eCommerce Technical Lead (Independent Contractor - Remote in Eastern Europe)

Apex Wheels designs and manufactures performance wheels for motorsport enthusiasts. Founded in 2007 in California, the company has a team of 40+ engineers focused on creating race-proven wheels. Apex Wheels operates with a tech startup vibe emphasizing modern tools and innovation, aiming to expand its catalog and market reach.

• 5+ years of professional software engineering experience, with at least 3 years building and operating complex ecommerce platforms (Magento 2, Shopify Plus, BigCommerce, Salesforce Commerce Cloud, commercetools, or equivalent).
• Strong JavaScript and TypeScript skills with hands-on experience in Vue 3 and Nuxt or comparable frameworks.
• Experience with headless CMS, ideally Sanity.
• Experience with headless or decoupled frontend architecture integrated with commerce backend.
• Experience integrating ecommerce platforms with ERP systems (NetSuite preferred; SAP, Dynamics, Salesforce acceptable).
• Hands-on experience with caching technologies like Varnish, Redis, or equivalent.
• Practical knowledge of CI/CD, code review, monitoring, and incident response.
• Solid understanding of UI and UX principles.
• Experience working with external agencies and vendors, including scoping, reviewing deliverables, and pushing back on weak recommendations.
• Familiarity with PHP and Magento 2 sufficient to review backend code and architectural decisions.
• Additional pluses: early technical leadership, Magento 2 frontend modernization (Hyvä, PWA Studio), Elasticsearch or Algolia experience.

• Own the execution of the technical direction, quality, and uptime of the ecommerce platform and its integrations.
• Lead backend platform development (Magento 2) through substantive review, quality gates, and schedule management.
• Write, review, and ship front-end code (Vue 3, Nuxt, Sanity) alongside partnered agencies, reducing technical debt.
• Own integrations between Magento and ERP (NetSuite), payments, OMS, PIM, and CMS, addressing checkout friction, returns workflows, performance bottlenecks, and data consistency.
• Handle production issues, improve monitoring, deployment, and reliability.
• Conduct substantive engineering reviews on code from internal and external contributors, providing actionable feedback.
• Establish and reinforce standards for code quality, documentation, and development workflows.
• Eventually take on people-management responsibilities including hiring and performance management.
• Other duties as assigned.

Candidates must be self-employed contractors or operate through their own registered business entity in their country of residence. Strong preference for candidates located in Poland, Croatia, Serbia, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, Czechia, and neighboring countries.