- Location
- California California USA
- Employment
- Full-Time
- Seniority
- Senior
- Compensation
- $172,460–215,575/year
- Department
- IT & Technology Systems
- Posted
- Nov 3, 2026
About The RealReal
The RealReal is a US luxury consignment marketplace founded in 2011. It sells pre-owned fashion, jewelry, watches, art and home furnishings through its website and stores. Its teams authenticate, price and photograph goods before they go on sale.
The RealReal seeks a highly experienced Staff Software Engineer (Full Stack) to lead architecture and software development, build scalable back ends, and help shape engineering practices. The role partners with Product, business stakeholders, and Engineering management; the expected annual salary range is $172,460–$215,575, with starting pay influenced by work location, skills, experience, market demands, and internal parity.
Role & Responsibilities
- Lead the architecture and development of software solutions, making strategic decisions that influence technical direction.
- Work with cross-functional teams to align technology development with business objectives and communicate technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders.
- Conduct rigorous code reviews and advocate for best coding practices to ensure products are efficient and maintainable.
- Guide and support junior engineers, fostering their professional growth and contributing to a culture of excellence.
- Research emerging software engineering technologies and trends, identifying opportunities to enhance projects and processes.
- Address complex technical challenges with innovative solutions and anticipate potential issues to ensure smooth project execution.
- Build, optimize, and iterate on platform solutions, including robust, scalable back ends that support seamless customer journeys.
- Help raise the technical standard for fellow engineers and shape engineering practices as the organization grows.
Qualifications
- Proven experience developing, scaling, and maintaining distributed systems.
- Solid understanding of software engineering principles, architectural design, and agile development methodologies.
- Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to work independently on complex issues.
- Effective communication skills and the ability to convey complex ideas clearly and concisely.
- Preferred: Experience with Ruby on Rails, Java or Kotlin, or Elixir.
- Preferred: 8+ years of software development experience with a track record of successfully shipping consumer- or business-facing products, or a bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field.
- Preferred: Familiarity with front-end JavaScript frameworks such as React or Vue, as well as Gradle and Spring Boot.
- Preferred: Familiarity with Python and AWS, or contributions to open-source projects and a strong GitHub portfolio.
Skills
Experience
8+ years of software development experience is preferred; proven experience developing, scaling, and maintaining distributed systems is required.
Education
A bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field is preferred as an alternative to 8+ years of software development experience.
Workplace
This position is based in California, California, USA.
Explore jobs in the USA.
Compensation
The base compensation for this position ranges from USD 172,460 to USD 215,575 per annum.
Benefits
Employee Stock Purchase Plan; 401(k) with company match; medical, dental, and vision insurance; paid parental leave; 9 paid company holidays; flexible time off with manager approval. Employees may also be eligible for a bonus program and incentive pay, depending on role.
Culture
A consignment passes through several hands. Authentication specialists examine the item, merchandising teams prepare the listing and client teams work with the person who consigned it.
About Cerulean
Cerulean is the definitive career portal for the global luxury industry. We match exceptional professionals with exclusive opportunities at the world's most prestigious brands. From haute couture and fine watchmaking to prestige beauty, hospitality, and boutique retail, Cerulean centralises luxury employment to help you find the career for which you were destined.
Frequently Asked Questions
The luxury industry is characterised by a diverse and nuanced nomenclature. Esteemed houses frequently employ proprietary terminology, and even within a single organisation like The RealReal, titles may vary across global markets to reflect local conventions. To ensure absolute clarity, Cerulean assigns a standardised, industry-coherent canonical title to every listing. However, it is worth noting that this role is functionally synonymous with «Staff Full-Stack Engineer», «Staff Software Developer», «Staff Application Engineer», «Staff Systems Engineer», and other variations. Our sophisticated search architecture anticipates these variations, ensuring that inquiries using related terms will seamlessly yield the exact roles you desire.