Job Description

Senior Shopify Developer

We are hiring a contract-based Senior Shopify Developer to contribute to our Design and Development Team.

We are worker owned creative collective, innovating on everything from brands and IRL communities to IoT devices and cross platform apps. We share profit, open source everything, spin out new businesses, and invest in exciting ideas through financial and/or in-kind contributions.

Our client roster includes Google, Stripe, Figma, Hinge, Black Socialists in America, ACLU, Pratt, Parsons, Mozilla, The Nobel Prize, MIT, Gnosis, Etsy & Gagosian.

We're the software team behind innovative products like The Light Phone & Mill, and we operate a global, decentralized community space collective called Index Space.

We think of our garden3d as collective for creative people, prioritizing a happy, talented, and diverse studio culture. We work on projects that bring value to our world, and we balance deep care for the work we do with a genuine curiosity about life outside of our jobs.

We're looking for a Senior Shopify Developer who balances deep e-commerce expertise with modern frontend engineering. You'll build pixel-perfect, hyper-performant storefronts ranging from custom Liquid themes to headless Hydrogen/Next.js implementations working alongside our design team to create world-class shopping experiences.

In this role, you'll work across a variety of client projects to find cost-effective, high-quality, and pragmatic solutions to complex e-commerce challenges. Responsibilities will include:

• Collaborating closely with Technical Leads and Designers to meet clients' custom e-commerce and technical needs.
• Building and maintaining high-performance storefronts using both custom Liquid (Online Store 2.0) and modern headless architectures (Shopify Storefront API, GraphQL, Hydrogen/Remix, Next.js).
• Implementing responsive, accessible, and pixel-perfect interfaces based on design specifications, with meticulous attention to product interaction details and motion design.
• Integrating custom storefronts with headless CMS platforms (Sanity, Contentful), payment gateways, subscriptions, search, and third-party e-commerce APIs.
• Optimizing e-commerce performance, focusing heavily on Core Web Vitals, image/video asset delivery, bundle size, and runtime efficiency across high-traffic collection and product pages.
• Architecting scalable, reusable component libraries and design systems tailored for commercial platforms.
• Writing clear documentation for store management, custom app integrations, and codebase maintenance.
• Participating in project team rituals, including Sprint Planning, daily standups, code reviews, and retrospectives.

The person we're looking for is happy, relaxed and easy to get along with. They're flexible on anything except conceits that will lower their usually outstanding work quality. They work "smart", by carefully managing their workflow and staggering features that have dependencies intelligently. They prefer deep work but are OK coming up to the surface now and then for top level / strategic conversations.

We believe people with backgrounds or interests in design, art, music, food or fashion tend to have a well rounded sense of design & quality, so a variety of hobbies or side projects is a big nice to have!

Must-Have Competencies:

• 8+ years writing highly performant frontend code with an obsession for 95+ Lighthouse scores and optimal Core Web Vitals.
• Deep Shopify Ecosystem Mastery: Proven experience building custom Shopify themes (Liquid, JSON templates, Online Store 2.0) as well as headless storefronts using the Shopify Storefront API (GraphQL) and frameworks like Hydrogen/Remix or Next.js .
• Modern Frontend Tech: Expert-level experience with TypeScript and modern CSS methodologies (Tailwind CSS, CSS Modules) alongside robust animation libraries (GSAP, Framer Motion).
• Headless CMS & Integrations: Extensive experience merging Shopify with headless CMS platforms like Sanity, Contentful, or Prismic, as well as third-party services (Klaviyo, Recharge, Algolia/Searchspring, Stripe).
• Platform & Hosting: Fluency in industry-standard PaaS platforms including Vercel, Netlify, and Shopify Oxygen.
• Architecture & State Management: Experience with state management solutions (Zustand, Redux, Pinia) and API integration patterns for cart state, multi-currency, and checkout flows.
• Quality & Accessibility: Experience building accessible (WCAG compliant), responsive interfaces with a strong commitment to SEO best practices, testing frameworks (Jest, Playwright, Cypress), and maintainable code.
• Performance Optimization: Practical knowledge of WebSockets, caching strategies (Redis, CDN-level/Cloudflare), and advanced image delivery networks.

Nice-to-Have Competencies:

• Custom App Development: Building bespoke Shopify Apps using Node.js, Remix, GraphQL Admin API, and Shopify CLI.
• Shopify Plus & Enterprise Features: Hands-on experience with Shopify Functions, Checkout Branding API, Shopify Scripts, and B2B configurations.
• Tracking & Analytics: Setting up server-side tracking, GTM, Meta Pixel, and Customer Privacy APIs without hurting site load times.
• WebGL, Canvas & 3D: Experience building interactive graphics, 3D product visualizers, or canvas animations using Three.js or ".
• Full-Stack & API Design: Experience across backend/database layers (PostgreSQL), REST/GraphQL API design, and authentication flows (OAuth, JWT).
• Client-Facing & Management: Direct experience working with clients to clarify requirements, defining product roadmaps, or leading engineering teams.

Compensation

Our pay scale ranges from $40/hr to $120/hr pending seniority (& team leadership experience), and our projects are rarely less than 8 full time weeks at 40 hours per week.

We prefer long standing relationships with highly accountable and communicative team members, so we encourage candidates to expect longer term engagements.

How we interview

After you submit your application, a member of our team will reach out. Our interview process starts with an intro call to answer any questions you have about the role and to learn a bit more about your experience and interests.

From there, we'll follow up with a panel interview call where you get to meet a few members of our team, to openly discuss some of our challenges and ensure your skills and interests align with where we're going as a business.

For qualified candidates, the process wraps with a reference call, and an offer to follow.

How we work:

We believe that there's a better balance between the poles of freelancing & full time, and for that reason Sanctuary works differently to most shops:

• Transparency & Ownership: We release out Profit & Loss statements to the community each year, open source our best ideas, and talk business & money with everyone in the company. We're proud to run our business with integrity, and for that reason we share everything with our team & community.
• 150% Carbon Negative: Our studio offsets 150% of the carbon we use to do business each year, dated back to our founding in 2015. We turn down work that is not in-line with our morals, and we encourage our peers to do the same. We have been certified climate neutral since 2021.
• Strong Morals: Since our founding, we've turned down somewhere between $1mm – $2mm of work that didn't meet our moral standards. (Most of that was DTC brands that can't show a valid sustainability initiative).
• Async & Decentralized: We use tools optimized for calm, thoughtful communication, and opt for async whenever possible. We fight hard to maintain our focus time.
• Remote Friendly: Our company is fluent in remote work, making our workplace more decentralized, and democratized in the process.
• Ideas & Products: In our spare studio time, we work to build our own open source or internal products to diversify & bolster our income

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