Remote Senior Principal Backend Architect - GraphQL Shopify

Shutterfly, Inc.; Tempe (AZ); Remote; USD 150,000 - 225,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Bonus eligibility

Health benefits

401K program

Employee perks

Job summary

Spoonflower, part of the Shutterfly family, seeks a Senior Principal Software Engineer to design and evolve core backend services powering our commerce platform. You will own GraphQL federation, Shopify integrations, and runtime reliability, collaborating with frontend, product, and platform teams.

You will lead distributed systems work, mentor engineers, and set engineering standards while driving scalable solutions for a global print-on-demand experience.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of backend/platform engineering experience.
• Deep proficiency in GraphQL design and implementation, including federated architectures.
• Experience with Shopify or similar ecommerce platforms.
• Strong proficiency in Node.js/TypeScript and API design.
• Ability to diagnose production failures at runtime, not just restart services.

Responsibilities

• Own the design and evolution of core backend services and APIs supporting commerce workflows.
• Lead architecture and implementation of GraphQL services on our Apollo Federation supergraph.
• Build and improve Shopify integrations (Storefront API, Admin API, webhooks, order lifecycle).
• Define and improve service boundaries, data models, and integration points across systems.
• Own production systems, including operability, observability, and incident response.

Skills

Backend engineering

GraphQL design

Node.js/TypeScript

Distributed systems

Shopify/eCommerce integrations

System observability

Tools

Kubernetes

Terraform

OpenSearch

Apollo Federation

AWS SNS/SQS

Job description

Spoonflower, part of the Shutterfly family, seeks a Senior Principal Software Engineer to design and evolve core backend services powering our commerce platform. You will own GraphQL federation, Shopify integrations, and runtime reliability, collaborating with frontend, product, and platform teams.

You will lead distributed systems work, mentor engineers, and set engineering standards while driving scalable solutions for a global print-on-demand experience.