Senior Software Engineer

About Contextual

Contextual is building the unified foundational layer for commerce enablement, putting customer data at the core to power intelligent applications that deliver 10x more value for e-commerce merchants.

We're creating an AI-first platform that captures, enriches, and unifies merchant data, enabling truly personalized e-commerce experiences.

Backed by top-tier Silicon Valley investors and executives from leading tech companies, we're on a mission to revolutionize how online businesses operate and grow in the era of hyper-personalization.

We're backed by Wonder Ventures, Nichole Wischoff Ventures and executives from Apple, Uber, Palo Alto Networks, NVIDIA.

The Role

We're seeking an exceptional Senior Software Engineer to join our founding team and lead the development of our email and SMS marketing products, while also playing a crucial role in managing our core data platform.

This is a unique opportunity to work on greenfield projects and lead development from zero to one in a high impact role.

Key Responsibilities

• Own the greenfield development of our email and SMS marketing products, integrating them seamlessly with our foundational data layer and AI engines
• Design and implement scalable, high-performance systems capable of handling large volumes of messages and user interactions
• Collaborate closely with founders to shape our technical strategy and make key architectural decisions
• Contribute to the development of our AI engines, including creative co-pilots and hyper-personalization tools
• Provide technical leadership and mentorship to the engineering team as we grow
• Be prepared to quickly learn and adapt to new technologies and areas of our stack as needed
• Drive innovation in areas such as first-party data collection, attribution, and customer data unification

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience in software engineering, with at least 3 years in a senior or lead role
• Strong background in building scalable, distributed systems and data platforms
• Experience developing customer-facing applications, particularly in email or SMS marketing
• Proven track record of end-to-end ownership of significant technical projects
• Demonstrated ability to quickly learn new technologies and domains
• Excellent problem-solving skills and ability to break down complex challenges
• Strong communication skills and ability to collaborate effectively with non-technical stakeholders
• BS / MS in Computer Science or related field

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in e-commerce
• Familiarity with the Shopify ecosystem and APIs
• Background in building data-intensive products or AI-powered applications
• Experience at a high-growth startup
• Proficiency in languages commonly used for high-performance backend systems (e.g., Go)
• Experience with real-time messaging systems, queuing technologies (e.g., PubSub)
• Familiarity with GCP is preferred

Why Contextual?

• Opportunity to shape the future of e-commerce from the ground up
• Work on cutting-edge AI applications in a rapidly evolving industry
• Tackle complex challenges in data unification, personalization, and marketing automation
• Work directly with experienced founders who have built and scaled successful startups
• Top-of-market compensation package, including competitive salary and significant equity as well as benefits
• Chance to be on the ground floor at a well-funded, high-potential startup
• We're looking for hungry, fast-moving individuals who thrive on complete ownership and can adapt quickly to new challenges.

If you're excited about building transformative technology for e-commerce and want to make a significant impact in an AI-first company, we'd love to hear from you.