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Staff Software Engineer

Whatnot· Engineering
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Hybrid (Los Angeles, CA / New York, NY / San Francisco, CA / Seattle, WA)$230k - $290kFull-timePosted 4w ago

About the role

Staff Engineer role at Whatnot with focus on leading design and evolution of large distributed systems powering live auctions, payments, search, recommendations, trust, growth funnels, and more. High-impact technical leadership across multiple pillars with ownership of architecture and cross-team initiatives.

Responsibilities

  • Lead the design and evolution of large, distributed systems that power live auctions, payments, search, recommendations, trust systems, growth funnels, and more.
  • Own ambiguous, high-leverage technical problems from inception to production — and set the long-term architectural direction.
  • Act as the technical lead for major initiatives, driving alignment across multiple teams without formal management authority.
  • Balance urgency and technical excellence, making principled trade-offs that unlock rapid iteration without sacrificing long-term scalability.
  • Raise the engineering bar through design reviews, mentorship, and hands-on contributions to critical systems.
  • Partner with leadership to identify the highest-impact investments for scaling reliability, performance, and developer velocity.
  • Help Whatnot scale through its next phase of hypergrowth, ensuring our systems remain resilient as we expand globally.

Qualifications

  • Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
  • 8+ years of full-time software engineering experience, including experience at high-growth technology companies with significant YoY growth.
  • Proven track record of leading large technical initiatives in fast-scaling environments.
  • Experience designing and evolving distributed systems at scale (service-oriented architectures, event-driven systems, real-time systems, high-throughput APIs, data pipelines).
  • Strong backend and frontend development foundation; comfortable across layers and integrating systems end-to-end (Python, Elixir, JavaScript).
  • Strong sense of urgency and ownership; know when to dive deep vs. drive alignment.
  • Ability to act as technical lead without direct people management responsibility.
  • Experience influencing architecture and technical strategy across multiple teams.
  • Excellent product instincts and understanding of business impact of technical decisions.
  • Ability to operate effectively in ambiguity and bring structure to complex spaces.
  • Track record of mentoring engineers and elevating engineering quality.

Skills

Required:Distributed systems designBackend and frontend developmentArchitectural leadership

Benefits

  • Generous Holiday and Time off Policy
  • Health Insurance options including Medical, Dental, Vision
  • Work From Home Support
  • Care benefits
  • Retirement; 401k with employer match up to 4% (US) and Pension plans internationally
  • Monthly allowance to dogfood the app
  • Parental Leave
Last updated Oct 21, 2026. Interested? Apply on the company site.
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About Whatnot

Whatnot is the largest livestream shopping platform in the U.S.

Whatnot is the largest livestream shopping platform in the U.S., connecting buyers and sellers in real-time across any category – from collectibles like trading cards to comics, fashion, sneakers, and more.

marketplacee-commerce
Company profileWebsite

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