Lead Engineer

Who you’ll be working with

You’ll join our engineering team, collaborating closely with designers, product managers, and other developers to architect scalable, high-performing headless content management solutions. You’ll work with enterprise clients to shape technical strategy, guide best practices, and ensure seamless integration with their broader digital ecosystems.

Responsibilities

• Provide strategic and technical leadership for the engineering teams focused on content modeling, management and publishing
• Own the technical vision and roadmap for the CMS, publishing systems, and related infrastructure.
• Partner closely with product and client leadership to define and prioritize feature development, ensuring a balance between innovation, usability, and performance.
• Scale systems to handle high-volume content distribution across multiple channels and platforms (web, mobile, third-party syndication).
• Champion modern engineering practices including CI/CD, automated testing, observability, and performance optimization.
• Establish clear metrics and KPIs to evaluate system health, delivery velocity, and team performance.
• Ensure compliance with privacy, security, and accessibility standards across publishing workflows.

What you’ll need to be successful 

• Deep experience with content management systems (like: Sanity, Contentful, ContentStack and WordPress, etc.).
• Strong understanding of content modeling, editorial workflows, version control, and publishing pipelines.
• Proven track record in architecting and scaling web platforms, preferably in media, publishing, or content-driven industries.
• Proficient in backend technologies (e.g., Node.js &, Python), and familiarity with front-end frameworks and API design.
• Experience with cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, Vercel or Azure) and infrastructure as code.
• Strong communication skills with the ability to translate complex technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with large scale headless CMS architectures and decoupled publishing platforms.
• Knowledge of SEO, metadata strategies, and content syndication standards.
• Background working with or supporting multi-year projects and stakeholder reporting

Bonus Points for these (Preferred Experience)

• eCommerce experience, particularly with CMS-driven storefronts
• Cloud and DevOps familiarity (AWS, Vercel, Netlify, etc.)
• Previous experience working in an agency or consulting environment
• Familiarity with security and compliance best practices

Need another reason to hit the “apply” button?

• Codal is a global agency with over 200 employees, and offices in the US, UK, and India 
• We regularly host happy hours, dinners, excursions, and other company events to unwind after a hard day at work
• Office snacks and drinks + a fancy Bevi water machine with flavored water 
• We offer Medical, Life, Dental/Vision, and many more insurance types 
• Employer 401k match - 4% 
• A recreational group that regularly competes in city leagues for softball and volleyball 
• An office in the heart of downtown Chicago with a gym, food court, Walgreens, rooftop bar, outdoor sports court, and other amenities
• Working hybrid for in-person collaboration and sprint-planning days