Staff Software Engineer, Privacy & Safety Regulations

Company Description
Etsy is the global marketplace for unique and creative goods. We build, power, and evolve the tools and technologies that connect millions of entrepreneurs with millions of buyers around the world. As an Etsy employee, you will tackle unique, meaningful, and large-scale problems alongside passionate coworkers, all the while making a rewarding impact and Keeping Commerce Human.


We believe exceptional companies are built by exceptional teams, and we're intentional about it. That means hiring great people, setting them up for success from day one, and giving them real reasons to grow their careers here. We invest in development that goes beyond promotions, and we foster the trust and relationships that help people do their best work together.


What’s the role?

This is a full-time position reporting to the Engineering Manager, Privacy & Safety Regulations.

Privacy & Safety Regulations team builds the systems, platforms, and engineering practices that help Etsy process and access personal data according to customer expectations. We partner with Product, Engineering, Privacy Legal, Security, Trust & Safety, Marketing Technology, and other teams to make the privacy-preserving path the easiest path to follow. Some of our team values are:

  • We work together to form an effective, high-functioning, and fun team.

  • We source ideas and collaborate with other teams.

  • We prioritize speed to learning, building space in our timelines to clean up and iterate.

  • We prioritize equitable treatment, inclusivity, and diversity.

This role is a strong fit for a Staff-level engineer who enjoys architecture, platform thinking, and cross-functional leadership. We are open to candidates whose background is primarily in software engineering, security engineering, privacy engineering, or a closely related technical discipline. We are seeking Staff-level engineers who possess foundational knowledge of security and/or privacy, strong systems judgment, and the ability to translate broad requirements into practical, durable engineering solutions. Legal or regulatory experience is welcome.

Our product work is mostly in PHP and MySQL. We are proud to have an engineering culture that encourages career growth and learning. You can learn more about our philosophies, tools, and some of the challenges we’ve been solving on our Engineering blog.

What does the day-to-day look like?

  • Architecture & Strategy: Lead the technical design and scale of marketplace-wide privacy platforms, ensuring high reliability, observability, and performance.

  • Core Privacy Systems: Build and optimize systems for consent/preference management, data access/deletion requests, classification, and Safety by Design workflows.

  • Legal & Product Collaboration: Partner with Legal to translate sophisticated compliance requirements into practical APIs, data models, and implementation plans.

  • Developer Enablement: Create paved paths, reusable patterns, and documentation that make building privacy-preserving features default and effortless for developers.

  • Hands-On Delivery & Standards: Contribute to production code, evaluate build-vs-buy decisions, and drive technical quality through architecture and code reviews.

  • System Health & Operations: Mitigate architectural risks, supervise privacy metrics, join support rotations, and automate operational toil using self-service tooling.

  • Mentorship & Alignment: Guide and pair with engineers to resolve technical ambiguity and drive execution across teams.]

  • Of course, this is just a sample of the kinds of work this role will require! You should assume that your role will encompass other tasks, too, and that your job duties and responsibilities may change from time to time at Etsy's discretion, or otherwise applicable with local law.

Qualities that will help you thrive in this role are:

  • Experience & Leadership: 7+ years of software engineering experience (or Staff-level equivalent) leading architecture and delivery for complex, ambiguous systems.

  • Backend & System Design: Strong hands-on expertise building reliable backend platforms, APIs, and distributed systems within large codebases.

  • Tech Stack & Code Quality: Proficiency in at least one production language (PHP, Python, Java, Go, etc.) with a focus on clean, testable, and maintainable software.

  • Cloud & Operations: Experience with cloud infrastructure (ideally GCP), CI/CD, service observability, and production incident response.

  • Communication & Influence: Ability to explain complex technical tradeoffs clearly and build cross-functional alignment across product, legal, and engineering teams.

  • Policy & Compliance Translation: Collaborative approach to working with legal, compliance, security, and risk partners to turn policy requirements into scalable engineering controls.

  • Privacy & Security Domain: Foundational knowledge of privacy-by-design, data minimization, access controls, data pipelines, metadata systems, PII discovery, classification, and lineage.


Compensation & Benefits

In addition to salary, you'll be eligible for an equity package, an annual performance bonus, and our competitive benefits that support you and your family. Base salary is determined by your location, skills, and experience.


