Software Engineer, Trust & Risk
Whatnot · New York, NY
- Hybrid
- Full-time
- $200,000 / year
- New York, NY
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Subject: Interested in the Software Engineer, Trust & Risk role at Whatnot
Hi Taylor — I came across the Software Engineer, Trust & Risk opening and wanted to reach out directly. I've spent the last few years doing exactly this kind of work, and Whatnot stood out because…
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Job highlights
- Build systems to protect the platform.
- Balance risk with user experience.
- Develop real-time threat response.
- Contribute across full development lifecycle.
- Collaborate on cross-team initiatives.
About the role
About 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 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 and were recently named the #1 Best Startup Employer in America by Forbes. Check out the latest Whatnot updates on our news and engineering blogs and join us as we enable anyone to turn their passion into a business and bring people together through commerce.
Role Overview
The Trust and Risk, Fraud, and Integrity teams at Whatnot are responsible for building systems that help set clear expectations, encourage good behavior, and address issues fairly and efficiently. By combining proactive detection with transparent enforcement, we ensure Whatnot remains a safe and trustworthy place for both buyers and sellers.
Our Focus Areas
- Policy enforcement and dispute resolution: Designing systems that set clear behavioral expectations, detect and address policy violations, and resolve disputes efficiently.
- Reusable, high-performance platforms: Building and maintaining scalable infrastructure that powers internal operations, automated and manual actioning systems, and advanced detection capabilities.
- Intelligent detection and prevention: Leveraging machine learning, behavioral analysis, and real-time interventions to stay ahead of evolving abuse patterns and protect both buyers and sellers.
- Continuous improvement: Using feedback loops and monitoring systems as managed assets for ongoing quality assurance and for strengthening algorithms, methodologies, and operational processes.
Together, these teams ensure Whatnot remains a trusted, safe, and thriving marketplace for all users.
What You'll Do
- Design and develop systems to protect the platform: Build and iterate on production algorithms and infrastructures that mitigate systemic risks and safeguard buyers, sellers, and the broader Whatnot community.
- Balance risk and user experience: Proactively monitor the impact of protective systems on trusted users, ensuring interventions deliver more value than friction.
- Respond in real time to threats: Architect event-driven pipelines and detection frameworks that enable near real-time responses to high-risk user behavior.
- Contribute across the full development lifecycle: Engage in ideation, scoping, prototyping, load testing, deployment, and monitoring to deliver resilient and scalable solutions.
- Drive cross-team initiatives: Collaborate across multiple product surfaces and operational teams, surfacing insights to leadership and stakeholders through dashboards, notebooks, and clear written documentation.
- Continuously evolve defenses: Stay ahead of emerging abuse patterns, abuse vectors, and account integrity risks by iterating quickly and rigorously testing solutions.
We offer flexibility to work from home or from one of our global office hubs, and we value in-person time for planning, problem-solving, and connection. Team members in this role must live within commuting distance of our Seattle, New York City, San Francisco, or Los Angeles hub.
About You
People who do well at Whatnot tend to be comfortable figuring things out as they go, biased toward action, and genuinely curious about what they're building. They care more about outcomes than credit and stay close to the product and the people using it.
As our next Software Engineer, you should have 7+ years of total software engineering experience, plus:
- Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Statistics, Applied Mathematics, Economics, a related technical field, or equivalent work experience.
- 4+ years of software engineering experience building for consumer-scale loads.
- 1+ years of experience writing production code in Python.
- 1+ years of experience in Trust and Risk or Integrity or Fraud domains preferred.
- Business intuition & a data-driven mindset that enables you to think critically about the growth headwinds abuse prevention systems can create. Explicit data science or machine-learning experience is a huge plus.
- Obsession with impact. You are focused on driving value for users & have a track record of deploying simple solutions wherever feasible. You move as fast as possible without sacrificing quality.
- Relentlessness & entrepreneurship. You prioritize your work ruthlessly & run through walls to get things done. Your curiosity drives you to dig into user problems & craft suggestions on how we can address them.
- Ability to work autonomously and lead initiatives across multiple product areas and communicate findings with leadership and product teams.
- Comfortability with data warehouses and transformation tools such as Snowflake, dbt, Dagster.
- Professionalism around collaborating in a remote working environment and well tested reproducible work.
- Above average documentation and communication skills.
Benefits
- 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
- Parental Leave: 16 weeks of paid parental leave + one month gradual return to work
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.
Key skills/competency
- Software Engineering
- Trust and Risk
- Fraud Detection
- Integrity Systems
- Python
- Machine Learning
- Data Warehousing
- System Design
- Event-Driven Architecture
- Cross-functional Collaboration
Skills & topics
- Software Engineer
- Trust
- Risk
- Fraud
- Integrity
- Python
- Machine Learning
- Data Warehousing
- System Design
- Event-Driven Architecture
- Consumer Scale
- Remote
How to get hired
- Tailor your resume: Highlight experience in Python, trust and risk systems, and large-scale consumer platforms.
- Showcase impact: Quantify achievements in fraud detection and user experience improvement.
- Demonstrate ownership: Emphasize experience leading initiatives and driving results autonomously.
- Prepare for technical questions: Be ready to discuss system design, algorithms, and data warehousing tools.
- Highlight collaboration: Showcase your ability to work effectively in a remote, cross-functional environment.
Technical preparation
Behavioral questions
Frequently asked questions
- What is the remote work policy for the Software Engineer, Trust and Risk role at Whatnot?
- Whatnot offers a flexible work arrangement, allowing team members to work from home or from one of their global office hubs. However, for this specific Software Engineer, Trust and Risk position, candidates must live within commuting distance of their Seattle, New York City, San Francisco, or Los Angeles hubs.
- What programming languages are essential for the Software Engineer, Trust and Risk position at Whatnot?
- The job description explicitly states a requirement for 1+ years of experience writing production code in Python. While Python is key, a strong general software engineering background is also crucial.
- What is Whatnot's stance on diversity and inclusion for the Software Engineer, Trust and Risk role?
- Whatnot is committed to being an Equal Opportunity Employer and values diversity. They do not discriminate based on protected characteristics and believe that a diverse workforce improves their work and company culture.
- Does Whatnot offer benefits for the Software Engineer, Trust and Risk position?
- Yes, Whatnot offers a comprehensive benefits package including generous holiday/time off, health insurance (Medical, Dental, Vision), WFH support, home office setup allowance, and monthly allowances for cell phone/internet and wellness.
- What is the expected experience level for a Software Engineer, Trust and Risk at Whatnot?
- The role requires a minimum of 7+ years of total software engineering experience, with at least 4+ years focused on building for consumer-scale loads. Additionally, 1+ year of experience in Python and ideally 1+ year in Trust and Risk, Integrity, or Fraud domains is preferred.
- What are the key responsibilities of a Software Engineer on the Trust and Risk team at Whatnot?
- Key responsibilities include designing and developing systems to protect the platform, balancing risk with user experience, architecting event-driven pipelines for real-time threat response, contributing to the full development lifecycle, driving cross-team initiatives, and continuously evolving defenses against abuse patterns.
- Is data science or machine learning experience required for the Software Engineer, Trust and Risk role at Whatnot?
- Explicit data science or machine learning experience is listed as a 'huge plus' rather than a strict requirement. However, a data-driven mindset and business intuition for abuse prevention systems are highly valued.