CMS Sanity Backend Engineer

Role Description

TEKsystems is looking for a Backend Engineer or Architect with experience with a CMS migration to Sanity.io. This is a remote contract opportunity through the end of 2026. The rate is open to $85/hr - $90/hr for the right candidate.

We are looking for a Principal Backend Engineer to help guide the technical evolution of our omnichannel digital commerce platforms, with a specific focus on our Content Management System (CMS) strategy. In this role, you will bridge the gap between transactional commerce services and rich, dynamic content delivery across web, mobile, and in-store channels.

The ideal candidate is an expert in Sanity.io and Structured Content, capable of designing cloud-native, scalable services that power millions of customer interactions. This position requires a strategic architect who remains deeply technical—spending 75% of their time in the codebase—to ensure our content architecture is as resilient and high-performing as our commerce engine.

Key Responsibilities

• Architectural & Content Leadership
  • Headless CMS Authority: Act as the primary architect for our Sanity.io implementation. Design schemas that balance editor flexibility with strict data integrity.
  • Structured Content Design: Lead the transition from "page-based" content to a structured content model, allowing for seamless content flow between backend services and frontend consumers.
  • Solution Architecture: Collaborate with Enterprise Architects to ensure the CMS ecosystem integrates perfectly with GCP-based microservices (Pub/Sub, Cloud Functions).
• CMS Specialization (Sanity.io focus)
  • Schema & API Optimization: Architect complex Sanity schemas and leverage GROQ for high-performance content fetching.
  • Custom Studio Development: Extend the Sanity Studio with custom input components and plugins to optimize the developer and editor experience.
  • Content Pipelines: Build and maintain robust webhooks and event-driven triggers to sync content changes with downstream commerce systems and caches.
  • Portable Text Mastery: Implement and guide the team on handling rich text as structured data to ensure consistent rendering across diverse platforms.
• Engineering Excellence & Shared Practices
  • CI/CD for Content: Champion automated testing for CMS schemas and CI/CD pipelines (using Harness) for content migrations and Studio deployments.
  • Shared Resources: Create "starter kits" and design patterns for integrating CMS data into backend services, ensuring consistency across domain teams.
  • Performance & Scaling: Own the caching strategy for content delivery to ensure zero-latency impact on critical commerce paths.

Qualifications

• Deep experience with Sanity.io (preferred), Contentful, or similar headless platforms.
• Expert-level knowledge of GROQ.
• Proficiency in Google Cloud Platform (GCP).
• Strong proficiency in Java/Kotlin (Node.js/TypeScript is a major plus given the CMS context).
• Expertise in RESTful design, microservices architecture, and event-driven systems.

Requirements

• Experience with Terraform, Helm, Kubernetes, and Harness/Jenkins.
• Familiarity with Portable Text and JSON-LD standards.
• Understanding of how backend content architecture impacts Next.js, React, or mobile (Flutter) performance.

Benefits

• Medical, dental & vision
• Critical Illness, Accident, and Hospital
• 401(k) Retirement Plan – Pre-tax and Roth post-tax contributions available
• Life Insurance (Voluntary Life & AD&D for the employee and dependents)
• Short and long-term disability
• Health Spending Account (HSA)
• Transportation benefits
• Employee Assistance Program
• Time Off/Leave (PTO, Vacation or Sick Leave)

Job Type & Location

This is a Contract position based out of Philadelphia, PA.

Application Deadline

This position is anticipated to close on May 12, 2026.