Shopware 6 · Symfony · Headless

Your outsourced CTO & Tech Lead for Shopware.

Certified Shopware 6 engineers who take ownership of your platform — architecture, releases, performance, and the team that ships it. Senior leadership on demand, without the full-time hire.

Shopware certified Shopware 6.6 From audit to ownership in 2 weeks

Sound familiar?

The store grows. The platform doesn't keep up.

Most Shopware merchants don't have a technology problem — they have an ownership problem. Nobody senior is accountable for the platform as a whole.

release:blocked

Releases take weeks

Every change goes through one overloaded developer or an agency queue. Simple features ship a month late — or break checkout when they do.

upgrade:stalled

Stuck on an old version

The 6.6 upgrade — or the Shopware 5 migration — keeps getting postponed because nobody can predict what 40 plugins will do. Security patches pile up.

budget:overrun

Agency invoices keep growing

You pay for hours, not outcomes. Estimates double mid-task, and you have no independent expert to challenge them.

perf:degraded

Slow site, lost revenue

Pages crawl during campaigns, Core Web Vitals are red, and "add more servers" is the only answer you ever get.

team:adrift

Devs without direction

Your in-house or freelance developers are capable, but no one reviews code, sets standards, or plans the roadmap.

risk:unknown

You can't see the risks

Technical decisions are a black box. You find out about problems when they hit production — and revenue.

What we own

Senior Shopware leadership, packaged the way you need it.

One partner, four engagement models. All delivered by certified Shopware engineers with deep Symfony and e-commerce experience.

Fractional

Outsourced CTO

A part-time chief technology officer who answers for your platform to the business — strategy, budget, vendors, and risk.

  • Technology roadmap tied to revenue goals
  • Agency & vendor oversight, estimate validation
  • Architecture and build-vs-buy decisions
  • Board-level reporting in plain language
Embedded

Tech Lead as a service

A hands-on lead who runs your existing developers day to day and raises the bar on everything they ship.

  • Code review and engineering standards
  • Sprint planning and release management
  • CI/CD, environments, and deploy discipline
  • Mentoring for in-house and freelance devs
Delivery

Certified Shopware developers

Shopware-certified engineers for features, integrations, and upgrades — managed by our own tech lead, not left on their own.

  • Custom plugins & apps, ERP/PIM/CRM integrations
  • 6.x upgrades, SW5 → SW6 migrations, patching
  • Storefront themes & headless (Shopware Frontends)
  • Performance & Core Web Vitals work
Rescue

Audit & project rescue

For stores in trouble: a deep technical audit, a prioritized fix plan, and the team to execute it.

  • Full code, infrastructure & security audit
  • Stabilization of failing builds and stores
  • Takeover from a previous agency
  • Documented handover — you own everything

How it works

From first call to full ownership in four steps.

step 01

Intro call

We learn your business, stack, and pain points. You learn exactly who you'd be working with.

45 min · free
step 02

Technical audit

We read the code, infrastructure, and processes — and deliver a written report with risks ranked by revenue impact.

5–10 days
step 03

Roadmap & model

Together we pick the engagement model and agree a 90-day plan with measurable outcomes, not billable hours.

1 workshop
step 04

We take ownership

Your CTO or tech lead starts. Weekly reporting, transparent priorities, and a platform someone finally answers for.

ongoing

Pricing

Simple hourly rates. Capacity in 0.5 FTE steps.

Pick the seniority you need and the capacity you want — from 0.5 FTE (half-time) upwards, scaling in 0.5 FTE increments. No project minimums, no hidden management fees.

Capacity
≈ 80 h / month
Role Hourly rate Est. monthly (0.5 FTE)
Middle+ DeveloperCertified dev for features & integrations €45 / hour €3,600
Senior DeveloperComplex modules, upgrades, performance work €60 / hour €4,800
Tech LeadRuns your dev team: reviews, releases, standards €75 / hour €6,000
CTOStrategy, architecture, vendors, board reporting €90 / hour €7,200

Monthly estimates assume 1 FTE = 160 h/month. Capacity scales in 0.5 FTE steps — mix roles freely, e.g. 0.5 FTE CTO + 1.0 FTE Senior. Billing is hourly against actual tracked time.

Free interactive tool

Being told to leave Shopware for Shopify?

Before you replatform, see the real 3-year cost of ownership — including the transaction fees and app subscriptions that scale with your revenue. Find the GMV where the cheaper platform actually flips.

3-year TCO model Crossover analysis Independent — we sell no platform
Open the TCO calculator → Then get an exact, neutral verdict.

Why trust us

Certified on the platform. Fluent with the business.

  • [✓]Shopware Certified — Certified Developer & Advanced Developer certifications across the team.
  • [✓]8+ years average e-commerce experience per senior engineer — from Shopware 5 migrations to 6.6 and headless.
  • [✓]Merchant-side experience — we've sat on the client's side of agency calls and know where the hours hide.
  • [✓]You keep everything — code, documentation, infrastructure access, and credentials stay in your name from day one.

Stack we work with daily

Platform  Shopware 6 / Rise / Evolve / Beyond
Frontend  Twig Storefront / Shopware Frontends / headless
Backend  PHP 8.x / Symfony / MySQL / Elasticsearch / OpenSearch / Redis / RabbitMQ
Infra  Shopware PaaS / AWS / Docker / Varnish / CDN & WAF
Process  Git flow / CI/CD / automated testing / New Relic & observability
Integrations  ERP / PIM / CRM / payment & shipping providers

Free interactive tool

How much is a slow Shopware store costing you?

Plug in your revenue and load time and see the monthly & yearly revenue you're leaking to slow pages — based on empirical Portent conversion data. No signup.

Instant estimate Shareable report Built on real conversion research
Open the speed calculator → Then turn the number into a fix plan.

Start here

Get a free 45-minute tech audit call.

Bring your store URL and your biggest frustration. You'll leave with at least three concrete findings about your platform — whether we work together or not.

No sales deck. A senior engineer joins the call.