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Agent guide: [/agents.md](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/agents.md). --- # VP Engineering Comm Platform - Westchester, IL - **Company:** Follett Corporation - **Location:** Westchester, IL, United States - **Experience:** Expert - **Salary:** $40,000.0 - $267,380.0 - **Contract:** Permanent contract - **Skills:** Computing Platforms, Continuous Integration, DevOps, Secure Coding, Shopify, Software Engineering, Web Technologies - **Published:** August 29, 2026 - **Apply:** https://diversityjobs.com/main/sendform/8/8/28176/1/18135029?backUrl=%2Fcareer%2F18135029%2FVp-Engineering-Comm-Platform-Westchester-Il-Illinois-Westchester ## About the Role * Bachelor's degree in related field or equivalent * 12--15+ years in software engineering, including 5--7+ years in senior engineering leadership (Director, VP, or Head of Engineering) managing multiple teams through leads and managers. * Direct ecommerce software engineering experience, having built or scaled systems for online storefronts, checkout, cart, or order management. * Proven experience leading a legacy-to-modern platform migration. * Expert fluency in modern web technology and architecture patterns. * Experience owning DevOps/CI-CD and QA functions as part of an engineering organization, not app development alone. * Demonstrated track record of building engineering teams with a strong culture of ownership. Preferred * Shopify experience, whether platform architecture, app development, or merchant-side engineering leadership. * Retail or ecommerce industry background, with collegiate or course materials retail experience being a stronger plus than general retail. * Point-of-sale (POS) systems experience. * Master's degree in technical or business field. ## Description Platform Architecture & Migration * Own end-to-end architecture for ecommerce and POS systems, including the transition from legacy stack to Shopify. * Set technical direction and make final architecture calls across the environment, driving toward the organization's go-forward technology stack. * Act as the subject-matter expert across the modern ecommerce technology stack, including loyalty programs, promotions and pricing engines, and analytics/personalization platforms, to inform architecture decisions that scale across the Follett store network. * Maintain technical standards and architectural integrity across the engineering organization. Engineering & Delivery Leadership * Lead Application Development, QA, and DevOps teams, setting delivery standards and technical practices across all three functions. * Ensure platform performance, instrumentation, scalability, reliability, and availability to meet the needs of the business and its institutional and student customers. * Drive modern engineering practices appropriate to the team's scale and maturity. * Own technology lifecycle decisions, including system upgrades, platform migrations, and modernization efforts within ecommerce and POS. Cross-Functional Partnership * Partner closely with the SVP of Ecommerce on roadmap sequencing, tradeoffs, and prioritization, co-owning outcomes while maintaining clear decision rights between technical execution and business/product ownership. * Work across engineering, sales, institutional partners, and operations to balance platform modernization with ongoing academic-calendar-driven operational needs. * Serve as the technical voice in cross-functional planning for ecommerce and POS initiatives. Engineering Culture & Talent Leadership * Build, mentor, and retain a high-performing engineering organization across App Dev, QA, and DevOps. * Foster a culture of ownership, where teams partner with product and leadership to own outcomes rather than only executing requirements. * Establish clear performance expectations and growth paths for engineering leaders and their teams. * Raise the bar for technical hiring across the organization. Secure Development & Risk Awareness * Ensure secure development and deployment practices are embedded in engineering workflows, in partnership with the separate security/compliance function that owns security overall. * Maintain working knowledge of data privacy and security considerations relevant to ecommerce and POS systems (e.g., PII handling, data residency) to inform architecture decisions. ## Related Videos - [Platform Engineering vs. DevOps Why not both?](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/885-platform-engineering-vs-devops-why-not-both) - [From DevOps to Scaled DevOps: How We’re Rebuilding Continuous Delivery as a Platform](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/100018-from-devops-to-scaled-devops-how-we-re-rebuilding-continuous-delivery-as-a-platform) - [How to Cause (or Prevent) a Massive Data Breach- Secure Coding and IDOR](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/39-how-to-cause-or-prevent-a-massive-data-breach-secure-coding-and-idor) - [WeAreDevelopers LIVE - Markdown, Liquid and Checkouts](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/1814-wearedevelopers-live-markdown-liquid-and-checkouts) - [How GitHub secures open source](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/1450-how-github-secures-open-source) - [Teini - an extremely small webshop leveraging awesome and free tech](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/286-teini-an-extremely-small-webshop-leveraging-awesome-and-free-tech) ## Related Articles - [Highest Paying Tech Companies for Developers](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/220-highest-paying-tech-companies-for-developers) - [Where to Find Entry-Level Software Engineering Jobs](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/397-where-to-find-entry-level-software-engineering-jobs) - [Fully Remote Software Engineer Jobs](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/447-fully-remote-software-engineer-jobs) - [Where To Find Software Engineering Jobs](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/396-where-to-find-software-engineering-jobs) - [Now is the time for industrialized software development](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/601-now-is-the-time-for-industrialized-software-development) - [Dev Digest 120 - Apple and peers](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/455-dev-digest-120-apple-and-peers)