At a Glance
- Tasks: Lead cross-team projects and tackle high-impact technical challenges.
- Company: Join Depop, a vibrant peer-to-peer fashion marketplace with a mission for sustainability.
- Benefits: Enjoy flexible working, generous leave, and a supportive work environment.
- Other info: Be part of a diverse team that values innovation and collaboration.
- Why this job: Make a real impact in the fashion industry while growing your technical skills.
- Qualifications: Experience in backend systems and strong communication skills are essential.
The predicted salary is between 66150 - 80850 £ per year.
Company Description Depop is a peer-to-peer circular fashion marketplace where anyone can buy, sell and discover secondhand fashion.
Our mission is simple: to make fashion circular by making secondhand as exciting and rewarding as buying new.
Founded in 2011, Depop’s diverse community has helped move resale into the mainstream, where buying secondhand is no longer an alternative, but how people of different ages now engage with fashion.
Today, more than 56 million registered users come to Depop to find great value, express their own personal style and give clothes a longer life.
We believe that everything you want already exists, and our role is to help people discover it.
Powered by a team of over 500 people, our company is headquartered in London, with offices in New York.
In 2021, Depop became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Etsy - the global marketplace for unique and creative goods - and continues to operate as a standalone company.
For more information, visit www. depop. com
We aim to create an inclusive environment where everyone is welcome, no matter who they are or where they’re from.
Just as our platform connects people globally, we believe our workplace should reflect the diversity of the communities we serve.
We thrive on the power of different perspectives and experiences, knowing they drive innovation and bring us closer to our users.
We’re proud to be an equal opportunity employer, providing employment opportunities without regard to age, ethnicity, religion or belief, gender identity, sex, sexual orientation, disability, pregnancy or maternity, marriage and civil partnership, or any other protected status.
We’re continuously evolving our recruitment processes to ensure fairness and are open to accommodating any needs you might have.
AI Disclosure: We use AI tools (Google Gemini) to help our team source and review applications for roles with a high volume of applications.
These tools assist our recruiters in identifying great talent but do not replace human decision-making.
At Depop, every hiring decision is made by a human.
If, due to a disability, you need adjustments to complete the application, please let us know by sending an email with your name, the role to which you would like to apply, and the type of support you need to complete the application to adjustments@depop. com
In 2026 our ambition is to be a high-performing, delivery-focused organisation and the best engineering organisation for those who value meaningful career growth.
We're looking for a UK-based Staff Backend Engineer to act as a connective force across Depop's Payments and Shipping domains, two of our most interdependent, highest-stakes systems.
Over time you'll build a deep, genuine understanding of our stack across both spaces, deep enough to make informed, high-leverage technical decisions.
We want someone who builds mastery by working across boundaries, and who'd rather understand how the whole system fits together than own one deep, isolated slice of it.
You'll work as the technical right hand to the Director overseeing this space, helping translate strategic intent into cross-team execution, and stepping in wherever the hardest, most cross-cutting problems live.
You should be equally comfortable diving into a squad's architecture for a week to unblock a specific problem, and stepping back to spot a pattern across three different teams that no single squad owns.
You'll own and drive technical vision that spans team boundaries, and you'll be judged as much on the connections you make and the alignment you build as on any one system you ship.
Responsibilities
- Operate across team boundaries rather than being anchored to one squad, going wherever the highest-impact cross-cutting problem is.
- Connect the dots between teams working in adjacent parts of the system, surfacing dependencies, duplicated effort, or architectural drift before they become expensive.
- Partner directly with the senior leadership as a trusted technical thought partner, helping shape strategy, then translating it into concrete cross-team technical plans.
- Lead cross-functional projects that touch multiple squads, product managers, and stakeholders, driving them to delivery even when no single team owns the outcome.
- Provide hands-on technical leadership and architectural judgment wherever it's needed most, including writing code yourself when that's the fastest way to unblock a team.
- Champion engineering excellence and consistent technical standards across teams that may otherwise diverge.
- Mentor and coach engineers across multiple squads, raising the technical bar broadly rather than within a single team.
- Identify complex, cross-team technical challenges and bottlenecks, and drive them to resolution.
Qualifications
You’ll be an excellent fit if you have
- Experience as a Staff Engineer or equivalent senior technical leadership role, operating across backend systems at scale.
- Deep payments or shipping domain expertise going in is not required, but you should be genuinely motivated to build it by working across both.
- A track record of working across team boundaries: connecting people, unblocking cross-team initiatives, and driving alignment without formal authority.
- Deep expertise designing, building, and operating distributed systems and platforms at scale, in any domain
- Strong Familiarity with event-driven architectures (e. g. Kafka) and the tradeoffs of distributed systems at scale.
- Strong judgment on when to go deep versus when to zoom out: you can flex between hands-on delivery and strategic influence.
- Excellent communication skills; you can explain technical tradeoffs to engineers and non-technical leaders with equal clarity, and build consensus across teams that don't naturally agree.
- A genuine curiosity about systems outside your own — you actively seek out how the pieces fit together rather than staying in your lane.
- Additional Information
- Health + Mental Wellbeing PMI and cash plan healthcare access with Bupa
- Subsidised counselling and coaching with Self Space
- Cycle to Work scheme with options from Evans or the Green Commute Initiative
- Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) for 24/7 confidential support
- Mental Health First Aiders across the business for support and signposting
- Work/Life Balance: 25 days of annual leave with the option to carry over up to 5 days
- Impact hours: Up to 2 days of additional paid leave per year for volunteering
- Fully paid 4-week sabbatical after completion of 5 years of consecutive service with Depop, to give you a chance to recharge or do something you love.
- Flexible Working: My Mode hybrid-working model with Flex, Office-Base, and Remote options *role-dependent
- All offices are dog-friendly
- Family Life: For birth parent: 20 weeks of paid parental leave for full-time regular employees
- For non-birth parents: 12 weeks of paid parental leave for full-time regular employees
- IVF leave, shared parental leave, and paid emergency parent/carer leave
- Learn + Grow: Twice-yearly development chats and yearly performance reviews
- Learning budget Upskilling our employees with company-wide training workshops, materials and resources
- Your Future: Life Insurance (financial compensation of 3x your salary) Pension matching up to 6% of full base salary with Aviva
- Depop Extras: In-office Depop Shop (that’s free!) and a packing station with free delivery.
• Special milestones are celebrated with gifts and rewards!
Depop is a peer-to-peer circular fashion marketplace where anyone can buy, sell and discover secondhand fashion.
Our mission is simple: to make fashion circular by making secondhand as exciting and rewarding as buying new.
Founded in 2011, Depop’s diverse community has helped move resale into the mainstream, where buying secondhand is no longer an alternative, but how people of different ages now engage with fashion.
Today, more than 56 million registered users come to Depop to find great value, express their own personal style and give clothes a longer life.
We believe that everything you want already exists, and our role is to help people discover it.
Powered by a team of over 500 people, our company is headquartered in London, with offices in New York.
In 2021, Depop became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Etsy - the global marketplace for unique and creative goods - and continues to operate as a standalone company.
For more information, visit www. depop. com Want to learn more about life at Depop?
We share life at Depop updates on our Linked In page, and you can also keep an eye on all our job opportunities on our careers page.
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Staff Backend Engineer employer: Depop Limited - Nova
Depop is an exceptional employer, offering a vibrant and inclusive work culture that reflects the diversity of our community. With a strong focus on employee growth, we provide ample opportunities for learning and development, including a generous learning budget and regular performance reviews. Located in London, our dog-friendly office promotes a healthy work-life balance with flexible working options, comprehensive health benefits, and unique perks like a fully paid sabbatical after five years of service.
StudySmarter Expert Advice🤫
We think this is how you could land Staff Backend Engineer
✨Join Local Tech Meetups
Get out there and mingle with fellow developers by joining local tech meetups. It’s a fantastic way to meet people who might be working at Depop Limited - Nova or know someone who does. Plus, you can pick up some trendy tech skills and trends while you're at it!
✨Contribute to Open Source Projects
Show off your coding chops by jumping into open-source projects. Not only does this give you practical experience, but it also gets you noticed in the dev community. You'll create a killer portfolio that speaks volumes about your skills to Depop Limited - Nova.
✨Tap into Online Developer Communities
Don’t underestimate the power of online developer communities like GitHub, Stack Overflow, and even Reddit. Participate in discussions, share your projects, and build your visibility. We can often find opportunities through these channels that can lead to a full-time gig at companies like Depop Limited - Nova.
✨Explore Job Boards Specifically for Tech Roles
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We think you need these skills to ace Staff Backend Engineer
Some tips for your application 🫡
Show off your coding skills:When applying for a software engineering role, it's super important to showcase your coding skills. Make sure your CV includes your tech stack, any relevant programming languages you’re comfortable with, and examples of projects you've worked on. If you have a GitHub profile, link it up! We love to see code in action.
Tailor your portfolio:For a full-time role, we’d expect to see some solid examples of your work in your portfolio. Make sure to include at least two or three projects that highlight your problem-solving skills and your ability to work with different technologies. Focus on the projects that are most relevant to the position at Depop Limited - Nova.
Craft a killer cover letter:Your cover letter is your chance to stand out—make it personal! Explain why you want to work at Depop Limited - Nova and how your skills align with the role. Show us your passion for software development. We dig enthusiastic candidates who understand the value of collaboration and continuous learning!
Be clear and concise:When it comes to writing your CV and cover letter, clarity is key. Avoid jargon that could confuse us and stick to simple, direct language. Highlight your achievements with quantifiable results where possible, and keep everything easy to read. A well-organised application goes a long way!
How to prepare for a job interview at Depop Limited - Nova
✨Brush Up on Your Coding Skills
For a full-time software engineering role, it's crucial that we stay sharp with our coding abilities. Expect technical questions that might involve solving problems on the spot or discussing algorithms. Practise on platforms like LeetCode or HackerRank to get comfortable with the types of questions that often come up.
✨Know Your Tools and Frameworks
Make sure we’re well-acquainted with the tools and technologies listed in the job description. Familiarise ourselves with any specific frameworks or programming languages mentioned. If Depop Limited - Nova uses React or Node.js, for instance, be ready to discuss how we’ve used them in previous projects or coursework.
✨Showcase Your Projects
Bring along a portfolio that highlights our best work. This could be code samples, GitHub repositories, or any side projects we’ve built. Make sure we can talk through our thought process for each project, especially the challenges we faced and how we solved them—this shows our problem-solving skills in action.
✨Prepare for Behavioural Questions
While technical skills are key, full-time positions also require cultural fit. Be ready to discuss our previous experiences and how we handle teamwork, conflict, and deadlines. Brush up on the STAR method—Situation, Task, Action, Result—to clearly articulate our past experiences when discussing how we've contributed to a team.
