Senior Manager / Director, Carrier Operations

Whatnot•San Francisco, CA

10d•$234,000 - $325,000•Remote

About The Position

Whatnot is the largest live shopping platform in North America and Europe to buy, sell, and discover the things you love. Whether it's trading cards, fashion, electronics, or live plants, our sellers are building real businesses across hundreds of categories. We're building live commerce at a scale that's never been done in the West, and there's no playbook to copy. The people here are shaping how an entirely new industry develops. As a remote co-located team, we're inspired by our values and anchored in hubs across the US, UK, Ireland, Poland, Germany, and Australia. We move fast, stay close to our users, and focus on the work that drives the most impact. We're one of the fastest growing marketplaces and were recently named the #1 Best Startup Employer in America by Forbes. 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.

Requirements

8–12+ years of experience in parcel/carrier operations, logistics, transportation procurement, or marketplace operations — ideally at a high-volume ecommerce company, marketplace, 3PL, integrator, or carrier
Experience owning carrier relationships and negotiations, including rate cards, surcharges, SLAs, and contract terms across multiple domestic and international carriers
Deep fluency in parcel economics and cost integrity: rate structures, fuel and peak surcharges, VAT/tax treatment, FX, invoice audit and reconciliation, and claims recovery
Strong analytical rigor — you're comfortable owning shipping margin down to the invoice line and reconciling numbers across finance, accounting, and analytics systems; SQL and tools like Sigma, Hex, or Looker are a strong plus
Proven cross-functional leadership: you can align Product, Engineering, Finance, CX, and external partners around a plan, and run a tight operating cadence with vendors
Experience managing and developing a team, including building playbooks and delegating standardized work
Calm, structured incident response instincts — you're the person people want running point when a carrier changes an API, a lane starts failing, or a tariff lands
Ability to think strategically and execute methodically in a fast-moving, ambiguous environment

Nice To Haves

International shipping and cross-border experience (customs, duties, de minimis, VAT) strongly preferred

Responsibilities

Own carrier performance monitoring. Build and run the daily/weekly monitoring of shipping health — margin, on-time delivery, label generation success, scan rates, surcharge and refund rates, and CX contact volume — define the topline carrier KPIs, surface degradation early, and drive issues to resolution with the right internal and external owners.
Own carrier pricing. Understand and size every carrier price change (rate cards, surcharges, fuel, zone remapping), decide with Product/Eng and business leadership whether and how to pass changes through, coordinate customer communications and CX readiness, and hold carriers accountable to advance notice on pricing and data changes.
Lead disruption response. Monitor and respond to carrier API changes, tariffs and regulatory shifts (e.g., de minimis changes), carrier policy updates, and weather events — quarterbacking coordinated cross-functional responses with Product, Engineering, CX, Trust & Safety, and Public Policy.
Own shipping cost integrity. Run the invoice reconciliation process across all carriers and integrators, ensure carrier charges map correctly to internal data, drive rate shadowing to catch mispricing, and partner with Accounting, Strategic Finance, and Analytics to reconcile margin reporting into a single trusted source of truth.
Manage carrier relationships and negotiations. Own the weekly/biweekly operating cadence with each carrier and integrator, set agendas that drive our priorities, escalate and resolve operational issues (rate card mismatches, incorrect surcharges, RTS spikes, collections delays), and lead or support rate negotiations, RFPs, and contract changes.
Recover money we're owed. Own claims at scale (thousands of loss/damage claims per week), bulk claims programs, unused label refunds, and overcharge credits — a direct, measurable margin lever.
Own carrier-side seller and CX operations. Oversee high-value stuck-shipment resolution, BYOL support, seller collections, hazmat violation management, and carrier violation remediation in partnership with Account Managers and Support.
Launch and scale. Onboard new carriers, service levels, lanes, and markets — from commercial diligence through data integration and ramp — and set the 12–18 month strategy for the carrier function as Whatnot's volume and international footprint grow.
Build and lead the team. Manage and develop a team of carrier operations analysts and associates, define clear ownership across monitoring, pricing, reconciliation, and escalations, and identify what to automate, playbook, or hand off as we scale.

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
16 weeks of paid parental leave + one month gradual return to work company leave allowances run concurrently with country leave requirements which take precedence.