Hire Shopify Developers
Shopify takes hosting, security patches and the payment page off your hands. What remains is the part that makes the store yours: the theme, the apps, the rules at checkout and the data that flows to your other systems. That is where a Shopify developer spends the day.
The platform also changes underfoot. Liquid checkout files have been retired and Scripts have given way to Functions. You get a developer who follows those changes, works in your store and your repository, and takes instructions from you directly. We employ the developer and arrange cover.
Where a Shopify developer earns their keep
Shopify work divides into theme code, app code and checkout logic. The six items here span all three.
Theme development in Liquid
Sections, blocks and JSON templates that merchants can rearrange in the theme editor, written in Liquid with plain CSS and light JavaScript. Themes are kept in Git and pushed with Shopify CLI, not edited live in the admin.
Custom apps
Apps that do what no listed app does for your business: order routing, bundle logic, custom reports, supplier feeds. Built against the GraphQL Admin API with webhooks, and embedded in the admin with App Bridge and Polaris where staff need a screen.
Checkout extensibility
Rebuilding customisations that used to live in checkout.liquid and additional scripts as checkout UI extensions, web pixels and branding settings. This includes tracking on the thank-you and order status pages.
Shopify Functions
Discount, delivery and payment rules that run on Shopify infrastructure, written in JavaScript or Rust and compiled to WebAssembly. They do what Scripts used to do, within strict limits on execution time and input size.
Migrations into Shopify
Products, customers, orders and redirects brought over from another platform. Customer passwords cannot be transferred, so account activation emails are planned, and every old URL that has traffic is mapped to a new one.
Metafields, metaobjects and integrations
Structured data for specifications, size guides and store locators, plus connections to ERP, warehouse and email platforms. Rate limits and bulk operations are handled so that a nightly sync does not stall halfway.
The Shopify toolkit
Shopify has its own template language, APIs and command-line tools. A developer should be fluent in these before touching a live store.
- Themes
- LiquidOnline Store 2.0 sectionsJSON templatesTheme app extensionsDawn
- Apps & APIs
- GraphQL Admin APIStorefront APIWebhooksApp BridgePolaris
- Checkout
- Checkout UI extensionsShopify FunctionsWeb pixelsCustomer accounts
- Headless
- HydrogenOxygenReactNext.js
- Data
- MetafieldsMetaobjectsBulk operationsShopify FlowShopify Markets
- Tooling
- Shopify CLITheme CheckGitGitHub ActionsNode.js
Picking a Shopify developer by the kind of change
Theme edits, apps and checkout logic carry different risks. Match the person to the riskiest thing you will ask of them.
Junior
Edits sections and templates, builds landing pages from a design, adjusts theme settings and fixes layout bugs across devices. Works on a duplicate theme, never on the published one.
Choose when: the work is theme presentation and someone reviews it before anything is published.
Mid-level
Builds a theme from scratch, writes a custom app with webhooks and an admin screen, and sets up checkout UI extensions. Understands API rate limits and tests on a development store.
Choose when: you have a clear list of theme and app work and want dependable delivery.
Senior
Designs how apps, Functions and external systems fit together, plans platform migrations, and decides between a Liquid theme and a headless storefront on the evidence.
Choose when: you are migrating, going headless, selling in several markets, or have nobody technical in-house.
Starting work on your Shopify store
Outline the store and the task
Give us the store address, your Shopify plan, the theme in use and the apps installed. Then describe the change you are after.
We introduce one developer
A specific person, with a profile you can read and a call you can hold. If the fit is not right, tell us and another is proposed.
A short opening task
Something bounded, such as one section or one small Function, built on a duplicate theme or a development store. You judge the working style before agreeing to more.
Weekly notes, monthly invoice
Work is logged in the tools you already use. Every week you get a summary of what was published and what is stuck, and billing is once a month.
Shopify developer rates
Our rates are published. Pick the role and move the sliders for an indicative budget.
Rate card
| Role | Hourly | Monthly* |
|---|---|---|
| Frontend / WordPress | AED 110 | AED 17,600 |
| Backend / API | AED 118 | AED 18,880 |
| Full-stack | AED 129 | AED 20,640 |
| Mobile (React Native / Flutter) | AED 129 | AED 20,640 |
| DevOps / Cloud | AED 147 | AED 23,520 |
| AI / Automation engineer | AED 165 | AED 26,400 |
| QA / Test engineer | AED 92 | AED 14,720 |
| UI / UX design | AED 103 | AED 16,480 |
*160 hrs/month full-time. Rates are indicative for planning, in UAE dirhams (converted from our US-dollar rates at the fixed peg of 3.6725), before VAT where applicable, and depend on seniority, contract length and timezone overlap. Longer engagements and multi-role teams are discounted — ask.
Does this arrangement fit your store?
We are a good choice when
- You have a backlog of theme, app or checkout work that keeps growing.
- You are paying for several apps to do what one piece of custom code could do.
- Your old checkout customisations or Scripts need rebuilding as extensions and Functions.
- You are an agency wanting Shopify capacity without hiring.
Look elsewhere when
- A theme from the theme store, unchanged, already does what you need.
- You want a one-off tweak that takes an hour.
- You want checkout changes that Shopify reserves for the Plus plan while staying on a lower plan.
- You need the developer physically in your office.
Shopify specifics, answered briefly
Do we need Shopify Plus to customise checkout?
For the information, shipping and payment steps, yes: checkout UI extensions on those steps are a Plus feature. On other plans you can still adjust checkout branding in the editor, install apps built on Functions, and extend the thank-you and order status pages. Check the current plan comparison before deciding, because Shopify revises it.
Our theme was edited directly in the admin. Can it go into version control?
Yes. We pull the live theme with Shopify CLI, commit it to a Git repository, and from then on work on development themes. Changes are reviewed and pushed, so there is a history and a way back.
Should we go headless with Hydrogen?
Only if there is a need a Liquid theme cannot meet, such as a storefront that shares its front end with a separate application. Headless adds a codebase to host and maintain, and apps that inject into themes will not work with it unchanged.
How many apps is too many?
There is no fixed number. The test is what each app loads on the storefront and whether two apps do the same job. We list every app, what it injects and what it costs per month, and you decide which to keep.
Who owns custom apps and theme code?
You do. Code is kept in your repository, apps are created under your own Shopify organisation, and ownership is set out in the agreement signed before work starts.
How is the engagement ended?
It runs month by month. Give notice before the following month begins. The developer finishes or hands over open work, and you remove their collaborator access.
Send us your store and your list
We need the store address, your plan, and a sentence or two on what you want changed. We reply within one business day.