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 [email protected].
We are looking for a Senior Backend Engineer to join our AdTech team, helping to build and scale the systems that power advertising and monetisation across Depop. You’ll work on backend services that enable relevant, performant, and privacy-conscious ad experiences for millions of users.
You’ll collaborate closely with Product Managers, Data Scientists, and Engineers across the organisation to develop and deliver systems that balance user experience, advertiser value, and platform integrity.
Responsibilities
Partner with Product, Data Science, and Engineering teams to design and build scalable AdTech systems that support ad delivery, ranking, and measurement.
Develop and maintain backend services that operate at high scale and low latency, supporting real-time decision making.
Contribute to the design of event-driven systems and data pipelines that power experimentation and performance insights.
Own your services end-to-end, including development, deployment, monitoring, and incident response.
Write high-quality, maintainable code and contribute to improving engineering standards, performance, and reliability.
Participate in architecture discussions, helping evolve systems to support future product and business needs.
Collaborate with engineers across teams to tackle complex problems and deliver impactful features.
Support a culture of continuous improvement through code reviews, post-mortems, and knowledge sharing.
Mentor and support other engineers, contributing to the growth of the team.
Qualifications
You’ll be an excellent fit if you have:
Experience building and operating scalable backend systems, ideally in a consumer or marketplace environment.
Strong programming skills in Scala (or willingness to learn), Java, or similar backend languages.
Experience designing and working with distributed systems and event-driven architectures.
Familiarity with messaging systems such as Kafka or RabbitMQ.
Experience working with relational or non-relational databases (e.g. PostgreSQL, DynamoDB).
Experience with cloud infrastructure (AWS preferred) and modern DevOps practices (CI/CD).
Strong problem-solving skills and the ability to work independently while collaborating effectively with others.
Good communication skills and the ability to work cross-functionally with both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
Bonus Points:
You have experience working in AdTech, recommendations, ranking, or experimentation platforms.
You’ve worked with high-throughput systems handling real-time data or decisioning.
Experience in eCommerce, marketplaces, or data-driven product environments.
Familiar with infrastructure-as-code tools such as Terraform.
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 annual leave with option to carry over up to 5 days
1 company-wide day off per quarter
Impact hours: Up to 2 days 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: MyMode hybrid-working model with Flex, Office Based, and Remote options *role dependant
All offices are dog-friendly
Ability to work abroad for 4 weeks per year in UK tax treaty countries
Family Life:
18 weeks of paid parental leave for full-time regular employees
IVF leave, shared parental leave, and paid emergency parent/carer leave
Learn + Grow:
Budgets for conferences, learning subscriptions, and more
Mentorship and programmes to upskill employees
Your Future:
Depop Extras:
