About the Role
Shopify is looking for a Principal Engineer to lead the technical architecture of our agent-readable Shop Builder platform. This role involves defining APIs, designing interfaces for LLMs and developers, and leading the delivery of a server that enables AI agents to build, deploy, and operate Shop Builder storefronts end-to-end.
Responsibilities
- Own the technical architecture of the agent-readable Shop Builder platform: which APIs to expose, in what shape, through which surfaces (REST, SDK, MCP, CLI).
- Define the interface contracts that LLMs and developers interact with — React component APIs, custom block schemas, theme tokens, data binding formats — and maintain them with the rigor of a public API.
- Design and lead delivery of the MCP server that allows AI agents (Claude Code, Cursor, etc.) to build, deploy, and operate Shop Builder storefronts end-to-end without the editor in the loop.
- Architect the CLI and local development environment: how developers scaffold projects, iterate locally, preview changes, and push to production.
- Define the deploy, versioning, and rollback model for developer-published content — custom blocks, themes, and layouts.
- Design the sandbox and preview environment system so agents and developers can iterate without touching live partner sites.
- Set the documentation standard: written for LLMs and humans as first-class users, maintained from single canonical sources and published to every surface (CLI help, dev docs, MCP tool descriptions, AI context).
- Lead the eval harness architecture: how the team measures whether an LLM-generated block, theme, or layout is correct before it ships.
- Collaborate with Principal/Staff Engineers across payments, auth, live ops, and catalog to pull inbound capabilities into coherent developer-facing surfaces.
- Serve as the technical bar-raiser for the team: define code standards, review critical implementation decisions, and mentor the Tech Lead and engineers.
- Contribute to hiring and define the technical culture of the team from day one.