Cengage Learning

Technology Lead, Platforms & Ecommerce Engineering

Cengage Learning$101K — $200K *
Enterprise Technology
5 - 7 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or related field, or equivalent experience.
  • 5+ years in a technical leadership role, influencing technology strategies.
  • Strong backend development, API design, and integration expertise.
  • Experience with ecommerce and content management systems (CMS).
  • Proficiency in integrating enterprise platforms like Salesforce and SAP.
  • Solid understanding of system design with an emphasis on scalability and reliability.
  • Experience in agile methodologies.

Responsibilities

  • Drive iterative delivery using agile methodologies.
  • Lead development and operation of core commerce platforms and related capabilities.
  • Clarify and prioritize work effectively across teams and stakeholders.
  • Design and develop backend services and APIs for transaction processes.
  • Own integrations with enterprise platforms including ecommerce, CRM, and identity services.
  • Participate in key development and integration efforts directly.
  • Collaborate with Experience Engineering to leverage platform capabilities effectively.

Benefits

  • Comprehensive Total Rewards package supporting employee needs.
  • Eligibility for a discretionary incentive bonus program based on performance.
  • Commitment to employee empowerment and development opportunities.
Full Job Description
What you'll do here:

In your role as Technology Lead, Platforms & Ecommerce Engineering within our Digital organization, you are responsible for building and operating our ecommerce platforms and the capabilities that enable them, including CMS, identity, and enterprise integrations. You will lead a lean, high-performing team using agile principles to design, integrate, and operate scalable, reliable solutions. You will partner closely with enterprise stakeholders to support delivery of customer-facing experiences. With a strong focus on reliability and scalability, you will ensure platforms are stable, secure, and performant while enabling continuous improvement. You will also help advance how AI is applied within engineering workflows to improve efficiency.

As the Technology Lead, you will divide your time between team leadership and hands-on development, leading engineers while contributing directly to delivery. You will operate in a cross-functional, agile environment, working closely with Experience Engineering, IT, Marketing, Design, and DevOps to align on priorities and execution. You will collaborate with other technology leads to provide technical direction and alignment across teams, and must be comfortable adapting your leadership style to the situation, leading when needed and contributing as an individual engineer when appropriate.

Job Duties
  • Drive iterative delivery using agile methodologies
  • Lead development and operation of core commerce platforms and supporting capabilities (CMS, identity, integrations)
  • Define, prioritize, and communicate work clearly across Experience Engineering and stakeholders
  • Design and build backend services and APIs to support transaction flows
  • Own integrations across enterprise platforms including ecommerce (currently SAP), CRM (Salesforce), identity (Okta), and marketing systems
  • Contribute directly to critical development and integration work
  • Partner with Experience Engineering to enable efficient use of platform capabilities
  • Ensure services are reliable, secure, and performant through strong testing and quality practices
  • Monitor performance and integration health across critical flows
  • Collaborate with DevOps on environments and delivery practices as needed
  • Stay current with backend, integration, and AI-assisted development practices
  • Apply AI-assisted approaches to improve efficiency and delivery quality
  • Build a focused, accountable, high-performing team culture


Skills

Required
  • Bachelor degree in Computer Science or related field, or equivalent combination of education and recent relevant work experience required
  • 5+ years in a technical leadership or team lead role, including developing technology strategies and driving innovation
  • Strong experience with backend development, API design, and integration patterns
  • Experience working with ecommerce and CMS platforms
  • Experience integrating with enterprise platforms such as Salesforce, SAP, identity providers, or marketing systems
  • Strong understanding of system design, scalability, and reliability
  • Experience working in agile teams
  • Strong communication skills

Preferred
  • Experience with headless CMS and composable architectures
  • Experience with event-driven architecture or middleware
  • Experience with cloud platforms (AWS or similar)
  • Experience using AI-assisted development tools

What Success Looks Like
  • Stable, reliable ecommerce platforms with minimal downtime
  • Reliable execution of critical ecommerce flows (pricing, cart, checkout, orders)
  • High-quality, reusable APIs that enable rapid frontend development
  • Seamless integrations supporting end-to-end ecommerce experiences
  • Efficient, predictable delivery of platform capabilities
  • Reduced integration friction for Experience Engineering

Key Expectations & Tradeoffs
  • Prioritize reliability and scalability while enabling delivery speed
  • Balance robustness with pragmatic implementation
  • Operate effectively in a lean team environment
  • Work across boundaries with Experience Engineering with shared ownership where needed
  • Focus on enabling experiences, not overbuilding platforms
  • Use AI to improve efficiency, not as a shortcut for fundamentals


Compensation

At Cengage Group, we take great pride in our commitment to providing a comprehensive and rewarding Total Rewards package designed to support and empower our employees. Click here to learn more about our Total Rewards Philosophy.

The full base pay range has been provided for this position. Individual base pay will vary based on work schedule, qualifications, experience, internal equity, and geographic location. Sales roles often incorporate a significant incentive compensation program beyond this base pay range.

In this position, you will be eligible to participate in the company's discretionary incentive bonus program. This position's bonus target amount, which is not guaranteed and is dependent on individual performance and overall company results among other factors, is provided below.

15% Annual: Individual Target

$101,900.00 - $200,000.00 USD

About Cengage Learning

Cengage is an American educational content, technology, and services company for the higher education, K-12, professional, and library markets. It operates in more than 20 countries around the world. The company provides print and digital textbooks, instructor supplements, online reference databases, distance learning courses, test preparation materials, corporate training courses, career assessment tools, and other educational materials. Cengage was founded in 2007 as a merger between Thomson Learning and Gale. In 2018, the company filed for bankruptcy and emerged with a new ownership structure. Cengage has approximately 5,000 employees and generates over $1.5 billion in annual revenue.
Learn more about Cengage Learning
Size
5,000 employees
Industry
Founded
1994

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