QAIL AI

Qail Labs Inc | Remote 

We're building the infrastructure layer for agent-driven commerce. Qail.ai detects AI agent intent on ecommerce sites and streamlines the buying flow so agents (ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, custom shopping agents) can transact reliably on behalf of their users. We need an engineer who has shipped real ecommerce systems — ideally on Shopify — and can own the backend, real-time detection pipeline, and merchant-facing infrastructure.

What you'll do 

Design and ship the systems that sit between AI agents and ecommerce storefronts. Build the agent detection and intent classification pipeline — identifying agent traffic in real time, distinguishing browse from buy intent, and routing requests through agent-optimized flows. Own the backend API that Shopify merchants integrate with, the data storage layer, and the integration surface across Shopify (and adjacent platforms). Build and maintain the Next.js merchant dashboard. Scale from pilot deployments to production traffic across thousands of stores.

Must have

• Hands-on ecommerce engineering experience — you've built and operated production systems on a real storefront, not just adjacent to one
• Deep Shopify experience: Storefront API, Admin API, GraphQL, App Bridge, checkout extensibility, theme app extensions, webhooks, and the realities of operating a Shopify app at scale (rate limits, API versioning, partner/app review)
• Solid grasp of the ecommerce data model — products, variants, inventory, carts, checkouts, orders, fulfillments, discounts, taxes
• Python (FastAPI or similar async framework)
• Designing and operating high-throughput, low-latency APIs in production
• Docker / Docker Compose on bare metal or cloud (Hetzner, AWS, etc.)
• PostgreSQL and Redis
• Comfort working with HTTP internals — headers, fingerprinting signals, session state, edge/CDN behavior
• Browser automation (Playwright, Puppeteer, or Selenium) for simulating agent flows, end-to-end testing, and reproducing merchant scenarios

Strong plus

• Shipped and maintained a public Shopify App (or significant private/custom app work for a DTC brand)
• Checkout and payments depth — Shop Pay, Stripe, tokenized checkout, Shopify Functions
• Experience with other commerce platforms (WooCommerce, BigCommerce, Salesforce Commerce Cloud, custom headless stacks)
• Real-time request classification or detection systems (bot detection, fraud, traffic analysis)
• LLM API integration (OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, DeepSeek) and structured-output / tool-use patterns
• Familiarity with emerging agent commerce standards (ACP, AP2, MCP for commerce, agent-readable storefronts)

• Next.js / React for merchant-facing dashboards

   

How we work 

Small team, milestone-based delivery with live demos. You'll work directly with the founder. We move fast and ship weekly.

Compensation 

Competitive, based on experience. Contract starting immediately with path to ongoing engagement.