Etsy uses two geographic pay zones to reflect the labor markets where we compete for talent: one called Geo-1, covering the New York City metropolitan area, San Francisco Bay Area, and Seattle metropolitan area, and one called Geo-2, covering all other U.S. locations. Salary ranges for this role vary by zone and are listed below.


Location

We prioritize candidates based within commutable distance of Etsy’s Brooklyn Office. Depending on proximity, we ask team members to come in once or twice per week. Remote candidates outside commutable distance may be considered on a case-by-case basis, with the expectation of occasional travel to the office. Learn more details about our work modes and workplace safety policies here.


Salary Range:

• Geo-1: 197,000.00 - 267,000.00 USD Annual • Geo-2: 178,000.00 - 240,000.00 USD Annual

What's Next

If you're interested in joining the team at Etsy, please share your resume with us and feel free to include a cover letter if you'd like. As we hope you've seen already, Etsy is a place that values individuality and variety. We don't want you to be like everyone else -- we want you to be like you! So tell us what you're all about.


Our Promise

At Etsy, we believe that a diverse, equitable, and inclusive workplace furthers relevance, resilience, and longevity. We encourage people from all backgrounds, ages, abilities, and experiences to apply. Etsy is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace and is committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ethnicity, ancestry, national origin, religion or creed, sex, pregnancy (including childbirth and related medical conditions), gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, age, citizenship or immigration status, marital or familial status, physical or mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, military or veteran status**, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local law**. If, due to a disability, you need an accommodation during any part of the interview or hiring process, please let your recruiter know and we will work with you to meet your needs. While Etsy supports visa sponsorship, sponsorship opportunities may be limited to certain roles and skills.

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Common Interview Questions And Answers

1. HOW DO YOU PLAN YOUR DAY?

This is what this question poses: When do you focus and start working seriously? What are the hours you work optimally? Are you a night owl? A morning bird? Remote teams can be made up of people working on different shifts and around the world, so you won't necessarily be stuck in the 9-5 schedule if it's not for you...

2. HOW DO YOU USE THE DIFFERENT COMMUNICATION TOOLS IN DIFFERENT SITUATIONS?

When you're working on a remote team, there's no way to chat in the hallway between meetings or catch up on the latest project during an office carpool. Therefore, virtual communication will be absolutely essential to get your work done...

3. WHAT IS "WORKING REMOTE" REALLY FOR YOU?

Many people want to work remotely because of the flexibility it allows. You can work anywhere and at any time of the day...

4. WHAT DO YOU NEED IN YOUR PHYSICAL WORKSPACE TO SUCCEED IN YOUR WORK?

With this question, companies are looking to see what equipment they may need to provide you with and to verify how aware you are of what remote working could mean for you physically and logistically...

5. HOW DO YOU PROCESS INFORMATION?

Several years ago, I was working in a team to plan a big event. My supervisor made us all work as a team before the big day. One of our activities has been to find out how each of us processes information...

6. HOW DO YOU MANAGE THE CALENDAR AND THE PROGRAM? WHICH APPLICATIONS / SYSTEM DO YOU USE?

Or you may receive even more specific questions, such as: What's on your calendar? Do you plan blocks of time to do certain types of work? Do you have an open calendar that everyone can see?...

7. HOW DO YOU ORGANIZE FILES, LINKS, AND TABS ON YOUR COMPUTER?

Just like your schedule, how you track files and other information is very important. After all, everything is digital!...

8. HOW TO PRIORITIZE WORK?

The day I watched Marie Forleo's film separating the important from the urgent, my life changed. Not all remote jobs start fast, but most of them are...

9. HOW DO YOU PREPARE FOR A MEETING AND PREPARE A MEETING? WHAT DO YOU SEE HAPPENING DURING THE MEETING?

Just as communication is essential when working remotely, so is organization. Because you won't have those opportunities in the elevator or a casual conversation in the lunchroom, you should take advantage of the little time you have in a video or phone conference...

10. HOW DO YOU USE TECHNOLOGY ON A DAILY BASIS, IN YOUR WORK AND FOR YOUR PLEASURE?

This is a great question because it shows your comfort level with technology, which is very important for a remote worker because you will be working with technology over time...

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