eCommerce Technical Lead (Independent Contractor – Remote in Eastern Europe)Verified as a real position

Who we’re looking for

• 5+ years of professional software engineering experience, with at least 3 years building and operating complex ecommerce platforms at scale (Magento 2, Adobe Commerce, Shopify Plus, BigCommerce, or equivalent), and meaningful, recent ecommerce work – not a strong background that has since gone stale. Generalist backgrounds without current ecommerce depth will not be a fit.
• Strong in JavaScript and TypeScript, with hands-on experience shipping production work in Vue 3 and Nuxt, or a comparable framework such as Next and React. Production experience with a headless CMS, ideally Sanity.
• Demonstrable experience with a headless or decoupled frontend architecture integrated with a commerce backend. Experience integrating ecommerce platforms with ERP systems (NetSuite is a plus; SAP, Dynamics, Salesforce, or similar are acceptable) and a track record of owning multi-system integrations across payments, OMS, PIM, search, and CDP.
• Hands-on experience with caching at the platform level, including Varnish, Redis, or equivalent.
• Solid, practical grounding in CI/CD, code review, monitoring, and incident response. Theory is not enough.
• A solid understanding of UI and UX principles, with the ability to evaluate frontend work on more than just whether it functions. You do not need to be a designer, but you should care about the experience the code produces.
• Experience working with external agencies and vendors, including scoping work, reviewing deliverables, and pushing back on weak recommendations. The role is built around this dynamic, so a track record of doing it well matters.
• Familiarity with PHP and Magento 2 is a plus, sufficient to follow the code, weigh in on architectural decisions, and review work from the backend contractor. You do not need to be a Magento specialist. Most backend implementation is handled by an experienced contractor, and your role on that side is to hold the line on quality, schedule, and direction.
• Additional pluses include early technical leadership (tech lead on a squad, mentoring, or running code review culture), Magento 2 frontend modernization experience such as Hyvä or PWA Studio, and background with Elasticsearch or Algolia.

What you’ll do

• Own the execution of the technical direction, quality, and uptime of our ecommerce platform and its integrations. The eCommerce Director will help you keep business objectives sharp and prioritized. The CIO will help you navigate technical boundaries and the standards that apply across the company.
• Lead the backend of our platform (Magento 2 implemented by an experienced contractor) side through substantive review: setting quality gates, holding the work to schedule, and stepping into the code when a decision needs senior judgment.
• Write, review, and ship our front-end code (Vue 3 and Nuxt for storefront, Sanity for content) alongside our partnered agency, and drive the work to reduce technical debt through whatever means make sense, including refactoring, replacing patterns, and over time bringing more of the work in-house as we grow the internal team. This is the area where the platform is actively expanding and where the technical debt is most visible.
• Own the integrations between Magento and the systems it depends on, including ERP (NetSuite), payments, OMS, PIM, and CMS. Real ecommerce problems will come to you: checkout friction, returns workflows, performance bottlenecks, data consistency, and third-party reliability. You will take loosely defined problems, define constraints and tradeoffs, and turn them into clear technical approaches.
• You will be involved when production issues arise, and you will contribute to improving monitoring, deployment, and reliability over time. Conduct substantive engineering review on code from internal contributors and external agencies: catching defects, missed edge cases, and shortcuts that will create cost later, and giving specific, actionable feedback. You will push back on external recommendations that conflict with platform health or long-term business outcomes.
• Help establish and reinforce standards for code quality, documentation, and development workflows, so rework drops and predictability rises. The goal is lightweight, effective processes that scale as the team grows.
• Eventually, we see this role including direct people-management responsibilities, including hiring, performance management, exiting, and everything in between.
• Other duties as assigned.

About the position

Who are we? Apex Wheels creates Real Performance wheels for drivers everywhere. That means designing and manufacturing wheels that don’t just look the part, but truly improve performance in a measurable way. Born on the track and raised in California, Apex was founded in 2007 as a passion project by diehard motorsport enthusiasts and has produced function-first, race-proven wheels ever since. Now boasting a team of 40+ staff members, all Apex products are designed by an in-house team of engineers who are just as passionate about motorsports as you.

Benefits

• Compensation $35 – $48 USD hourly. This is a long-term independent contractor position supporting a U.S.-based company. Candidates must be able to work as self-employed contractors or through their own registered business entity in their country of residence. We are open to candidates located throughout Europe, with a strong preference for Poland, Croatia, Serbia, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, Czechia, and neighboring countries.
• You must: Be legally authorized to provide independent contractor services from your country of residence. Be able to invoice a U.S. company directly or through your business entity. Have reliable high-speed internet and a dedicated workspace. Be comfortable working in English with a geographically distributed team.
• About the Environment: While performing the duties of this job, you may be regularly required to stand, sit, talk, hear, reach, stoop, kneel, and use hands and fingers to operate a computer, telephone, and keyboard. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision requirements due to computer work. Ability to sit at a computer terminal for an extended period. Light lifting may be required. Ability to travel by ground or air to attend team-building events. Regular, predictable attendance is required.
• Travel Expectations: Occasional international travel.