I read 40 Shopify job posts. Here's what they asked for.
Two weeks of Upwork posts, counted. The lines, screening questions and requirements that kept repeating — in the posts' own words, with what this cannot tell you.
That is the short version. The rest is each pattern in the posts’ own words, what it looks like from the applicant’s side, and — the part this kind of article usually skips — what 40 job posts cannot tell you.
How these were collected
This changes how you should read everything below, so it goes first.
- 40 posts, all Shopify work, all from my own Upwork feed, September 2026.
- Before writing anything about a post, I copied its own wording. The quotes here are theirs, not my paraphrase.
- A pattern only appears below if at least three posts showed it in their own words.
- No names. Companies, store names, unusual keywords and anything else that would point at who wrote a post have been removed. These were written to hire someone, not to be quoted.
Part 1: How the posts were written
The line that says what you don’t want (12 of 40)
The single most common pattern was not a skill or a tool. It was a sentence ruling something out.
“We don’t want a 40 page audit that we then have to find a developer to action.”
“This is not a two-person handoff.”
“We’re not looking for a traditional web designer.”
“We are not looking for a rebrand, a completely new shop or aggressive ecommerce tactics.”
Skills lists blur together from post to post. The “not” line does not. In my reading it was usually the most specific sentence in the whole post, and as an applicant it is the one I read first — because it tells me what went wrong last time.
Design and build: one hire or two? (4 posts, and they disagree)
One post wanted a design system “a Shopify developer can build from without guessing” — two people, clean handoff. Three said the opposite:
“This is not a design-only role.”
“…need one freelancer to both design and build the new site — this is not a two-person handoff.”
“…not just deliver Figma files.”
Neither approach is wrong. But since the posts do not agree on a default, an applicant cannot tell which one you want unless you say.
“AI” means opposite things (6 of 40)
Six posts mentioned AI, in six different roles:
- Screened out: “…copy pasted into AI and I will not bother reading it”
- Required for speed: “AI heavily to build faster and cleaner”
- Required outright: “AI Proficiency (Mandatory)”
- A specific named tool, as part of the daily workflow
- Replacing the photographer: “generate premium AI images and visual assets”
- Generating the copy, with a person judging whether it sounds right
Six posts is a range, not a trend. But if your post says “AI skills”, it is worth saying which of these you mean.
Speed as a condition, not the job (8 of 40)
Eight posts asked for page speed, and none of them were speed jobs. It was written into landing pages, a re-skin, a reviews section, audits:
“to ensure maximum speed (Mobile PageSpeed Score 85+)”
“page speed at handover must match or beat the current site”
“Maintain fast page-load performance”
“Without a developer” afterwards (4 of 40)
“…configurable enough that we can bring further products into the same flow ourselves, without a developer each time.”
“…each product’s content is editable by a non-developer.”
A fair ask, and an easy one to agree to in a proposal. If I were hiring, I would ask how: which parts will be editable in the theme editor, and which will still need code.
Part 2: How applicants were screened
Start your proposal with this word (10 of 40)
Ten posts asked applicants to start with a specific word, or to answer an off-topic question, to prove they had read the whole thing. One explained why:
“…then I know it was copy pasted into AI and I will not bother reading it.”
I cannot see from the outside whether it works. From the applicant’s side, it tells me someone will actually read what I send.
Live stores, not a portfolio (8 of 40)
“Please send three links, ideally live sites.”
“Two or three live relevant Shopify stores you worked on, with links and one line each on what you did.”
A live store is something you can open and check yourself. A portfolio screenshot is not.
“What did you personally do?” (6 of 40)
“What exactly did you personally implement on those stores?”
“Only send portfolio work you personally did.”
One post went furthest: send the stores, “what you changed, and what it did to conversion rate.” That is the hardest to answer and, as a reader, the most useful to read.
Questions a link can’t answer (4 of 40)
A lot of the screening questions asked for links or examples. Four asked something else:
“Can explain what you learned when a test lost.”
“What should this experience be—and why?”
“How do you make sure orders paid through [the payment platform] are created correctly in Shopify for fulfillment?”
You cannot paste a portfolio into those. You have to explain how you think.
Quote your own price and time (5 of 40)
“Please quote a fixed price for the full scope above.”
“What is your estimated timeline to complete a project of this exact scope?”
These posts did not state a budget or a deadline. They asked for the applicant’s. As an applicant, I read the estimate as part of the test, not as paperwork.
Part 3: How the work was protected
Never touch the live theme (4 of 40)
“Work exclusively in the unpublished theme.”
“…install the code in a duplicated theme first, never directly in the live theme… Only after we approve the test results do you publish.”
None of these left it to the developer to decide how careful to be. For anyone quoting: working in a copy and waiting for approval takes longer than editing live, so it belongs in the estimate.
“If it goes well” (3 of 40, the smallest pattern here)
“If it goes well we’ll move to ongoing work covering the full site.”
“There is ongoing work available after this if it goes well.”
Only three posts, but the wording was nearly identical. I read it as: the first project is the interview.
What they asked for most
Counting the skills each post asked for. The labels are my grouping of their wording — “store UX” covers several different phrasings, so treat these as my categories, not theirs.
| Skill (my label) | Posts |
|---|---|
| Store UX (product and collection pages) | 21 of 40 |
| Liquid | 20 |
| Responsive CSS / mobile layout | 19 |
| Theme structure | 18 |
| Site speed | 13 |
| Conversion work | 12 |
| Landing pages | 11 |
| JavaScript | 11 |
If you’re writing a Shopify job post
These are the decisions the posts above made explicit. I am not claiming they get better applicants — I cannot see that from here. But each one answers a question applicants otherwise have to guess at.
Eight things the clearest posts decided out loud
- What don't you want? One sentence ruling something out.
- One person for design and build, or two? The posts disagree, so say which.
- What do you mean by 'AI'? Avoid it, be fast with it, or judge its output?
- What does 'fast' mean? A score, or 'no slower than now'.
- What should your team be able to change afterwards, without a developer?
- What proof do you want? Live links, and what the applicant's part was.
- Do you have a budget and deadline, or do you want theirs?
- How should the work be done? Unpublished theme, approval before publish.
If you’re the one applying
The same patterns from the other side. This list is my view as an applicant, not something the posts told me.
Five things I now do differently
- Find the 'not' line first. It tells you what the last person got wrong.
- Have two or three live links ready, each with one line on what you did.
- Follow the read-check instruction exactly. If a post asks for a word first, it is checking.
- Treat your estimate as part of the application. It gets read.
- Spend the extra time on the reasoning questions. They take longest and are where you can stand out.
What 40 job posts can’t tell you
This is the part I would want someone to be honest about if they were showing this to me.
A job post shows how it was written. It does not show who applied, who got hired, how the project went, or whether the buyer was happy. So nothing above says a refusal line, a keyword check or a live-store requirement works. It says how often these 40 posts did it, what it looked like, and how it reads from the applicant’s side.
What I’m watching next
A few things came up in only one or two posts, so they are not patterns yet: paid trial projects, AI search and “agentic commerce” as a deliverable, and handover videos.
I will keep counting as I read more posts — and if any of the patterns above stop holding up, I will say so here.