Software Engineer AI Jobs at Whatnot with Visa Sponsorship
Software Engineer AI jobs at Whatnot sit at the intersection of machine learning, real-time recommendations, and commerce, as the company builds live shopping infrastructure at scale. The company sponsors a range of work visas for this function, making it a realistic target if you need employer support.
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INTRODUCTION
🚀 Join the Future of Commerce with Whatnot! 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.
ROLE
The Fraud Experience team builds intelligent, real-time systems that safeguard Whatnot’s marketplace from malicious activity. We design, develop, and deploy end-to-end, ML-driven systems that proactively identify and mitigate fraud — blending real-time detection with transparent, user-centered enforcement.
- Lead the full architecture of fraud detection, prevention, and intervention systems — spanning machine learning, backend, and client-side components.
- Build intelligent user graphs to model behavioral patterns, detect collusion networks, and uncover account connectivity at scale.
- Design, train, and deploy both traditional ML and LLM-powered models to detect fraudulent activity across users, payments, and marketplace interactions.
- Develop scalable data pipelines and real-time inference systems capable of supporting high-volume, low-latency ML workloads.
- Create human-in-the-loop systems that continuously refine detection accuracy and adapt to evolving adversarial tactics.
- Perform deep behavioral and adversarial data analysis to surface emerging fraud trends and drive continuous system improvement.
- Stay ahead of the curve by translating new insights into adaptive, production-ready systems that evolve as fast as our adversaries.
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 Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco or Seattle hub.
YOU
Curious about who thrives at Whatnot? We’ve found that embodying a low ego, growth mindset, and high-impact drive goes a long way here. As our next Software Engineer in Fraud team, you should bring 4+ years of software development experience in high-growth environments, along with a strong bias toward action and impact.
What You’ll Bring
- Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Statistics, Applied Mathematics, Economics, or a related technical field.
- 4+ years of software engineering experience building systems for consumer-scale traffic and reliability.
- 1+ years writing production-grade Python code and working with ML libraries (e.g. PyTorch, LightGBM).
- 1+ years of experience in machine learning or fraud prevention domains.
- Deep business intuition and a data-driven mindset — you think critically about how abuse prevention systems affect growth and user experience.
- Fluency with data tooling, including data warehouses (e.g. Snowflake) and transformation frameworks (e.g. dbt, Dagster).
- Strong communication skills and the ability to lead initiatives across product areas, collaborating closely with leadership, data science, and product teams.
- Experience working in a remote-first environment and producing well-tested, reproducible work.
What Sets You Apart
- You’re impact-obsessed — you focus relentlessly on delivering value for users and simplify wherever possible, moving fast without sacrificing quality.
- You’re entrepreneurial and relentless — you prioritize effectively, tackle hard problems with curiosity, and go above and beyond to make things happen.
- You have a growth mindset and love digging into ambiguous user problems, crafting data-driven solutions, and shipping improvements quickly.
- Hands-on machine learning or data science experience in production environments.
COMPENSATION
For Full-Time (Salary) US based applicants: $170,000/year to $230,000/year + benefits + equity. The salary range may be inclusive of several levels that would be applicable to the position. Final salary will be based on a number of factors including, level, relevant prior experience, skills, and expertise. This range is only inclusive of base salary, not benefits (more details below) or equity.
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 + 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.
LOCATION
Team members in this role must live within commuting distance of our Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco or Seattle hub.
đź’› 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.
Compensation Range: $162K - $260K
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Get Access To All JobsTips for Finding Software Engineer AI Jobs at Whatnot
Frame your ML work around commerce outcomes
Whatnot's AI engineering work is tied directly to live marketplace performance, not pure research. Tailor your portfolio to show recommendation systems, fraud detection, or real-time ranking models with measurable business impact, not academic benchmarks.
Verify your OPT timeline before applying
F-1 OPT gives you 12 months of work authorization, with a 24-month STEM extension if your degree qualifies. Confirm your program's CIP code with your DSO before targeting roles, since a misaligned field can block the extension entirely.
Target roles that align with your specialty occupation
USCIS requires H-1B positions to qualify as specialty occupations requiring a bachelor's degree or higher in a specific field. Software Engineer AI roles at a live commerce platform like Whatnot typically satisfy this, but your degree field should connect directly to the ML or systems work in the job description.
Use Migrate Mate to filter Whatnot's open AI roles
Whatnot posts Software Engineer AI positions across different seniority levels and ML sub-disciplines. Use Migrate Mate to filter specifically for Whatnot's open roles by visa type so you're applying to positions where sponsorship is already confirmed, not assumed.
Raise sponsorship early in recruiter conversations
Whatnot moves quickly in its hiring process. Surface your visa status in the initial recruiter screen rather than waiting for an offer, so the team can loop in HR and legal before you reach final rounds and timeline conflicts emerge.
Understand the H-1B cap and Whatnot's filing window
Cap-subject H-1B petitions must be filed in April for an October 1 start date. If you receive an offer outside that window, ask whether a cap-exempt bridge arrangement or change of status from OPT is possible to cover the gap.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Whatnot sponsor H-1B visas for Software Engineer AIs?
Yes, Whatnot sponsors H-1B visas for Software Engineer AI roles. The company has an established pattern of supporting work visa petitions for engineering functions, including AI and machine learning positions. If you're cap-subject, timing your application to align with Whatnot's hiring cycles and the April H-1B filing window is essential.
How do I apply for Software Engineer AI jobs at Whatnot?
Apply directly through Whatnot's careers page or browse their open Software Engineer AI roles on Migrate Mate, which filters specifically for positions where visa sponsorship is available. Before applying, confirm your visa status with a recruiter early in the process. Whatnot typically runs a technical screen, followed by system design and ML-focused interview rounds.
Which visa types does Whatnot support for Software Engineer AI roles?
Whatnot sponsors a range of visa categories for Software Engineer AI positions, including H-1B, E-3 visa (for Australian citizens), TN visa (for Canadian and Mexican nationals), F-1 OPT and CPT, J-1 visa, and employment-based Green Card pathways including EB-2 and EB-3. The right category depends on your nationality, degree, and career stage.
What qualifications does Whatnot expect for Software Engineer AI roles?
Whatnot's Software Engineer AI roles generally require a bachelor's degree or higher in computer science, machine learning, or a closely related field. Practical experience with recommendation systems, real-time ML pipelines, or large-scale data infrastructure is valued given the live commerce context. Strong Python and systems design skills are consistently expected across seniority levels.
How do timelines work for visa sponsorship at Whatnot for this role?
Timeline depends on your visa type. F-1 OPT can authorize work quickly once your employment start date is confirmed with your DSO. H-1B cap-subject petitions follow a fixed annual cycle with an October 1 start date. TN and E-3 visas can often be processed faster, sometimes within weeks. Discuss your specific situation with Whatnot's HR team at the offer stage so USCIS or consular processing deadlines don't create gaps in your start date.