Senior Software Engineer

Whatnot; Los Angeles (CA); Hybrid; USD 170,000 - 230,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health Insurance

Work From Home

401k matching

Parental Leave

Dogfooding budget

Job summary

Whatnot in the United States is seeking a Senior Software Engineer to own design and delivery of scalable product and platform systems powering a fast-growing marketplace. You will partner with Product, Design, Data, and Engineering to turn ambiguous problems into reliable, maintainable solutions across buyer and seller experiences.

Our distributed teams value speed and quality, operate large backend and frontend systems in Python, Elixir, and JavaScript, and offer flexible work from home with

Qualifications

• 5+ years of full-time software engineering experience.
• Experience building and operating scalable backend or full-stack systems in production.
• Track record of independently owning complex technical projects from design through launch.
• Experience breaking down ambiguous product or platform problems into practical technical solutions.

Responsibilities

• Design, build, and operate scalable distributed systems that power core marketplace experiences.
• Own complex technical projects from inception through production, balancing speed, reliability, and long-term maintainability.
• Break down ambiguous product and platform problems into clear technical solutions and drive them to completion.
• Lead the engineering execution of projects, coordinating with multiple engineers and cross-functional partners to deliver high-impact outcomes.
• Raise the technical bar through thoughtful code reviews, design discussions, operational excellence, and mentorship.
• Make pragmatic technical decisions that enable the team to move quickly while building for long-term scale.
• Continuously identify opportunities to improve developer velocity, system reliability, and customer experience.

Skills

Senior Software Engineer

Backend Systems

Distributed Systems

Leadership

Tools

Python

Elixir

JavaScript

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 the 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

We're hiring Senior Software Engineers across multiple engineering pillars at Whatnot — including Buyer Growth, Seller Growth, Trust & Risk, Discovery & Personalization, Search, Customer Experience, and Core Infrastructure.

As a Senior Software Engineer, you'll own the design and delivery of complex product and platform systems that power one of the fastest-growing marketplaces in the world. You'll partner closely with Product, Design, Data, and Engineering to turn ambiguous problems into scalable solutions that create meaningful impact for millions of buyers and sellers.

Our engineering teams are rebuilding and evolving large distributed systems to support rapid growth, increasing marketplace complexity, and real-time commerce at global scale. You'll play a key role in shaping these systems while helping your team move quickly without compromising technical quality.

What You’ll Do:

• Design, build, and operate scalable distributed systems that power core marketplace experiences.
• Own complex technical projects from inception through production, balancing speed, reliability, and long-term maintainability.
• Break down ambiguous product and platform problems into clear technical solutions and drive them to completion.
• Lead the engineering execution of projects, coordinating with multiple engineers and cross-functional partners to deliver high-impact outcomes.
• Raise the technical bar through thoughtful code reviews, design discussions, operational excellence, and mentorship.
• Make pragmatic technical decisions that enable the team to move quickly while building for long-term scale.
• Continuously identify opportunities to improve developer velocity, system reliability, and customer experience.

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 our Los Angeles, New York City, San Francisco, or Seattle hub.

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.

As our next Senior Software Engineer, you likely have:

• 5+ years of full-time software engineering experience, ideally in high-growth technology companies.
• Experience building and operating scalable backend or full-stack systems in production.
• A track record of independently owning complex technical projects from design through launch.
• Experience breaking down ambiguous product or platform problems into practical technical solutions.
• Strong system design skills and experience building reliable, maintainable distributed systems.
• The ability to lead engineering execution for initiatives involving multiple engineers while partnering effectively with Product, Design, Data Science, and other cross-functional teams.
• A strong bias toward action—you move with urgency, make thoughtful trade-offs, and consistently deliver high-impact work.
• Excellent product instincts. You prioritize customer and business impact and can clearly articulate why the work you're doing matters.
• The ability to solve new and unfamiliar technical challenges with a high degree of autonomy.
• A track record of mentoring teammates and contributing to a collaborative, high-performing engineering culture.

Technical Environment:
We primarily use Python, Elixir, and JavaScript across backend and frontend systems, with infrastructure powered by modern cloud and data platforms. Experience with these technologies is a plus, but we care most about strong engineering fundamentals and the ability to learn quickly.

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.