Senior Compensation Business Partner / Lead - EPD

Whatnot is the largest live shopping platform in North America and Europe to buy, sell, and discover the things you love. We’re re-defining e-commerce by blending community, shopping, and entertainment into a community just for you. As a remote co-located team, we’re inspired by innovation and anchored in our values. With hubs in the US, UK, Germany, Ireland, and Poland, we’re building the future of online marketplaces –together.

From fashion, beauty, and electronics to collectibles like trading cards, comic books, and even live plants, our live auctions have something for everyone.

And we’re just getting started! As one of the fastest growing marketplaces, we’re looking for bold, forward-thinking problem solvers across all functional areas. 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.

We are seeking a Senior Compensation Business Partner / Lead to guide compensation strategy across Engineering, Product, and Design. You will play a critical role in shaping Whatnot’s technical talent architecture — ensuring our compensation programs reward impact, support talent density, and scale with the business.

You’ll partner closely with senior EPD leaders, Finance, and People Leadership to design frameworks that balance competitiveness, equity, and fiscal responsibility. This role requires strategic depth, strong analytical capability, and the ability to influence across a highly technical, rapidly scaling organization.

• Serve as the primary strategic advisor to EPD leadership on compensation philosophy & pay positioning

• Design and evolve creative compensation programs that retain top technical talent and reinforce a high-performance engineering, product, and design culture

• Lead evolution of EPD-specific frameworks (IC track, engineering advancement velocity, differentiated compensation levers for top-of-market roles).

• Own and lead semi-annual compensation cycles for EPD, ensuring alignment with Finance, accuracy, calibration discipline, and a best-in-class leader experience.

• Define and uphold compensation governance across EPD — ranges, leveling consistency, IC/Senior/Staff expectations, offer standards, and equity guidelines

• Partner with People Analytics to analyze hiring trends, internal mobility outcomes, pay equity gaps, and performance distribution patterns.

• Build financial models and scenario plans to evaluate cost impacts, talent density shifts, and future-state compensation needs.

• Own optimization of compensation systems (including Complete) for EPD-specific workflows, reporting, and accuracy.

• Create and deliver compensation literacy programs for engineering managers, PM leaders, and design leadership — driving consistent, high-quality talent decisions.

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 San Francisco, New York City, Seattle, or Los Angeles hubs.

Curious about who thrives at Whatnot? We’ve found that low ego, a growth mindset, and leaning into action and high impact goes a long way here.

As the primary Compensation partner to our EPD org, you should have 7+ years of experience in compensation at scaling tech companies, with strong exposure to technical organizations, plus:

• Deep understanding of engineering/job architecture, advancement frameworks, and equity compensation mechanics.

• Strong analytical and modeling capability to support scenario design and long-range planning.

• Exceptional ability to influence and communicate with technical and product leaders.

• Proven success shaping compensation strategy, not just executing cycles.

• Operate with a balance of strategic mindset and hands-on precision.

• Flexible Time off Policy and Company-wide Holidays (including a spring and winter break)

• 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 on both food and 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 *company leave allowances run concurrently with country leave requirements which take precedence.

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.