Lead Software Engineer

Commerce; Austin (TX); Hybrid; USD 110,000 - 216,000; Full time

Job summary

Commerce is seeking a highly accountable, impact-driven AI Lead Software Engineer in a hybrid Austin/Atlanta‑area role to guide AI initiatives across product teams. You’ll design and implement AI-based product solutions, mentor engineers, and translate high-level strategy into concrete designs that improve outcomes at scale.

You’ll collaborate with senior Product and Engineering leaders to drive the AI vision, building reusable, secure, and high-performance systems, and mentoring teams on best

Qualifications

• 5+ years of coding experience in server-side languages (Python, GoLang, Java, etc).
• Bachelor's degree in CS/EE/SW/CE/MIS or equivalent experience.
• Proven experience architecting and building AI/ML systems in production with structured and unstructured data.
• Experience building product solutions with LLMs and GenAI technologies.
• Experience with product data pipelines and e-commerce taxonomies, schemas is highly preferred.
• Familiarity with modern AI infrastructure (vector databases, model orchestration tools, inference frameworks, cloud-native ML workflows).
• Hands-on leadership experience with cross-functional teams—engineering, product, design, data science.
• Expertise in cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, or Azure), API architecture, and modern MLOps practices.
• Solid experience with SQL, in-memory storage and similar data storage solutions.
• Familiarity with Angular, React and other frontend frameworks.

Responsibilities

• Interface with team members across domains, executives and stakeholders to provide context and technical guidance.
• Collaboratively contribute to high level designs and ensure strategic alignment.
• Serve as lead engineer for major initiatives across teams with low level designs.
• Facilitate quick turnaround solutions addressing urgent business needs while balancing delivery speed, scalability, and reliability.
• Collaborate with Product & Engineering leadership to shape AI strategy.
• Assess technology options to fit purpose and optimize ROI.
• Build scalable, secure, cost-effective architectures for large-scale systems.
• Deep understanding of RAG pipelines, MCP, AI agents, multimodal LLMs, prompt orchestration, LLM telemetry and inspection.
• Upskill the organization by evangelizing technologies and opportunities for experimentation and education.

Skills

Python

GoLang

Java

SQL

AWS

GCP

Azure

API architecture

Leadership

LLM / GenAI

Education

Bachelor's degree in CS, EE, SW, CE, MIS; or equivalent experience

Tools

Vector databases

Model orchestration tools

Inference frameworks

Cloud-native ML workflows

Kubernetes

Job description

Welcome to the Agentic Commerce Era
At Commerce, our mission is to empower businesses to innovate, grow, and thrive with our open, AI-driven commerce ecosystem. As the parent company of BigCommerce, Feedonomics, and Makeswift, we connect the tools and systems that power growth, enabling businesses to unlock the full potential of their data, deliver seamless and personalized experiences across every channel, and adapt swiftly to an ever-changing market. We believe in harnessing AI responsibly to unlock new possibilities, and we’re looking for individuals who use it intentionally to solve problems, accelerate outcomes, and expand what’s possible in their role. Our purpose is to help businesses confidently solve complex commerce challenges so they can build smarter, adapt faster, and grow on their own terms. If you want to be part of a team of bold builders, sharp thinkers, and technical trailblazers who shape the future of commerce, this is the place for you.

Welcome to the Agentic Commerce Era
At Commerce, our mission is to empower businesses to innovate, grow, and thrive with our open, AI-driven commerce ecosystem. As the parent company of BigCommerce, Feedonomics, and Makeswift, we connect the tools and systems that power growth, enabling businesses to unlock the full potential of their data, deliver seamless and personalized experiences across every channel, and adapt swiftly to an ever-changing market. We believe in harnessing AI responsibly to unlock new possibilities, and we’re looking for individuals who use it intentionally to solve problems, accelerate outcomes, and expand what’s possible in their role. Our purpose is to help businesses confidently solve complex commerce challenges so they can build smarter, adapt faster, and grow on their own terms. If you want to be part of a team of bold builders, sharp thinkers, and technical trailblazers who shape the future of commerce, this is the place for you.

