Lead Full Stack Developer in Exeter

Lead Full Stack Developer (New Builds)

About Swanky

Swanky is a Shopify Platinum Partner agency, and the first international Shopify Plus agency. We design, build and grow Shopify Plus stores for brands across the UK, Europe and beyond.

Our engineering work runs through two divisions. New Builds takes brands from discovery to launch, on greenfield Shopify Plus builds and migrations from other platforms. Growth Accelerator works on retainer with established clients, where the work is iterative and ongoing. This role sits in New Builds, though our developers work across both divisions when projects need it.

About the Role

As a Lead Full Stack Developer in New Builds, you'll lead the technical side of our Shopify Plus projects, from the first conversation with a prospective client through discovery, build, launch and handover. You'll set the technical approach for each project, write a substantial share of the code yourself, and be the person the client relies on for technical advice, on anything from front-end requirements to how their ERP will connect to the store. You'll usually lead more than one project at a time, each at a different stage.

A large part of the role happens before any code is written. You'll occasionally join pre-sales conversations when an early technical view is needed, then lead the technical side of discovery with our Solutions team, turning workshops and a review of the client's current systems into a solution they can sign off and a scope we can deliver. A discovery usually runs for three to four weeks and takes most of your time while it runs. Projects go better when the client already trusts their technical lead by the end of discovery, so client-facing skill is a core requirement of this role, not a bonus.

Once a project is signed, you own its technical delivery. You'll plan the build with the Project Manager, brief and support the developers on your team, review their code, and take on the most complex work yourself. You're accountable for the quality of what launches, and for handing the project over in a state our Growth Accelerator team can support post-launch.

Developers across the team, including those you don't manage, will look to you as an example of how we work: in the attitude you bring, code quality, documentation and delivery discipline. We'd like the role to include line management of one or two more junior developers. You'll report to our Engineering Manager and work closely with our Technical Architect, who reviews the solution design on complex or high-risk projects.

Responsibilities

Pre-sales and discovery

• Join pre-sales conversations when an early technical view is needed, such as prospect demos, RFP follow-ups or advice on platform and app choices, to understand the brief and flag technical risk before a scope is agreed.
• Contribute to pitches and RFP responses, where you are named as the proposed technical lead.
• Lead the discovery workshops on integrations and tech stack, and on data migration, and work with the Solutions team on the product, pricing and customer account workshops.
• Review the client's current theme or codebase, tech stack, apps, integrations and data, and make sure a performance baseline is recorded so post-launch results can be measured.
• Recommend the solution: store structure, theme approach, apps versus custom development, integration patterns and middleware, and where Shopify's native features will or won't meet a requirement.
• Produce the technical outputs of discovery: an integrations and tech stack document, the technical specification, and development estimates for each item in the scope.
• Present your recommendations at the discovery playback, and walk everyone on the client side through them, from founders and e-commerce teams to their IT department and other suppliers.
• Record the decisions made in discovery and the reasons for them, and flag early when the client's requirements grow beyond what was sold.

Technical ownership through delivery

• Own the technical delivery of your projects from kick-off to handover, as the client's main technical contact.
• Plan the build with the project manager: the skills needed, efforts, milestones, dependencies and sprint priorities, with core customer journeys built first.
• Scope and estimate large pieces of work and change requests, and make their time and cost implications clear to the project manager and the client.
• Set each project up to Swanky's standards: repository, branching, pull request process, automated checks and documentation.
• Brief developers with clear written specifications, assign work by skill and risk, and unblock them quickly.
• Coordinate technical work with third parties, including the client's IT team and suppliers, app and integration vendors, and Shopify Plus support.
• Identify delivery risks early and elevate them with a proposed mitigation, and report on progress, risks and code quality to the Engineering Manager.
• Plan go-live with the project manager, covering timings, DNS, redirects, SEO checks and launch blockers, then support the store through the two-week post-launch warranty period, resolving the harder issues that come up.
• Train the client's team to manage what you've built, through walkthroughs, written guides or short videos.
• Hand the project over to Growth Accelerator with a written developer overview (repositories, setup, custom functionality, integrations, hosting and known limitations), the decision log, and a technical walkthrough for the team taking it on.
  

Hands-on development

• Build the most complex parts of each project yourself, such as custom Shopify apps, checkout extensions, Shopify Functions, integrations and theme architecture.

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