Senior Shopify Plus Solution Architect / Lead Developer

About the Role We are a digital commerce and technology agency looking for a Senior Shopify Plus Solution Architect / Lead Developer to join our team on a contract basis, with the potential to develop into a long-term engagement. This is not a standard Shopify theme-development position. We are looking for someone who is both a strong software engineer and an experienced Shopify Plus architect — someone capable of joining an enterprise discovery call, understanding a complex business problem, determining what should and should not live inside Shopify, designing the technical solution, estimating the work, explaining it to the client, and then getting into the codebase to help build it. You should be comfortable operating between: Solution Architecture → Technical Discovery → Scoping → Client Communication → Hands-On Development → Code Review → Troubleshooting We work with enterprise and mid-market ecommerce organizations involving Shopify Plus, B2B, POS, ERP integrations, payments, marketplaces, fulfillment systems, middleware, and custom applications. What You'll Be Doing Shopify Plus Architecture You will help design Shopify Plus solutions across B2C, B2B, retail, and omnichannel environments. You should be able to determine: What should live natively inside Shopify What requires a custom Shopify application What should live in middleware What belongs inside an ERP, PIM, OMS, WMS, CRM, or other platform When a third-party Shopify app is appropriate When custom development is justified When Shopify is simply the wrong technical solution We value architects who understand Shopify deeply enough to know its limitations. Hands-On Shopify Development This is still a highly hands-on engineering role. You should be comfortable working directly with: Shopify Plus Shopify Liquid Shopify Online Store 2.0 Shopify themes Shopify APIs Shopify Admin API Storefront API GraphQL REST APIs Webhooks Custom Shopify apps Checkout extensibility Customer accounts Shopify Functions Metafields and metaobjects Git / GitHub JavaScript / TypeScript Node.js React Experience with AWS, SQL, Vue, Svelte, Hydrogen, Remix, or similar technologies is a plus. Shopify B2B Strong Shopify Plus B2B experience is highly desirable. You should understand concepts including: Companies Company locations B2B customers Customer permissions Catalogs Price lists Payment terms Buyer workflows B2B checkout Customer accounts ERP synchronization Customer/company data mapping Sales-rep-assisted ordering Many of our enterprise projects involve Shopify operating alongside an ERP or other system of record. You should understand how to determine where data should be mastered and how systems should communicate with one another. Systems Integration A major portion of this role involves connecting Shopify to other enterprise systems. Examples include: ERP CRM PIM OMS WMS 3PL POS Payment gateways Marketplaces Custom applications Inventory systems Fulfillment platforms Customer portals You should understand: API architecture Middleware REST and GraphQL Webhooks Authentication Data mapping Synchronization Queues Error handling Retry logic Logging System-of-record decisions Integration failure scenarios You do not need experience with every ERP on the market. You do need to understand enterprise integration architecture. Experience with Microsoft Dynamics 365 or similar ERP platforms is especially valuable. Shopify POS & Omnichannel Experience with Shopify POS is a strong plus. You should be comfortable discussing or architecting: Multiple retail locations Inventory synchronization Inter-store transfers Returns and exchanges POS inventory Online/offline customer records Order routing Reporting ERP/accounting integrations Omnichannel purchasing journeys Payments You should understand Shopify's payment ecosystem beyond simply configuring a gateway. Experience discussing or implementing any of the following is valuable: Shopify Payments Third-party gateways Saved payment methods Customer payment authorization Payment links Checkout extensibility PCI considerations B2B payments Payment terms Refunds Custom payment workflows Marketplace or multi-party payment architecture Engineering & Deployment Standards We want someone who treats Shopify development like professional software engineering. You should be comfortable working with: Git-based development Feature branches Pull requests Code review Development/staging/production workflows Automated deployments Regression testing QA environments Rollback strategies Production debugging Logging and monitoring Experience with automated browser testing using tools such as: Selenium Playwright Cypress is highly desirable. We are particularly interested in engineers who have implemented automated testing around business-critical ecommerce functionality such as: Add to Cart → Checkout → Customer Login → Product Selection → Orders Performance Optimization You should have strong knowledge of ecommerce performance optimization. You should understand: Core Web Vitals LCP CLS INP JavaScript execution Critical CSS Lazy loading Third-party script overhead Shopify app overhead Theme architecture Asset loading DOM performance We care more about real user performance and Core Web Vitals than artificially manipulating Lighthouse scores. Theme Architecture We are looking for someone capable of building structured, reusable Shopify theme systems rather than repeatedly writing one-off components. Experience with: Dawn Custom component libraries Tailwind CSS Reusable Shopify sections/components Design-system-driven development Figma-to-component workflows is highly desirable. Headless Shopify You should understand Hydrogen/headless Shopify architecture. However, we are specifically looking for someone mature enough to recognize that headless is not automatically the right answer. You should be able to clearly explain the tradeoffs between: Native Shopify themes Custom Shopify themes Hydrogen Headless storefronts Custom applications Third-party applications and recommend the architecture that makes the most business and technical sense. Technical Discovery & Scoping This is one of the most important parts of the position. You will regularly be asked to join projects before development begins. You should be comfortable: Running technical discovery Asking detailed architecture questions Reviewing existing platforms Auditing existing code Identifying dependencies Finding technical risks Creating architecture diagrams Defining assumptions Breaking projects into workstreams Providing engineering estimates Reviewing SOWs Identifying scope creep Evaluating alternative solutions Explaining technical tradeoffs You should be able to turn: "The client wants Shopify connected to their ERP, POS, warehouses, B2B customers, and payment system." into a clear technical architecture and defensible estimate. Client-Facing Communication You will interact directly with enterprise clients and their technical teams. Strong communication skills are required. You should be comfortable: Leading technical discovery calls Presenting architecture Running technical demos Explaining Shopify limitations Defending estimates Discussing technical tradeoffs Working with third-party development teams Working with ERP/integration teams Participating in presales Translating business requirements into technical requirements You need to be able to explain complicated technology to both developers and executives. Technical Leadership This is a senior technical role, but we do not want someone who stopped engineering years ago. You may be expected to: Lead developers Review pull requests Review architecture Mentor engineers Troubleshoot difficult issues Establish development standards Improve engineering processes Help unblock projects You should still be able to personally enter the codebase and solve problems. Ideal Experience Strong candidates will typically have: 7+ years of professional software engineering experience 4+ years of strong Shopify / Shopify Plus experience Experience with multiple enterprise Shopify implementations Full lifecycle project experience from discovery through launch Strong JavaScript / TypeScript skills Strong Node.js experience Strong React experience Custom Shopify app development experience Shopify API experience Strong Git/GitHub knowledge Systems integration experience Experience estimating technical projects Enterprise client-facing experience Experience supporting live ecommerce platforms Equivalent real-world experience is more important than matching an exact number of years. Strong Plus Experience with any of the following will make you stand out: Shopify Plus B2B Shopify POS Microsoft Dynamics 365 ERP integrations Middleware development SQL AWS Data migration Payment integrations Marketplace architecture OMS/WMS/3PL integrations Magento / Adobe Commerce migrations Performance optimization Automated QA CI/CD Solution architecture Enterprise technical presales This Role Is Probably NOT For You If Your Shopify experience is primarily: Page builders Figma-to-theme implementation Basic Liquid changes Installing Shopify apps Small theme tickets Frontend-only development Those skills are useful, but they are not what this position is designed around. We need someone capable of understanding the entire technical ecosystem surrounding Shopify. Engagement We are open to beginning with a part-time / contract engagement and expanding the relationship based on performance, availability, and project demand. There is significant opportunity for ongoing work for the right person. When applying, please focus on the most technically complex Shopify Plus projects you have personally architected or built, rather than providing a general list of Shopify stores.