VP Engineering Comm Platform

Follett Higher Ed Group, LLC; Westchester (IL); On-site; USD 40,000 - 267,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, vision benefits

401(k) plan

Paid holidays & PTO

Job summary

Follett Higher Education seeks a visionary VP of Engineering, Commerce Platform to lead the transformation of its ecommerce and POS systems. You will own end-to-end architecture, set technical direction, and drive migration from legacy stack to Shopify, shaping a scalable retail technology stack for millions of students and customers.

This leadership role oversees App Development, QA, and DevOps, partnering with ecommerce leadership to align roadmaps, ensure reliability, and foster a culture of

Qualifications

• 12--15+ years in software engineering, including 5--7+ years in senior engineering leadership (Director, VP, or Head of Engineering) managing multiple teams through leads and managers.
• Direct ecommerce software engineering experience, having built or scaled systems for online storefronts, checkout, cart, or order management.
• Proven experience leading a legacy-to-modern platform migration.
• Expert fluency in modern web technology and architecture patterns.
• Experience owning DevOps/CI-CD and QA functions as part of an engineering organization, not app development alone.
• Demonstrated track record of building engineering teams with a strong culture of ownership.

Responsibilities

• Own end-to-end architecture for ecommerce and POS systems, including the transition from legacy stack to Shopify.
• Set technical direction and make final architecture calls across the environment, driving toward the organization's go-forward technology stack.
• Act as the subject-matter expert across the modern ecommerce technology stack, including loyalty programs, promotions and pricing engines, and analytics/personalization platforms, to inform architecture decisions that scale across the Follett store network.
• Maintain technical standards and architectural integrity across the engineering organization.
• Lead Application Development, QA, and DevOps teams, setting delivery standards and technical practices across all three functions.
• Ensure platform performance, instrumentation, scalability, reliability, and availability to meet the needs of the business and its institutional and student customers.
• Drive modern engineering practices appropriate to the team's scale and maturity.
• Own technology lifecycle decisions, including system upgrades, platform migrations, and modernization efforts within ecommerce and POS.
• Partner closely with the SVP of Ecommerce on roadmap sequencing, tradeoffs, and prioritization, co-owning outcomes while maintaining clear decision rights between technical execution and business/product ownership.

Skills

Ecommerce architecture

Leadership

DevOps/CI-CD

Team building

Security awareness

Education

Bachelor's degree or equivalent

Master's degree (preferred)

Tools

Shopify

Job description

Follett Higher Education is a leading educational service provider and omnichannel retailer, providing students, faculty, staff, parents, and fans with the course materials, learning tools, and retail services needed to successfully support the collegiate journey. Follett Higher Education supports over 6 million students through its 1,100 physical and 1,750 eCommerce campus stores across North America.

This is a high-visibility opportunity to lead a commerce platform transformation on a national scale. The VP of Engineering, Commerce Platform owns the technical strategy, architecture, and delivery of Follett's ecommerce and point of sale systems, including the ongoing migration from a legacy technology stack to Shopify. This role has final architectural authority over the platform, impacting how millions of students and fans shop and pay for years to come.

The VP brings deep technical credibility, setting direction with conviction, and earning trust across engineering teams. Application Development, QA, and DevOps all report into this role. The VP partners closely with the SVP of Ecommerce, who owns product management and business decisions for ecommerce, while this role owns how those decisions get built, scaled, and operated.

This role owns engineering culture, building a team where engineers own outcomes in partnership with product and leadership, rather than simply executing requirements handed to them.

Responsibilities

• Own end-to-end architecture for ecommerce and POS systems, including the transition from legacy stack to Shopify.
• Set technical direction and make final architecture calls across the environment, driving toward the organization's go-forward technology stack.
• Act as the subject-matter expert across the modern ecommerce technology stack, including loyalty programs, promotions and pricing engines, and analytics/personalization platforms, to inform architecture decisions that scale across the Follett store network.
• Maintain technical standards and architectural integrity across the engineering organization.

Engineering & Delivery Leadership

• Lead Application Development, QA, and DevOps teams, setting delivery standards and technical practices across all three functions.
• Ensure platform performance, instrumentation, scalability, reliability, and availability to meet the needs of the business and its institutional and student customers.
• Drive modern engineering practices appropriate to the team's scale and maturity.
• Own technology lifecycle decisions, including system upgrades, platform migrations, and modernization efforts within ecommerce and POS.

Cross-Functional Partnership

• Partner closely with the SVP of Ecommerce on roadmap sequencing, tradeoffs, and prioritization, co-owning outcomes while maintaining clear decision rights between technical execution and business/product ownership.
• Work across engineering, sales, institutional partners, and operations to balance platform modernization with ongoing academic-calendar-driven operational needs.
• Serve as the technical voice in cross-functional planning for ecommerce and POS initiatives.

Engineering Culture & Talent Leadership

• Build, mentor, and retain a high-performing engineering organization across App Dev, QA, and DevOps.
• Foster a culture of ownership, where teams partner with product and leadership to own outcomes rather than only executing requirements.
• Establish clear performance expectations and growth paths for engineering leaders and their teams.
• Raise the bar for technical hiring across the organization.
• Ensure secure development and deployment practices are embedded in engineering workflows, in partnership with the separate security/compliance function that owns security overall.
• Maintain working knowledge of data privacy and security considerations relevant to ecommerce and POS systems (e.g., PII handling, data residency) to inform architecture decisions.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in related field or equivalent
• 12--15+ years in software engineering, including 5--7+ years in senior engineering leadership (Director, VP, or Head of Engineering) managing multiple teams through leads and managers.
• Direct ecommerce software engineering experience, having built or scaled systems for online storefronts, checkout, cart, or order management.
• Proven experience leading a legacy-to-modern platform migration.
• Expert fluency in modern web technology and architecture patterns.
• Experience owning DevOps/CI-CD and QA functions as part of an engineering organization, not app development alone.
• Demonstrated track record of building engineering teams with a strong culture of ownership.

Preferred

• Shopify experience, whether platform architecture, app development, or merchant-side engineering leadership.
• Retail or ecommerce industry background, with collegiate or course materials retail experience being a stronger plus than general retail.
• Master's degree in technical or business field.

Pay Range

The estimated pay range for this job. Disclosing pay information promotes competitive and equitable pay.

The actual pay rate will depend on the person's qualifications and experience.

$40,000.00 - $267,380.00 / year

Pay Transparency

The annual salary/hourly rate range has been established based on the role, experience, skill set, and location. The exact starting salary/hourly rate within the range will depend on the role and the local market. This position may be eligible to participate in one of the Company’s incentive plans. The amount of any incentive payment varies and is subject to the terms and conditions of the applicable incentive plan.

• We offer a comprehensive benefits package which includes medical, dental, vision, disability, wellness programs, 401(k) plan, flex spending, paid holidays, and paid time off. Eligibility for benefits is governed by the applicable policies and plan documents.

Equal Opportunity Employer. This company considers candidates regardless of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or veteran status.

Follett Higher Education is a drug-free workplace environment.

If you are an internal team member and need assistance with the application process please forward all inquiries to Ask HR or call 1.844.324.4748 (HR4U)

If you are an external applicant and need assistance with the application process please contact our virtual assistant, Tally. She will respond to your inquires directly and/or direct you to the right person. You can also call 1.877.888.7887 or email [e-mail]