and take action on business insights

• You're excited by the idea of building a broad toolkit before specializing — you want breadth first, depth second

Benefits

• Generous Holiday and Time off Policy

• Health Insurance options including Medical, Dental, Vision

• Work From Home Support

  • Home office setup allowance

  • Monthly allowance for cell phone and internet

• Care benefits

  • Monthly allowance for wellness

  • Annual allowance towards Childcare

  • Lifetime benefit for family planning, such as adoption or fertility expenses

• Retirement; 401k offering for Traditional and Roth accounts in the US (employer match up to 4% of base salary) and Pension plans internationally

• Monthly allowance to dogfood the app

  • All Whatnauts are expected to develop a deep understanding of our product. We're passionate about building the best user experience, and all employees are expected to use Whatnot as both a buyer and a seller as part of their job (our dogfooding budget makes this fun and easy!).

• Parental Leave

  • 16 weeks of paid parental leave + one month gradual return to work *company leave allowances run concurrently with country leave requirements which take precedence.

EOE

Whatnot is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. We value diversity, and we do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, parental status, disability status, or any other status protected by local law. We believe that our work is better and our company culture is improved when we encourage, support, and respect the different skills and experiences represented within our workforce.