Engineering Manager, Platform Engineering at whatnot

This role is designed for a seasoned engineering leader with over a decade of experience in infrastructure and platform engineering. The ideal candidate has spe

Work type: onsite

Location: San Francisco, CA | Los Angeles, CA | Seattle, WA | New York, NY

Salary: $270,000 – $305,000/yr

Type: Full-time

Summary

This role is designed for a seasoned engineering leader with over a decade of experience in infrastructure and platform engineering. The ideal candidate has spent at least five years managing teams and possesses a deep technical background in scaling backend systems, real-time services, and storage infrastructure. You should be a "multiplier" who prioritizes developer velocity and enjoys building tools that help other engineers work faster and more reliably. The compensation is highly competitive, ranging from **$270,000 to $305,000**, plus a comprehensive benefits package that includes a 4% 401k match and a unique "dogfooding" budget to shop on the app. While the company offers a remote-friendly culture, this specific role follows a **remote co-located model**, requiring you to live within commuting distance of their hubs in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, or New York for in-person collaboration. **You might be a good fit if you...** * Have 10+ years of experience, with a proven track record of leading teams through high-growth scaling challenges. * Are passionate about "developer ergonomics"—making the internal engineering experience seamless and efficient. * Can navigate complex architectural decisions while mentoring a high-performing team of senior engineers. * Thrive in a fast-paced marketplace environment where real-time system reliability is critical.

Job Description

## 🚀 Join the Future of Commerce with Whatnot!

Whatnot is the largest livestream 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](https://www.whatnot.com/careers) 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](https://a16z.com/marketplace-100/) and were recently named the [#1 Best Startup Employer in America](http://google.com/search?q=%231+forbes+startup+employer&oq=%231+forbes+startup+employer&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOTIGCAEQRRg9MgYIAhBFGD0yBggDEEUYQDIGCAQQRRhAMgYIBRBFGEDSAQg1NzM0ajBqMagCALACAA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8) by Forbes. Check out the latest Whatnot updates on our [news](https://blog.teamwhatnot.com/) and [engineering blogs](https://medium.com/whatnot-engineering) and join us as we enable anyone to turn their passion into a business and bring people together through commerce.

## 💻 Role

As a senior leader in our Infrastructure team, you will play a pivotal role in the growth and evolution of Whatnot’s platform. You will oversee our Platform Engineering team, working closely with engineering, product, and operations teams to build scalable, reliable, and performant systems that will support millions of users as we continue to scale.

Responsibilities:

• Lead and mentor a team of highly skilled engineers, guiding them through complex technical challenges and helping them achieve personal and professional growth.

• Develop and implement strategic roadmaps for platform engineering that align with company objectives, ensuring scalability and supporting developer velocity.

• Focus on ensuring engineers can work effectively and quickly, building within and leveraging our platform services.

• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to influence product decisions and ensure engineering solutions meet both business and technical needs.

• Drive best practices in software engineering, with a focus on reducing technical debt, improving code quality, and continuously evolving engineering practices to enable faster delivery.

• Own the architecture and development of critical infrastructure initiatives, including backend services, real-time systems, and storage infrastructure.

• Foster a culture of innovation and continuous learning, encouraging experimentation and the adoption of new technologies.

• Monitor industry trends, ensuring that Whatnot remains at the cutting edge of platform and infrastructure technology.

• Scale the team through hiring, mentorship, and leadership development initiatives.

## 👋 You

In addition to embodying[ our cultural principles](https://www.whatnot.com/careers#:~:text=time%20and%20schedule.-,Our%20Principles,-Be%20part%20of), great candidates will also have:

• 10+ years of experience in platform engineering or infrastructure engineering leadership roles, with at least 5 years of experience managing teams.

• Experience in building and scaling backend systems, real-time services, and storage infrastructure.

• Strong experience with software engineering best practices, focusing on maintaining high code quality, reducing technical debt, and improving performance at scale.

• Proven experience in guiding teams to deliver complex, large-scale systems with an emphasis on reliability and scalability.

• A focus on developer velocity and ergonomics, improving engineering practices to increase speed and quality of delivery while managing technical debt.

• Exceptional leadership and communication skills, with the ability to influence and collaborate across multiple teams.

• Strong technical background, with the ability to make informed decisions on architecture and technology choices.

• A passion for building and improving technology platforms that scale efficiently.

• 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.

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