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Principal Architect, AI Agent Platform
Principal Architect, AI Agent Platform
As a Principal Architect, you will own the technical architecture of Shopify's agent-readable Shop Builder platform, defining APIs, interface contracts, and leading the design and delivery of critical infrastructure like the MCP server and CLI. You will set technical standards, mentor engineers, and contribute to the team's technical culture and hiring efforts.
About the role
About the Role
We are looking for a Principal Architect to own the technical architecture of the agent-readable Shop Builder platform.
Responsibilities
- Own the technical architecture of the agent-readable Shop Builder platform: which APIs to expose, in what shape, through which surfaces (REST, SDK, MCP, CLI).
- Define the interface contracts that LLMs and developers interact with — React component APIs, custom block schemas, theme tokens, data binding formats — and maintain them with the rigor of a public API.
- Design and lead delivery of the MCP server that allows AI agents (Claude Code, Cursor, etc.) to build, deploy, and operate Shop Builder storefronts end-to-end without the editor in the loop.
- Architect the CLI and local development environment: how developers scaffold projects, iterate locally, preview changes, and push to production.
- Define the deploy, versioning, and rollback model for developer-published content — custom blocks, themes, and layouts.
- Design the sandbox and preview environment system so agents and developers can iterate without touching live partner sites.
- Set the documentation standard: written for LLMs and humans as first-class users, maintained from single canonical sources and published to every surface (CLI help, dev docs, MCP tool descriptions, AI context).
- Lead the eval harness architecture: how the team measures whether an LLM-generated block, theme, or layout is correct before it ships.
- Collaborate with Principal/Staff Engineers across payments, auth, live ops, and catalog to pull inbound capabilities into coherent developer-facing surfaces.
- Serve as the technical bar-raiser for the team: define code standards, review critical implementation decisions, and mentor the Tech Lead and engineers.
- Contribute to hiring and define the technical culture of the team from day one.