Joe Griffiths
I'm an independent senior engineer and e-commerce architect based in Cheltenham, UK. I build and operate the backends and integrations behind high-volume retail: bespoke APIs, payments, search, email, and the links into warehouse and stock systems that make the rest work. I work with SOZO, my current focus is integration-heavy Shopify and bespoke platforms, and I'm increasingly building AI into production.
I've been building for the web since 1999 and working with SOZO since 2007, across bespoke PHP platforms, the AWS and Linux infrastructure that runs them, and the e-commerce on top. Over the last year I've moved into Shopify extensibility, embedded apps and custom Functions handling checkout and discount logic, and into AI automation.
My stack is PHP, JavaScript, SQL, Liquid, Python, AWS, and Linux. I work extensively with bespoke APIs across REST and GraphQL, and with third-party integrations, payments, search, stock and fulfilment, and email, and I'm building AI into both e-commerce workflows and my own tooling.
Before SOZO I freelanced as j-interactive (2003–2007), and started out at County Business Net as a senior developer and network administrator (1999–2003). BSc in Multimedia and Computing from the University of Gloucestershire.
Selected work
Several of these were built on a bespoke in-house CMS.
Just Fabrics
Lead developer since 2012 on a specialist fabric retailer. Built and ran the bespoke PHP e-commerce platform for over a decade, then built its Shopify stock and fulfilment integration: an embedded app syncing inventory across five warehouses, with Shopify Functions powering automated checkout discounts.
PHP · GraphQL · AWS · Shopify · Liquid · Functions · Algolia · Klaviyo · Clerk.io
TOUT'S Card
Loyalty programme for a regional supermarket group, integrated with the in-store EPOS loyalty system. Member portal, voucher redemption, and barcode generation, maintained across eleven years and four major versions.
PHP · MySQL · AWS
3D Creation Lab
Online platform for a 3D printing bureau, with a step-by-step model upload and instant quoting flow, accounts, and checkout.
PHP · MySQL · SagePay · PayPal
Jane Plan
Personalised meal-delivery subscription platform: plan selection, meal customisation, payments, and a two-way integration with a third-party fulfilment warehouse.
PHP · MySQL · WorldPay · PayPal IPN
Shopify API Schema Tracker
A personal project that watches Shopify's unstable GraphQL API for undocumented changes every day, then runs an AI step to summarise the diff and post it to Slack, giving early sight of platform changes before they're announced.
Python · GitHub Actions · AI · Slack
I'm open to new work, so do get in touch.
2026