Staff Software Engineer

Commerce.com US; United States; On-site; USD 180,000 - 260,000; Full time

Job summary

Commerce is seeking a Staff Software Engineer to guide architecture across domains and scale our distributed systems for 60,000+ merchants worldwide. You will lead design, drive AI integration, and mentor engineers while collaborating with product managers and design teams across global offices.

You’ll shape long-term roadmaps, push for secure, reliable platforms, and champion high-quality, testable code in a fast-evolving AI-enabled commerce ecosystem.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of professional software engineering delivering production systems.
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a related field (or equivalent practical experience).
• Experience with server-side languages (e.g., PHP, Go, Scala, Java, Python, Ruby).
• Experience with cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, or similar) and microservices architecture.

Responsibilities

• Lead the design, development, and evolution of scalable, reliable, high-performance distributed systems.
• Drive architectural discussions across multiple domains and participate in cross-domain architectural working groups.
• Contribute to the definition and execution of the long-term technical roadmap; ensure decisions align with performance, scalability, reliability, security, and maintainability.
• Drive initiatives to integrate AI technologies, including machine learning models and GenAI solutions, into existing and future products.
• Collaborate with product managers, designers, and engineering leaders to translate requirements into technical solutions and mentor engineers.

Skills

Backend development

Distributed systems

Cloud platforms

Code reviews

Technical leadership

Mentorship

Education

Bachelor's degree in CS/Software Engineering or related field

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.

The Staff Software Engineer is a senior technical leader within the Engineering organization, responsible for influencing architectural direction across multiple domains and ensuring our platform scales efficiently and securely for over 60,000 merchants worldwide.

In this role you will lead the design, development, and evolution of large-scale distributed systems while helping shape how AI technologies including machine learning models and GenAI solutions, are integrated into our current and future products. You will guide teams toward high-impact technical solutions, mentor senior engineers, and contribute directly to building innovative, reliable systems that power the Commerce platform.

This role is highly collaborative. You will partner closely with product managers, designers, and engineering leaders across global offices to ensure shared context, customer-focused decisions, and continuous learning within our engineering culture.

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

Technical Direction & Architecture

• Lead the design, development, and evolution of scalable, reliable, high-performance distributed systems
• Drive architectural discussions that span multiple domains across the platform, and participate in cross-domain architectural working groups
• Contribute to the definition and execution of our long-term technical roadmap
• Ensure technical decisions align with goals of performance, scalability, reliability, security, and maintainability

AI & Emerging Technology

• Drive initiatives to integrate AI technologies, including machine learning models and GenAI solutions, into existing and future products
• Evaluate emerging AI infrastructure and development practices, and advocate for adoption where they deliver clear customer or engineering value
• Stay abreast of advancements in distributed systems, cloud technologies, and artificial intelligence, and share that knowledge across teams

Engineering Excellence

• Build and maintain high-performance, reliable, and secure software systems.
• Lead by example in writing testable, maintainable code that meets high quality standards
• Participate in and lead in-depth code reviews, advocating for best practices that improve software quality and reliability
• Identify and address performance bottlenecks, scalability challenges, and system reliability issues
• Build tools and frameworks that enable faster, safer delivery of value by other engineers

Collaboration & Mentorship

• Collaborate effectively with software engineers, product managers, designers, and stakeholders across global teams to translate business requirements into technical solutions
• Provide technical leadership and mentorship to engineers at all levels
• Promote a culture of knowledge sharing, continuous improvement, and mentorship across teams

Who You Are

• Minimum of 10 years of professional software engineering experience delivering production systems
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a related field (or equivalent practical experience), plus 10+ years of professional software development experience with demonstrated leadership in technical direction and architecture
• Expertise in back-end development with two or more server-side languages (e.g., PHP, Go, Scala, Java, Python, Ruby)
• Proven experience in architecting, building, and maintaining large-scale distributed systems
• Strong understanding of distributed systems concepts, including consensus, consistency, and fault tolerance
• Experience with cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, or similar) and microservices architecture
• Solid experience with SQL, in-memory storage, and other data storage solutions
• Expe