React and Next.js: strong, hands-on experience building production apps with hooks, TypeScript, server-side rendering and state management (Redux Toolkit, Zustand or similar).
Django / Python: REST APIs (Django REST Framework), ORM, migrations, background jobs.
PHP / Magento 2: custom modules, plugins and observers, checkout and catalogue customisation, performance tuning.
APIs and databases: designing REST or GraphQL APIs, and working with MySQL or PostgreSQL, query optimisation and caching (Redis).
Code quality: writing and enforcing unit and integration tests, and running thorough, constructive code reviews.
Engineering practices: Git workflows, CI/CD pipelines, Docker, and cloud basics (Azure or AWS).
Security: OWASP basics, safe handling of secrets and user data, and secure authentication.
Leadership: at least 2 years leading or mentoring a team, planning sprints and keeping delivery on track.
Communication: clear written and spoken English, and comfortable working with teams across time zones.
Good to have
AI technologies: hands-on work with LLM APIs (OpenAI, Anthropic, Azure OpenAI), RAG pipelines, vector databases (pgvector, Pinecone), or frameworks like LangChain or LlamaIndex.
Building AI features into real products, such as chatbots, smart search, recommendations or content generation.
Using AI coding tools (Claude Code, GitHub Copilot, Cursor) responsibly, with clear review practices for the team.
E-commerce experience, especially Magento 2 with a headless Next.js front end.
Kubernetes, Azure DevOps, or infrastructure as code (Terraform).
Performance work such as Core Web Vitals, caching layers, and CDNs like Azure Front Door or Cloudflare.
Experience in Agile/Scrum teams using Jira and Confluence.
7–10 years of software development, with at least 3 years as a tech lead or senior engineer guiding others.
A proven record of shipping full-stack features to production.
A degree in Computer Science or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.