Software Engineer (Python)

About The Company

Join the Future of Commerce with Whatnot! Whatnot is the largest live shopping platform in North America and Europe dedicated to enabling users to buy, sell, and discover items they love. We are revolutionizing the e-commerce landscape by seamlessly blending community engagement, entertainment, and shopping into a unique and dynamic experience. Our innovative platform caters to a wide range of interests, from fashion, beauty, and electronics to collectibles such as trading cards, comic books, and even live plants, offering something for everyone through engaging live auctions.

As a rapidly growing marketplace, Whatnot is driven by a passionate, forward-thinking team committed to redefining how people connect and transact online. With hubs across the US, UK, Germany, Ireland, and Poland, we foster a collaborative, remote co-located environment inspired by innovation and anchored in our core values. Our mission is to empower individuals to turn their passions into thriving businesses and to bring communities together through commerce. We are just getting started, and our journey is fueled by bold ideas, technological excellence, and a shared vision for the future of online marketplaces.

About The Role

We are seeking experienced Platform Engineers to join Whatnot’s technical team. In this role, you will be responsible for owning and enhancing the foundational elements of our main backend systems, real-time services, and storage infrastructure. Your work will ensure these core platforms evolve to support rapid product growth while maintaining high levels of reliability and scalability. The ideal candidate will have a strong background in backend development, particularly with Python, and extensive experience with large-scale distributed systems.

This position focuses on optimizing our Python-based backend and storage platforms. You will work on improving runtime performance, refactoring and modularizing large codebases, enhancing storage system efficiency, and developing shared platform services that underpin the entire product experience. Your contributions will directly impact the stability, performance, and scalability of our platform, enabling us to expand globally and introduce new features seamlessly. Collaboration with product and infrastructure teams will be essential to deliver robust APIs and abstractions that balance speed and long-term stability.

This is a highly visible role within the organization, as the platform team provides the technical foundation that enables Whatnot’s rapid growth and operational excellence. We offer flexible work arrangements, including remote work or in-office options at our hubs in San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, or Seattle. Candidates must reside within commuting distance of these locations.

Qualifications

• 7+ years of backend engineering experience (10+ years for Staff level roles)
• Strong expertise in large-scale backend systems, preferably with Python; experience with Java, Go, Elixir, or similar stacks is a plus
• Deep knowledge of storage systems such as Postgres, DynamoDB, or PlanetScale
• Proven experience in building or scaling messaging, notification, or caching systems
• Experience in refactoring large codebases to improve performance, scalability, and maintainability
• Hands-on experience with runtime and platform optimization techniques, including concurrency models, async patterns, and memory tuning
• Familiarity with service reliability and observability practices, including metrics, tracing, circuit breakers, and failure isolation
• Comfort working in cloud-native environments like AWS or GCP, with Kubernetes, Docker, and Terraform
• Ability to set high technical standards and develop patterns adopted by other engineers
• Bonus: prior experience in hyper-growth environments
  
  

Responsibilities

• Own and improve the performance, concurrency, and memory management of our Python runtime and backend stack
• Develop, scale, and maintain core platform services that ensure reliability and support engineering velocity
• Optimize storage systems for consistency, scalability, and high performance
• Embed observability and reliability patterns into the platform by default, including metrics, tracing, and failure handling
• Refactor and modularize large-scale codebases to maintain developer productivity and facilitate future growth
• Collaborate with product and infrastructure teams to design and deliver platform APIs and abstractions that balance speed and stability
• Lay the technical groundwork for future platform needs, including global expansion and new product capabilities
• Maintain high standards for platform reliability, scalability, and performance across all engineering efforts
  
  

Benefits

• Generous holiday and time-off policies to support work-life balance
• Comprehensive health insurance options including Medical, Dental, and Vision coverage
• Support for remote work, including home office setup allowances
• Monthly stipends for cell phone and internet expenses
• Care benefits and wellness allowances to promote overall well-being
• Annual childcare allowances and lifetime family planning benefits such as adoption or fertility expenses
• Retirement plans including 401(k) with employer matching (up to 4%) in the US and pension plans internationally
• Monthly allowances for product testing and usage to foster deep product understanding
• Paid parental leave of 16 weeks plus a gradual return-to-work program
  
  

Equal Opportunity

Whatnot is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. We value diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. We do not discriminate based on race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, parental status, disability, or any other protected characteristic under applicable law. We believe that embracing different skills, perspectives, and opportunities.