About Vaan: 

Vaan, A Verndale Company, is a brand and commerce agency built for the DTC era. We partner with category-defining, digitally native brands to design, build, and optimize high-performing commerce experiences where brand and conversion are inseparable. Our approach—Brand Conversion Design—blends world-class creative, rigorous UX, and deep Shopify Plus expertise to turn storytelling into growth at scale. As part of Verndale, we bring enterprise-grade thinking with the speed, taste, and performance mindset of a modern DTC growth partner.

Hi! I’m Geo, Director Of Product and Strategy at Vaan Group, a 50-person design & development agency known for crafting exceptional digital experiences across e-commerce and brand design. Our clients include household names as well as some of the most exciting brands in the D2C space.

About the Role

Vaan partners with ambitious DTC brands ($5M–$1B GMV) to build and optimize within the Shopify ecosystem.

We are looking for a Solutions Strategist who sits between clients and engineering.

This is not a developer role, but you must think like one.

You will:

• Lead technical discovery

• Translate business needs into clear requirements

• Advise clients on Shopify architecture and ecosystem decisions

• Ensure engineering teams receive documentation they can execute against

If you enjoy understanding complex systems, asking smart questions, and shaping scalable solutions — this role is for you.

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What You’ll Be Responsible For

1. Discovery & Requirements

• Lead technical discovery for new builds, migrations, and large initiatives

• Run structured stakeholder workshops (marketing, ops, tech)

• Turn ambiguous ideas into clear functional & technical requirements

• Document architecture, integrations, and data flows

• Partner with Tech Leads before scope is finalized

2. Shopify Expertise

• Act as internal SME on Shopify & Shopify Plus

• Recommend apps, integrations, and ecosystem tools

• Advise on architecture decisions (standard vs headless vs composable)

• Stay current on Shopify updates and roadmap shifts

3. Technical Environment Analysis

• Map integrations across ERP, PIM, OMS, CRM, marketing tools

• Identify risks before they become project blockers

• Audit existing Shopify builds for technical debt or missed opportunities

4. AI & Emerging Tech

• Evaluate AI tools (personalization, search, CX automation, etc.)

• Separate hype from real business value

• Identify opportunities to improve conversion, retention, and operations

5. Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Bridge client conversations and engineering execution

• Contribute to scoping and estimation

• Support Growth Strategists with technical depth on roadmaps

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MUST HAVE (Non-Negotiable)

Shopify Expertise

• Hands-on experience with Shopify Plus

• Strong understanding of:

  • Liquid & theme architecture

  • Metafields

  • Checkout extensibility

  • Markets & B2B

• Experience evaluating Shopify apps & integrations

Technical Fluency

• Comfortable reading (not writing) code

• Understand APIs, webhooks, and data flow concepts

• Experience working closely with engineers on digital projects

Discovery & Documentation

• Led discovery for complex ecommerce or digital projects

• Strong requirements documentation skills

• Able to translate business goals into structured technical scope

Client Communication

• Confident in client-facing conversations

• Able to explain technical topics clearly

• Strong written communication

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NICE TO HAVE

• In-house ecommerce brand experience (product, ops, tech)

• Experience with platform migrations (Magento, BigCommerce, SFCC → Shopify)

• Exposure to A/B testing programs

• Experience with headless/composable tools (Contentful, Sanity, Builder.io)

• Understanding of agency delivery models & retainers