Software Engineer 3, Commerce

Condé Nast Germany; New York (NY); On-site; USD 175,000 - 195,000; Full time

Job summary

Condé Nast is seeking a Backend Engineer III in New York to design and scale backend systems powering commerce initiatives. You’ll work on styling, recommendations, catalog, inventory, and checkout with a focus on reuse across brands.

You’ll collaborate with product and editorial teams, own key development lifecycle phases, and apply an AI-native mindset to improve engineering and product outcomes.

Qualifications

• 6+ years building production backend systems, ideally in commerce or content-commerce.
• Deep proficiency in Node.js and TypeScript/JavaScript with scalable services.
• Experience designing REST and GraphQL APIs for internal and external use.
• Experience with event-driven architectures (Kafka, SQS, EventBridge).
• Strong relational and NoSQL database design (PostgreSQL, MongoDB, DynamoDB).
• Experience with multi-tenant/configurable systems across brands.
• Basic React fluency for collaboration with frontend engineers.
• Solid fundamentals in data structures, algorithms, and system design.
• Ownership of full development lifecycle from VCS to CI/CD.
• Collaborative work with product/editorial/design stakeholders.
• AI-native mindset; apply AI to engineering/product problems.

Responsibilities

• Design and build services spanning catalog, inventory, and checkout.
• Collaborate with product managers and engineers across brands.
• Architect reusable systems for multiple Condé Nast properties.
• Participate in code reviews and mentor other engineers.

Skills

Node.js

TypeScript/JavaScript

API design (REST/GraphQL)

Event-driven systems (Kafka/SQS/Event-

Relational & NoSQL databases

Multi-tenant architectures

Basic React collaboration

Data structures & algorithms

Full lifecycle ownership

Cross-brand collaboration

AI-native mindset

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or related field

6+ years backend software development experience

Job description

Condé Nast is one of the world’s most renowned media publishing companies, creating and distributing every type of media today, spanning print and digital publishing in all formats. With a portfolio of some of today’s most influential brands, the company continues to grow its audience through a global operational and content infrastructure across its 12 owned and operated markets. Headquartered in New York City, the company’s owned and operated markets include China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico & Latin America, Spain, Taiwan, UAE/Dubai, the U.K., and the U.S., with additional local license partners in over twenty additional markets across the globe. Lead brands include Vogue, The New Yorker, GQ, Architectural Digest, Condé Nast Traveler, Vanity Fair, Wired, Allure, Ars Technica, Bon Appétit, House & Garden, Pitchfork, Tatler, and Vogue Business.

Job Description

Location:

New York, NY

Condé Nast’s commerce team builds the technology behind product discovery, personalized shopping, and checkout experiences across our portfolio of brands. We’re looking for a Software Engineer III to help design and scale backend systems that power commerce initiatives, including styling and product recommendations, catalog, inventory, and order infrastructure, built to serve multiple brands, not just one. You’ll work closely with product managers and engineers across the org to build systems that are fast, reliable, and designed for reuse and scale across Condé Nast’s diverse editorial and commerce properties.

Key Qualifications

• 6+ years building production backend systems, ideally with some exposure to e-commerce, retail, or content-commerce platforms

• Deep proficiency in Node.js and TypeScript/JavaScript, with a track record of designing services that hold up under real user traffic, including seasonal or campaign-driven spikes

• Experience building and evolving REST and GraphQL APIs that serve both internal teams (editorial, styling, merchandising) and external partners (retail affiliates, payment providers, product data feeds)

• Comfort designing event-driven systems (Kafka, SQS, EventBridge) for things like inventory sync, price updates, order status, and affiliate commerce events

• Strong database design instincts across relational and NoSQL systems (PostgreSQL, MongoDB, DynamoDB)

• Experience designing systems with multi-tenancy or configurability in mind: building once and adapting across different use cases, teams, or brands, rather than one-off solutions

• Basic fluency in React, enough to collaborate closely with frontend engineers building shoppable articles, styling widgets, and product carousels

• Solid fundamentals in data structures, algorithms, and system design, applied pragmatically rather than academically

• Comfortable owning the full development lifecycle, from version control and code review to automated testing and CI/CD deployment.

• A collaborative streak: you’ll be pairing with product, editorial, and design stakeholders across multiple brands, each with its own voice and priorities

• AI-native mindset. Use AI tools as part of your everyday workflow, and look for opportunities to apply AI to solve real engineering and product problems, not just to write code faster.

Description

As a backend engineer on Condé Nast’s commerce team, you’ll design and build services spanning multiple commerce initiatives, including product catalog and inventory systems, retail partner integrations, styling and recommendation features, and checkout infrastructure, with an eye toward reusability across our brands. You’ll work closely with product managers to translate business goals into technical designs, and with frontend and other backend engineers to ship features end to end. You’ll make architectural calls that balance speed of iteration with the reliability commerce demands, while thinking ahead about how a given system might need to flex for a different brand’s catalog structure, traffic pattern, or editorial workflow. You’ll participate in code reviews and design discussions, and mentor other engineers to help raise the technical bar across the team.

Day to day, the specific project might shift: optimizing a product-matching query for styling recommendations one quarter, hardening a retail partner integration the next. But the core of the work stays the same: partnering closely with product and engineering to build commerce systems that are reliable, well-designed, and scalable across Condé Nast’s portfolio of brands.

Education & Experience

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.

6+ years of professional backend software development experience required.

The expected base salary range for this position is from $175,000-195,000. Salary offers are based on a wide range of factors including but not limited to relevant skills, training, experience, and education.

Condé Nast is an equal opportunity employer. We evaluate qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, veteran status, age, familial status and other legally protected characteristics.