Responsibilities
- Design, build, and ship features critical to growing Whatnot’s Japan market, including payment and payout methods, logistics integrations, seller onboarding and compliance, and localized buyer and seller experiences.
- Own Japan’s technical strategy and roadmap in partnership with the Japan GM, including trade-offs and alignment with Whatnot’s global architecture.
- Lead execution across multiple workstreams with engineers and cross-functional partners in Japan and globally.
- Establish the architecture, engineering patterns, quality bar, and culture for Whatnot’s engineering presence in Japan.
Requirements
- 8+ years of software engineering experience, including experience at high-growth technology companies.
- Experience serving as the technical lead of a team or initiative without direct reports, including setting direction, unblocking others, and driving alignment.
- Full-stack experience moving between backend and frontend and integrating systems end-to-end.
- Comfort working in a 0-to-1 environment with limited precedent.
- Near-fluent written and verbal Japanese and English.
- Experience with Python, Elixir, and JavaScript.
- E-commerce, marketplace, livestream, Japan-specific logistics, payments, identity, or global-product localization experience is a bonus.
Benefits
- Flexible work-from-home arrangement with regular in-person planning, problem-solving, and connection; the role is based in Tokyo and requires living in or relocating to the Tokyo area and regularly working from the Tokyo office.
- Generous holiday and time-off policy.
- Medical, dental, and vision health insurance options.
- Work-from-home support and a home-office setup allowance.
- Monthly cell-phone and internet allowance.
- Care benefits and monthly wellness allowance.
- Annual childcare allowance and lifetime family-planning benefits, including adoption or fertility expenses.
- Retirement benefits, including 401(k) with employer match up to 4% of base salary in the US and international pension plans.
- Monthly allowance for using Whatnot as both a buyer and seller.
- Parental leave, including 16 weeks of paid parental leave and one month of gradual return to work, subject to country leave requirements.
Tech Stack
Categories
About Whatnot
Whatnot is the largest livestream shopping platform in the US, UK, and Europe. Millions of people come to Whatnot every day to buy, sell, and connect over the things they love, from sneakers to sports cards, vintage fashion to fine jewelry, comics to Pokémon, beauty, electronics, and hundreds of other categories. In 2025, live sales on Whatnot surpassed $8B, more than doubling the year before. Over 20 million accounts were created last year alone, and we have been the #1 shopping app in both the US and UK. We've built a real business, but we're nowhere near done. Live commerce at this scale has never been done in the West, which means the people here now are shaping how an entirely new industry develops. The pace here is fast and the expectations are high. We move quickly, prioritize ruthlessly, and trust people to own their work end-to-end. In return, careers grow faster, impact is real, and your colleagues will raise your standards. It's an environment built for people who want to do the best work of their careers alongside others doing the same. We're a remote, co-located team with hubs in the US, UK, Ireland, Poland, and Germany, and we're hiring across every function.