- 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, for its Seller team to architect and develop solutions for the Seller Platform, partnering with Product, Engineering management, and business stakeholders. The role focuses on scalable back ends, technical leadership, code quality, mentoring, and solving complex engineering challenges; the expected annual salary range is $172,460–$215,575, with starting pay determined in part 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 clearly to non-technical stakeholders.
- Conduct rigorous code reviews and promote best coding practices to ensure efficient, maintainable products.
- Mentor and support junior engineers, fostering their professional growth and a culture of excellence.
- Research emerging software engineering technologies and trends, identifying opportunities to improve projects and processes.
- Resolve complex technical challenges with innovative solutions and anticipate potential issues to support smooth project execution.
- Build, optimize, and iterate on the Seller Platform in partnership with Product and Engineering management.
- Collaborate with Product and business stakeholders to develop robust, scalable back ends that support engaging customer journeys and improve Seller Platform effectiveness.
Qualifications
- At least 8 years of software development experience.
- Required experience with Java and Ruby.
- Proven experience developing, scaling, and maintaining distributed systems.
- Strong understanding of software engineering principles, architectural design, and agile development methodologies.
- Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills, including the ability to work independently on complex issues.
- Effective communication skills and the ability to convey complex ideas clearly and concisely.
- Experience using modern AI coding tools and autonomous engineering agents, such as Cursor, Claude Code, or GitHub Copilot Workspace, to accelerate feature development, automate boilerplate creation, and troubleshoot code while maintaining human accountability for architectural integrity and final code quality.
- Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field preferred.
- 8 or more years of software development experience and a record of successfully shipping consumer- or business-facing products preferred.
- Experience with Elixir is a plus.
- Familiarity with front-end JavaScript frameworks such as React or Vue preferred.
- Familiarity with Gradle and Spring Boot preferred.
- Familiarity with Python preferred.
- Familiarity with AWS preferred.
- Contributions to open-source projects or a strong GitHub portfolio preferred.
Skills
Experience
At least 8 years of software development experience; 8 or more years preferred, with a record of successfully shipping consumer- or business-facing products.
Education
Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field preferred.
Workplace
The role is situated 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. Depending on the role, employees may also be eligible for a bonus program and incentive pay.
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 Platform 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.