Job Description
Principal Engineer & CMS Platform Lead
Location:[Remote / Europe / Cyprus]
Technology: TypeScript, Node.js, Next.js, CMS (Open-Source), AI Localization.
About Kape Technologies
Kape (LSE: KAPE, privatized 2023) is a global leader in the “Privacy-First” digital security era. We are the powerhouse behind the world’s most trusted consumer privacy brands.
With over 7 million paying subscribers and a global team of 1,000+ experts across 10 locations, our mission is to provide complete digital autonomy. We believe that a free and open internet starts with state-of-the-art technology. As we scale toward the next 10 million users, we are consolidating our web infrastructure into a unified, next-generation content platform that matches the world-class engineering of our core VPN products.
The Challenge
You will lead the engineering squad responsible for retiring our legacy WordPress instances across brands. You aren’t just building a website; you are building a Content Operating System powered by an open-source headless CMS at its core. This platform must support high-velocity PPC landing pages, complex multi-language blogs, and technical support hubs—all while maintaining the extreme performance and security standards expected of global privacy leaders.
A key part of this role is evaluating and adopting an open-source CMS solution (such as Strapi, Payload CMS, Directus, or KeystoneJS) as the foundation of the new platform. You will assess these solutions against our requirements for extensibility, multi-tenancy, and API-first content delivery, and lead the customization and integration effort to make the chosen platform fit our multi-brand ecosystem.
Key Responsibilities
- Open-Source CMS Selection & Integration: Evaluate and lead the adoption of an open-source headless CMS (e.g., Strapi, Payload CMS, Directus, KeystoneJS) as the content backbone. Define selection criteria around extensibility, plugin ecosystem, multi-tenancy support, role-based access, and API performance. Own the customization roadmap to tailor the chosen solution to our multi-brand needs.
- Unified Architecture: Design a multi-brand, component-based headless system built on the selected open-source CMS. You will architect the “Core Engine” that allows all three brands to share high-performance components while maintaining unique visual identities.
- Inheritance & Customization: Solve the “Parent-Child” challenge. Build a system where a global campaign (Parent) can be instantly deployed across dozens of regional versions (Children) with localized overrides and inherited SEO logic.
- Infrastructure & Security Governance: Partner with DevOps to define the global delivery strategy. You will oversee requirements for Edge Computing (ISR/Edge Functions), WAF, and multi-layered caching (Redis/CDN) to ensure sub-second LCP (Largest Contentful Paint) globally.
- AI-Powered Localization: Architect a native-feeling translation pipeline. Integrate LLMs to handle context-aware translations and build an AI “Quality Gate” that automatically checks pages for SEO health and UI regressions before they go live.
- Visual Editor Implementation: Bridge the gap between engineering and marketing by leveraging the chosen open-source CMS’s admin panel and extending it with a high-performance visual editing experience that doesn’t bloat the frontend code.
Technical Requirements (Hard Skills)
- Next.js & React Mastery: Expert-level experience with the App Router, Server Components, and performance optimization for massive traffic (millions of monthly uniques).
- Node.js/TypeScript Ecosystem: Deep experience building robust, type-safe APIs and microservices. Hands-on experience with open-source headless CMS platforms (Strapi, Payload CMS, Directus, or similar) is a strong advantage.
- Multi-layered Caching: Professional-grade understanding of browser, server-side, and edge caching strategies.
- Infrastructure Fluency: Ability to set precise tasks for DevOps and verify the integrity of deployments, proxying, and firewalling.
- Technical SEO: Deep knowledge of how headless architectures impact crawlability, schema, and dynamic sitemaps.
Why Join Kape?
This is a rare opportunity to own the web platform for one of the biggest names in cybersecurity. You will have the budget and the mandate to move away from legacy debt and build a “Golden Path” for web development using the best of the JavaScript and open-source ecosystem—starting with a best-in-class headless CMS as the foundation.
Before you apply
- At the moment, we do not sponsor visas in the EU. For Hong Kong, we require at least two years of working experience and a university degree in a related field. For Singapore and the UK, we can only sponsor visas for mid-career or above.
- Please upload your resume as a PDF and do not include any salary or compensation information in it.
ExpressVPN is one of the world’s leading providers of online privacy and security services for consumers. Started in 2009, we’ve grown to have millions of active paying customers, a team of more than 700 people worldwide, and a brand recognized by hundreds of millions of people in 18 languages and more than a hundred countries. We see huge growth in our industry, and are gaining market share through strong execution.
