Director, U.S. Public Policy

About the Position

Director, U.S. Public Policy

Location: Washington, D.C. (Remote)

Department: Legal

Compensation: $285K – $335K • Offers Equity

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About the Role

🚀 Join the Future of Commerce with Whatnot!

Whatnot is the largest live shopping platform in North America and Europe to buy, sell, and discover the things you love. 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.

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Responsibilities

As the Director, U.S. Public Policy, you will:

• Lead Whatnot's advocacy across the U.S., articulating how Whatnot supports sellers and buyers across America and becoming an authoritative voice on live shopping and marketplace platforms.
• Build and maintain trusted relationships with key policymakers, regulators, government officials, business associations, civil society organizations, and other third parties.
• Monitor and interpret policy and regulatory developments at the federal and state level, collaborating with teams across Whatnot to understand the impact on our product, operations, and sellers.
• Advise senior leadership on the implications of key policy and regulatory proposals, providing clear recommendations and framing trade-offs.
• Position Whatnot as a credible, constructive partner on topics such as e-commerce, shipping and customs, product safety, platform liability, and consumer protection.
• Manage and coordinate external consultants and advisors in Washington, D.C. and key states, ensuring they are aligned with Whatnot's priorities and messaging.
• Collaborate closely with the Head of Global Public Policy and cross-functional partners to set priorities, refine narratives, and prepare for emerging issues.

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Requirements

• 7+ years of public policy or government affairs experience with U.S. federal government and state governments.
• Strong policy judgment and subject-matter fluency across issues relevant to Whatnot, with a clear sense of where risk is truly material, what's just noise, and when and where to engage.
• Experience building and sustaining trusted relationships with policymakers, regulators, industry groups, and civil society - with either an existing network or the ability to build one quickly.
• Clear, effective written and oral communication skills and an instinct for reading subtext in complex policy debates and stakeholder conversations.
• Comfort moving seamlessly from defining strategy to executing it.
• A collaborative approach to driving outcomes, with experience partnering closely with Legal, Product, Comms, and external consultants.

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We Offer

• 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
  • All Whatnauts are expected to develop a deep understanding of our product. We're passionate about building the best user experience, and all employees are expected to use Whatnot as both a buyer and a seller as part of their job (our dogfooding budget makes this fun and easy!).
• Parental Leave
  • 16 weeks of paid parental leave + one month gradual return to work company leave allowances run concurrently with country leave requirements which take precedence.

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About the Company

Whatnot is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. We value diversity, and we do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, parental status, disability status, or any other status protected by local law. We believe that our work is better and our company culture is improved when we encourage, support, and respect the different skills and experiences represented within our workforce.

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Please note: Whatnot will only contact you through official @whatnot.com email addresses. If you see an email impersonating a Whatnot recruiter, please disregard and report it as spam.