Principal Engineer

We are looking for a Principal Engineer to serve as the senior technical authority for a digital commerce platform and broader application development initiatives. This hybrid role combines ecommerce platform expertise with software engineering leadership, focused on defining technical strategy, driving architecture decisions, and ensuring high quality delivery across customer facing and internal applications.

You will own the architecture and technical roadmap for the commerce ecosystem while guiding engineering standards, mentoring developers, and partnering with product, UX, and business stakeholders to deliver scalable and maintainable solutions.

• Lead the architecture, design, and delivery of BigCommerce storefront and headless commerce solutions, including Stencil theme customization, custom applications, extensions, and API driven integrations with enterprise systems
• Serve as the senior technical authority for application development initiatives beyond commerce, guiding solution design and code quality across full stack web applications and internal platforms
• Set the technical direction and engineering standards for the team and conduct architecture reviews, design reviews, and code reviews
• Collaborate with product owners, UX teams, and business stakeholders to translate requirements into scalable and maintainable technical solutions
• Own end to end technical delivery for complex cross functional initiatives, including estimation, planning, risk management, and implementation sequencing
• Optimize storefront performance, scalability, and availability while supporting cloud deployments on AWS or Azure using modern CI/CD pipelines
• Provide technical mentorship and guidance to developers across ecommerce and general application development projects
• Evaluate and integrate third party APIs, middleware solutions, and SaaS platforms to extend platform capabilities
• Promote secure coding practices, automated testing, and DevOps principles across the engineering team
• Drive the adoption of AI assisted development tools, establish governance guidelines, and define best practices for their effective use
• Stay current with ecommerce platform updates, industry trends, and modern software development practices, providing recommendations for build versus buy decisions

• 8+ years of software application development experience, including 3+ years working directly with BigCommerce or a comparable SaaS commerce platform
• Experience customizing BigCommerce storefronts using the Stencil framework, including custom themes, templates, and applications
• Strong understanding of headless commerce architectures and RESTful or GraphQL integrations with enterprise systems
• Solid full stack development experience using JavaScript, TypeScript, Node.js, React, or similar technologies, along with a server side language such as Java, C#, or Python
• Experience working with AWS or Azure cloud platforms and modern CI/CD, containerization, and deployment practices
• Demonstrated ability to define technical direction and mentor developers, with or without formal people management responsibility
• Strong understanding of software architecture principles, design patterns, and scalable system design
• Hands on experience using AI assisted coding tools, including prompt development, reviewing AI generated code, and integrating these tools into engineering workflows
• Strong written and verbal communication skills with experience collaborating across product, UX, and business teams
• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience

• BigCommerce certification or equivalent platform credentials
• Experience with membership, subscription, nonprofit, or association based ecommerce models
• Familiarity with Agile delivery methodologies and tools such as Jira and Confluence
• Experience with automated testing frameworks such as Selenium, Cucumber, JUnit, or similar tools
• Exposure to relational databases, ETL tools, and data integration patterns