Software Engineer, Messaging Platform

About the role

Whatnot is seeking a Software Engineer to join our Messaging Platform team. In this position, you will play a crucial role in enhancing our messaging systems that facilitate communication between buyers and sellers. You will help shape the future of live commerce by building reliable and scalable backend solutions.

Key facts

What you'll do

• Develop and enhance backend services that support push notifications, email, SMS, and in-app messaging.
• Create systems for audience targeting, campaign scheduling, and messaging preferences.
• Optimize the performance and reliability of high-volume messaging systems.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to design messaging experiences that prioritize user trust and engagement.
• Build clean APIs and operational patterns for various teams to implement messaging features efficiently.
• Contribute to frameworks for experimentation and measurement to assess the effectiveness of messaging strategies.
• Uphold high engineering standards through rigorous code reviews and operational best practices.
• Share responsibility for the health of production systems and engage in incident response and continuous improvement efforts.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or a related field, or equivalent hands-on experience.
• At least 4 years of experience in software engineering, specifically in developing and deploying backend systems.
• Proven track record in designing and managing scalable backend services.
• Strong ability to balance trade-offs among speed, quality, and long-term system sustainability.
• Experience in dynamic, cross-functional product or platform settings.
• Ability to navigate ambiguous challenges and translate them into actionable technical solutions.
• Excellent communication and teamwork skills, particularly in cross-disciplinary collaborations.
• A focus on delivering value through engineering, ensuring systems not only function but enhance user experience.

Nice to have

• Familiarity with messaging, notifications, or engagement platforms.
• Experience in building distributed systems or event-driven architectures.
• Knowledge of experimentation, personalization, or recommendation systems.
• Skills in enhancing observability and operational excellence for production environments.
• Proficiency with modern backend technologies such as Python, Elixir, or JavaScript/TypeScript.
• Background in marketplace, social, or consumer product development.

Skills & tools

• Backend development
• API design
• System architecture
• Collaboration tools
• Performance optimization

Practical notes

Candidates must reside within commuting distance of our San Francisco, New York, or Seattle office hubs. We offer flexible work arrangements, allowing you to work remotely or from one of our office locations. Our benefits include a comprehensive health insurance package, generous time off, and support for home office setups. The salary range for this position is $170,000 to $230,000.