Technical Director, Commerce

We are looking for a technical leader who can make the architectural call in the client room, then open the repository and help make it true. At Grebban, architecture is not a deck handed over to someone else. It is a set of decisions that must survive budgets, legacy systems, changing requirements, launch and several years of operation. This is a hands-on role. You will produce production code. Not necessarily for most of every day, but regularly enough that coding remains a real part of your work and your technical judgement stays grounded in the systems we are actually building. You might build a technical spike to remove uncertainty, take responsibility for a difficult integration, contribute to a critical part of a delivery, or trace a production problem across several systems. But code is only one half of the role. The other half is understanding the client’s business, making good decisions with imperfect information, explaining trade-offs clearly, helping teams perform, and staying accountable until the solution works in reality. That combination is what we are hiring for. The role Grebban builds and evolves digital flagship stores for ambitious brands on Shopify Plus, Centra and Norce. We also work across the wider commerce stack, including PIM, OMS, CRM, integrations, automation and AI agents. We do more than implement systems. Clients also rely on us as business advisers, helping them set priorities, shape their commerce strategy, improve how they operate and build the capabilities they need. We help them make better decisions about what to build, what to buy and how technology and design can create meaningful leverage for their business. The visible storefront is only one part of the work. The difficult questions often sit between the commerce platform and the ERP, PIM, OMS, WMS, CRM, payment, fulfilment and data systems around it, as well as the vendors and organisation expected to operate it all. As Technical Director, you will: Lead technical discovery, architecture and major platform decisions. Turn business needs and operational constraints into clear, pragmatic technical direction. Own technical quality across a portfolio of client work, from early scoping through launch and continued development. Work directly with code through prototypes, technical spikes, integrations, reviews, debugging and selected parts of production delivery. Act as a trusted business and technical counterpart to clients, including executives and non-technical stakeholders. Work closely with Business Directors, project managers, designers and developers to make sure scope, team, budget and architecture support each other. Support estimates, proposals and pre-sales when the technical approach materially affects the project. Mentor developers and technical leads, improve our shared practices and raise the level of technical decision-making across Grebban. Identify risks early and take responsibility for resolving them, rather than documenting them for someone else. What we mean by good architecture The best architecture is rarely the one with the most technology. Sometimes the right answer is to use a platform exactly as intended. Sometimes it is to simplify an integration, change an operating process or remove a system entirely. Sometimes a critical capability genuinely needs to be built. We want someone who can tell the difference, explain the consequences and build the custom part when it is needed. You should be equally comfortable arguing for less technology as for more. Who might be right for this You may currently be: A CTO, Head of Engineering, System Architect or technical lead at a brand, retailer, agency, SaaS company or consultancy. A technical founder who has had to combine development, architecture, clients and commercial responsibility. A Technical Director, senior architect or principal engineer in a consultancy. A senior technical leader from an adjacent transactional field such as marketplaces, logistics or financial technology. Your current title matters less than what you have actually owned. We believe the right person: Still produces and wants to produce production code. Can enter an unfamiliar codebase, understand how it works and make a useful contribution. Has owned important technical decisions from initial direction through live operation. Understands data models, integrations, failure modes and the operational consequences of system design. Can move between backend, frontend, infrastructure and business processes without pretending to be the deepest specialist in everything. Can explain a difficult technical decision without hiding behind jargon or flattening the truth. Understands that architecture also has a cost, a team and an organisation attached to it. Takes initiative, makes decisions and is comfortable being directly accountable to both clients and colleagues. Experience with Shopify Plus, Centra, Norce, Adobe Commerce, Optimizely, Litium or custom commerce platforms is useful. The same applies to PIM, OMS, CRM and other systems commonly used by retailers and commerce companies. We care more about the decisions you made, why you made them and what happened afterwards than whether your CV contains every platform we use. We also expect you to have a considered approach to AI-native development and to be genuinely curious about AI more broadly. You should use it as leverage while retaining the experience and judgement required to challenge its output. About Grebban Grebban is a design and e-commerce agency with 100 people across Gothenburg and Stockholm, working with clients throughout Europe, particularly in Scandinavia and the UK. We work with ambitious brands including Peak Performance, Djerf Avenue, Hestra, Björn Borg, Tretorn, Osprey London, Barebells and Blåkläder. We combine strategy, design and technology under one roof, and we do not outsource our delivery. We are ambitious and demanding about quality. The pace can be high and we expect people to take real o