01Owns
Online Store 2.0 themes
Builds JSON templates, sections and blocks with sensible schema settings, so merchandisers can rearrange pages in the theme editor without filing a ticket.
Hire · Commerce platforms
Hire Shopify Developers
Senior Shopify developers who work alongside your ecommerce and marketing teams on themes, custom apps and integrations. Before an introduction, each has rebuilt a section in Liquid, written a discount Function and shipped a checkout UI extension during a paid technical trial.
Tested on themes, apps and checkout extensibility
Experienced engineers only, no trainees
Works in your Partner account and repos
On your team
What a Shopify developer owns on your team.
02Owns
Checkout customisation
Moves legacy checkout.liquid edits to checkout UI extensions and branding settings, keeping upsells and custom fields within what Shopify supports.
03Owns
Discounts, delivery and payment logic
Replaces old Scripts with Shopify Functions for discounts, delivery customisation and payment method rules, written in Rust or JavaScript and tested locally.
04Owns
Custom apps and integrations
Connects ERP, warehouse and review platforms through the GraphQL Admin API, webhooks and bulk operations, respecting rate limits and API versioning.
05Owns
Storefront speed
Keeps Liquid render time low, trims app embeds and third-party scripts, and watches Core Web Vitals reported for real shoppers.
Theme skills versus platform skills
Shopify hiring goes wrong when a theme specialist is expected to build apps, or the other way round. Theme work is Liquid, sections, metafields and front-end performance. App work is OAuth, the GraphQL Admin API, webhooks, Functions and extensions. Decide which half carries most of your roadmap, then interview for it directly.
A useful screening question is how the candidate would replace a Shopify Script. People with current experience will talk about Functions, input queries and testing them before deploy, rather than editing a script in the admin.
Vetting
Skills we test before a Shopify developer joins.
01Tested
Liquid and theme architecture
Section rendering, metafield and metaobject access, predictive search and translation keys, with no logic duplicated across templates.
02Tested
Shopify CLI and app framework
Scaffolds apps with the Remix-based template, manages app extensions in one repository and handles OAuth and session tokens correctly.
03Tested
GraphQL Admin and Storefront APIs
Writes efficient queries within cost limits, uses bulk operations for large exports and pins an API version with a plan for each quarterly release.
04Tested
Shopify Functions
Understands input queries, the instruction budget and how Functions interact when several discount apps are installed.
05Tested
Hydrogen and headless
Builds on Hydrogen and Oxygen or another framework with the Storefront API, and can say honestly when headless is not worth the upkeep.
06Tested
App review readiness
Knows the App Store requirements for billing, GDPR webhooks, scopes and embedded app behaviour, so submissions are not bounced.
Work sample
How the Shopify developer work sample runs.
- 01Step 1
Rebuild a hard-coded page
The candidate turns a static landing template into an Online Store 2.0 section with blocks and settings a merchandiser can edit.
- 02Step 2
Write a discount Function
They implement a tiered discount as a Shopify Function with tests for edge cases such as mixed carts and gift cards. This is a paid task with a fixed time limit.
- 03Step 3
Add a checkout UI extension
On a development store they add a delivery note field through checkout extensibility and save it to an order metafield.
- 04Step 4
Talk through an app install
They explain to a store manager what scopes an app requests and why, in plain language.
Levels
Shopify Developers: what changes at each level.
01Level 1
Senior
Ships theme sections, Functions and integrations within your store setup, and reviews other developers’ pull requests and app extensions.
02Level 2
Lead
Sets the theme workflow, app approval rules, API version upgrades and the boundary between Shopify and back-office systems.
03Level 3
Headless commerce lead
Decides whether Hydrogen or a custom storefront is justified, owns the Storefront API contract and plans multi-market and Shopify Plus expansion.
Other options
When to hire someone other than a Shopify developer.
01Consider
A deep, self-hosted catalogue
If you need complex B2B pricing, many store views or full control of hosting, a Magento developer is the closer match.
Open register02Consider
A fully custom React storefront
When most of the work is a bespoke Next.js front end, with Shopify only as a back end, hire a Next.js developer.
Open register03Consider
A publishing site that sells a little
If editorial content leads and the shop is secondary, a WordPress developer may serve you better.
Open registerLiving with quarterly API versions
Shopify releases a new API version every quarter and retires old ones on a published timetable. A strong developer pins versions, reads the changelog, runs integrations against the next version on a development store and upgrades before warnings turn into failures.
Is headless worth it for you?
Hydrogen gives full control over the storefront, but it also means owning hosting, caching, previews and every feature the theme editor gave you free. Hire a headless lead only when there is a clear reason, such as content from several systems or interactions a theme cannot support. Otherwise a senior theme developer will move faster.
Working practices in the opening weeks
Give your new developer collaborator access to the store and a development store seeded with real products. Keep the live theme connected to GitHub so every change is reviewed and can be rolled back.
Ask for an inventory of installed apps and the scripts each one injects. Removing apps that nobody uses is often the quickest speed improvement a store sees.
FAQ
Questions to resolve before the build.
01Can your Shopify developers migrate us off checkout.liquid?
Yes. They audit what the old checkout does, map each change to checkout UI extensions, Functions or branding settings, and flag anything Shopify no longer allows so you can decide early.
02Do they build public apps or only private ones?
Both. For a public listing they work to the App Store requirements from the start, including billing API use, mandatory privacy webhooks and performance checks on the storefront.
03Is Shopify Plus experience required?
Only if you are on Plus or heading there. We say during shortlisting which candidates have worked with Plus-only features such as expansion stores, B2B on Shopify and Launchpad.
Works alongside
Roles a Shopify developer works best alongside.
01Pair with
UI/UX designers
To design collection, product and cart patterns that the theme editor can then reproduce without custom code.
Open register02Pair with
Node.js developers
For middleware that syncs Shopify orders with fulfilment, accounting or a loyalty platform.
Open register03Pair with
Data analysts
To turn order and session data into merchandising and retention decisions.
Open registerProduct delivery
Need the whole product built instead?
Primary sources
References behind this page
Dated official documentation, standards, and research that support the factual claims on this page.
- 01Shopify developer documentation: Shopify Functions
How Functions customise discounts, delivery and payments.
- 02Shopify developer documentation: themes architecture
Sections, blocks and JSON templates in Online Store 2.0.
How to read this page
Scope, cost and timeline figures are planning guidance until confirmed in a written proposal. Diagrams and screens are illustrations, not client deliverables, and source-code rights and handover follow the signed agreement. See the delivery process and the full disclaimer.
Next decision
Turn the brief into an accepted product scope.
Define outcomes, constraints, evidence, rights and handover before delivery begins.
Commercial rights, repositories, environments, documentation, acceptance and handover remain contract-defined.