Whatnot is looking to scale and optimize its core backend and storage systems to support rapid product growth while remaining reliable and scalable.
Requirements
Strong experience with large-scale backend systems, ideally Python, but experience in other stacks (Java, Go, Elixir, etc.) welcome.
Deep expertise with storage systems (Postgres, DynamoDB, Planetscale).
Proven experience building or scaling messaging, notification, or caching systems.
Background in refactoring large codebases for scale, performance, and maintainability.
Hands?on with runtime and platform optimization such as concurrency models, async patterns, and memory tuning.
Familiarity with service reliability and observability practices such as metrics, tracing, circuit breakers, and failure isolation.
Comfortable operating in a cloud?native environment such as AWS or GCP with Kubernetes, Docker, and Terraform.
Responsibilities
Evolving our Python runtime and stack by improving performance, concurrency, memory use, and dependency management.
Building and scaling core platform services that provide the foundation for reliability, scalability, and developer velocity across engineering.
Optimizing storage systems for consistency, scale, and performance.
Embedding observability and reliability patterns into the platform by default.
Refactoring and modularizing large-scale codebases to maintain developer velocity and ensure our primary codebases remain a productive environment at scale.
Partnering with product and infra teams to deliver platform APIs and abstractions that strike the right balance between velocity and long-term stability.
Laying the groundwork for future platform needs, from global expansion to enabling new product capabilities.
Other
7+ years of backend engineering experience (10+ for Staff-level).
Known for setting strong technical standards and for building patterns that other engineers adopt.
Bonus: prior experience in a hyper?growth environment.
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!).
EOE
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.