We’re seeking a highly accountable, and impact-driven AI Lead Software Engineer to play a pivotal role in shaping and executing our AI vision. As a key member of technical staff, you’ll collaborate closely with senior Product and Engineering leaders to drive strategic initiatives and deliver results through cutting-edge AI technologies. In this role, you’ll lead the design and implementation of multiple AI-based product solutions, enabling rapid experimentation and implementation for a variety of product use-cases across the business. Success will require exceptional written and verbal communication skills, an ability to contribute to high level designs and translate into low level designs, a strong bias for action, a focus on measurable outcomes, and a commitment to continuously improving the capabilities of the organization through mentorship, coaching and evangelization. BigCommerce part of the Commerce brand family, helps merchants increase sales at every stage of their growth. From small startups to mid-market businesses and large enterprises, we provide the leading e-commerce platform. Our customers can then concentrate on what's most important: growing their businesses. We enable our customers to build, innovate, and grow, collectively reshaping the e-commerce industry.

What You’ll Do

• Interface with team members across one or more domains, executives and stakeholders across the business to provide context, direction setting and technical guidance.
• Collaboratively contribute to and/or author high level designs and partner with key leaders to ensure strategic alignment.
• Serve as lead engineer for major initiatives, working across teams to develop and implement low level designs.
• Facilitate quick-turnaround solutions to address urgent business needs, striking the right balance between delivery speed, scalability, and reliability.
• Collaborate with Product & Engineering leadership to help shape the AI strategy.
• Assess technology options to establish fit for purpose and make selections to optimize ROI for the business.
• Build scalable solutions and systems that are secure, cost-effective and performant at very large scale.
• Deep understanding of and experience with RAG pipelines, MCP, AI agents, multimodal LLMs, prompt orchestration, LLM telemetry and inspection, etc.
• Upskill the organization by evangelizing technologies and identifying opportunities for experimentation and education.

Who Are You

• 5+ years of coding experience in one or more server-side languages (Python, GoLang, Java, etc)
• Education: Preferred minimum Bachelor's degree in CS, EE, SW, CE, MIS; or equivalent experience
• Proven experience architecting and building AI/ML systems, especially in production environments dealing with structured and unstructured data
• Experience building product solutions with LLMs and GenAI technologies
• Experience working with product data pipelines and familiarity with e-commerce taxonomies, schemas, is highly preferred
• Familiarity with modern AI infrastructure (e.g., vector databases, model orchestration tools, inference frameworks, cloud-native ML workflows) is preferred
• Hands-on leadership experience with cross-functional teams – engineering, product, design, data science, driving both vision and execution.
• Expertise in cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, or Azure), API architecture, and modern MLOps practices.
• Solid experience with SQL, in-memory storage and similar data storage solutions
• Familiarity with Angular, React and other similar Frontend frameworks

Work Where You Thrive

For candidates based in the Austin or Atlanta metro area, the position follows a hybrid work model with three days per week in the office, balancing focused individual work with meaningful in-person collaboration. (Pay Transparency Range: $110,000.00 - $216,000.00)

Compensation Transparency

The national base salary range for this role is posted above in this job post. Final compensation will be determined based on factors such as relevant experience, skills, qualifications and geographic location. We also consider internal equity to help ensure fair and consistent pay practices across our teams. Where applicable, this role may also be eligible for variable compensation (such as bonus or commission), equity, and benefits in accordance with local policies. Details will be shared during the hiring process. We are committed to equitable and transparent pay practices that align to market data, internal equity, and individual contribution.

Inclusion and Belonging

At Commerce, we believe that celebrating the unique histories, perspectives and abilities of every employee makes a difference for our company, our customers and our community. We are an equal opportunity employer and the inclusive atmosphere we build together will make room for every person to contribute, grow and thrive. We are committed to creating an inclusive and accessible hiring experience for all candidates. If you require accommodations or adjustments at any stage of the recruitment process, please let us know and we will work with you to meet your needs. Learn more about the Commerce team, culture and benefits at https://www.commerce.com/careers/