Sr. Staff Backend Engineer

coupanginternal; Seattle (WA); On-site; USD 140,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

Coupang is seeking a senior backend engineer to drive the growth data platform for our Marketplace. You will design and implement scalable streaming data processing, build high-performance pipelines, and own architectural roadmaps to meet evolving needs.

You will lead with Java and Spring in AWS, partner with cross-functional teams, and mentor others while improving reliability, performance, and data quality across the Growth Engineering organization.

Qualifications

• 8+ years backend software development experience.
• Bachelor's degree in CS/EE/Math or related field.
• Proficiency in Java and the Spring Framework.
• Experience in AWS cloud environments.
• Experience building highly available distributed systems.

Responsibilities

• Design, develop, and automate large-scale, high-performance streaming data processing systems to drive business growth and enhance product experiences.
• Build scalable data infrastructure and pipelines using best-in-class software engineering practices.
• Develop optimal data models for storage and retrieval, meeting critical product and business requirements.
• Take full ownership of projects, ensuring high-quality development and operational health.
• Establish and execute short- and long-term architectural roadmaps to meet evolving business needs.
• Drive continuous improvements in data platform efficiency, flexibility, and scalability, while maintaining customer trust, performance, and availability.
• Contribute to shared data engineering tools and standards to enhance productivity and quality across Growth Engineering and Coupang as a whole.
• Functionally decompose complex problems into straightforward, maintainable solutions.
• Provide technical leadership across teams, sharing expertise to increase overall productivity and drive technical excellence.

Skills

Leadership

Communication

Agile

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or related field

Tools

Java

Spring Framework

AWS

NoSQL

Kafka

Elasticsearch

Iceberg

ClickHouse

Spark

Flink

Job description

We exist to wow our customers. We know we're doing the right thing when we hear our customers say, "How did we ever live without Coupang?" Born out of an obsession to make shopping, eating, and living easier than ever, we're collectively disrupting the multi-billion-dollar e-commerce industry from the ground up. We are one of the fastest-growing e-commerce companies that established an unparalleled reputation for being a dominant and reliable force in South Korean commerce.

We are proud to have the best of both worlds - a startup culture with the resources of a large global public company. This fuels us to continue our growth and launch new services at the speed we have been since our inception. We are all entrepreneurs surrounded by opportunities to drive new initiatives and innovations. At our core, we are bold and ambitious people that like to get our hands dirty and make a hands-on impact. At Coupang, you will see yourself, your colleagues, your team, and the company grow every day.

Our mission to build the future of commerce is real. We push the boundaries of what's possible to solve problems and break traditional tradeoffs. Join Coupang now to create an epic experience in this always-on, high-tech, and hyper-connected world.

Role Overview

The Marketplace Growth Engineering team is dedicated to the success of third-party sellers on our platform. Our mission is to build the end-to-end, scalable, and intelligent systems that empower sellers to thrive. We create the tools, services, and data platforms that form the backbone of the seller experience, from intuitive user interfaces to high-performance backend processing.

What You Will Do

• Design, develop, and automate large-scale, high-performance streaming data processing systems to drive business growth and enhance product experiences.
• Build scalable data infrastructure and pipelines using best-in-class software engineering practices.
• Develop optimal data models for storage and retrieval, meeting critical product and business requirements.
• Take full ownership of projects, ensuring high-quality development and operational health.
• Establish and execute short- and long-term architectural roadmaps to meet evolving business needs.
• Drive continuous improvements in data platform efficiency, flexibility, and scalability, while maintaining customer trust, performance, and availability.
• Contribute to shared data engineering tools and standards to enhance productivity and quality across Growth Engineering and Coupang as a whole.
• Functionally decompose complex problems into straightforward, maintainable solutions.
• Provide technical leadership across teams, sharing expertise to increase overall productivity and drive technical excellence.

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in computer science, Electrical Engineering, Math, or a closely related field
• 8 years of experience in backend software development
• Proficiency in Java and the Spring Framework
• Experience working in cloud environments, particularly AWS
• Demonstrated experience in building and maintaining highly available, distributed systems

Preferred Qualifications

• 10+ years of professional software development experience.
• 5+ years of experience building data-related products with proficiency in Spark, Flink, Spring, and Java.
• Strong expertise in open-source frameworks and technologies, including Spring, AWS, APIs, NoSQL, and Big Data technologies such as Kafka, Elasticsearch, Iceberg, and ClickHouse.
• Exceptional coding skills, with a focus on data structures, algorithms, problem-solving, refactoring, performance optimization, and complexity analysis.
• Experience designing, implementing, and maintaining distributed systems at scale, making trade-offs based on business demands.
• A self-starter mindset, with the ability to thrive in environments with evolving priorities and unclear requirements.
• Comfortable working in an agile, fast-paced environment.
• Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science or a related field.
• Proven success in taking a leading role in building and delivering complex software systems.
• Experience working with internet-scale datasets.
• Strong communication skills, with the ability to gather requirements and collaborate with users, technical teams, and senior management.
• Experience influencing software engineering best practices across teams.
• Hands-on expertise with a wide range of technologies, spanning front-end interfaces to back-end syste