Webflow Systems Lead

Quick Summary

Hours: Full-time freelance engagement; 6-month contract

Location: Fully remote

Time Zone: Europe-based due to time-zone alignment

Language: Native or professional English required — all company communication is in English

Experience: Senior — 5+ years of web development, including 3+ years of Webflow at system level

Profile: Autonomous, collaborative, and comfortable owning technical decisions

Rate: B2B collaboration; €3,500–5,500 DOE

About us

We are partners in your digital journey. We bring together strategy, design, and technology to build systems that flex as your future unfolds.

Afternow creates the digital systems brilliant companies are built on. Strategy, identity, web and product design, and technology that scales. Every part of the process supports and informs the other, creating an environment that works today and adapts to wherever the business goes next.

We work primarily with ambitious, digitally focused organizations navigating change. From startups finding their footing, to scale-ups building momentum, to established enterprises reshaping their digital foundations. Our partnerships are built on clarity, craft, and care.

Since 2012, we've grown from our roots on Island Krk, Croatia, to a fully remote team of more than thirty talented people working across the globe. We've partnered with companies including AWS, ThoughtSpot, Progressive, Descartes, ShipBob, Quillbot, Teachable, Crisp, CloudZero, Kinetik, and many more.

🏆 4.6 Glassdoor Rating — Join our team and discover why our people consistently rate us so highly.

The Role

We're looking for a senior Webflow Systems Lead to own the technical architecture of a multi-site marketing system for a B2B software client with a portfolio of data, integration and AI products.

The goal isn't three polished websites. It's a reusable system, with a governed component library, a relational CMS and a foundation AI agents can work inside, that the client's marketing team can run on their own. This is not a marketing-site or no-code role.

You'll work with our UI designers, who build the design system in Figma, the client's developers, who write the integrations with their products, our Web Development Team Lead , and another Webflow developer you'll guide.

What You'll Do

• Architect the foundation: components with properties, variants and slots, variables and design tokens, naming, and clear custom-code boundaries across three sites, with performance and accessibility (WCAG) built in
• Work with designers from the start: review Figma components and variables for platform feasibility before they become rebuilds
• Model the CMS: a relational structure connecting products, ecosystems, connectors, use cases, personas and resources, tested across all three sites
• Make the system agent-ready: set up Webflow's MCP server, write agent instructions and reusable skills, and define what agents may and may not change
• Define the connection to the client's products: the client's developers write the integrations; you set the requirements and review the result for performance and security
• Build code components and search: React components for tools such as product finders and assessments, and the cross-site Algolia search layer (index strategy, shared taxonomy, ranking)
• Set up governance and handoff: what marketers and agents can change, how changes are reviewed and published, and documentation so the client's team can run the system (we'll plan the training with you)
• Guide the team: review other developer's work and keep quality consistent across sites

A Typical Week

• Modelling a new CMS relationship and testing how it scales across all three sites
• Writing agent instructions, asking an AI to build a landing page, and fixing what it got wrong
• Agreeing with the client's developers how their systems connect to the site
• Reviewing a page a marketer built and tightening the guardrails it exposed

What We're Looking For

The Right Mindset

• Systems thinker and accountable: you design for the team that will use the system next year, and you stand behind your architecture decisions
• Collaborative: you work with designers early, challenge ideas constructively, and make the people around you better
• Honest about the edges: you know which Webflow features are solid and which are still evolving

Essential Experience

• 5+ years of web development, including 3+ years of professional Webflow work at system level (component libraries, complex CMS), not just page builds
• Has architected a component-based Webflow system and a relational content model for a large site
• Has handed a system to a non-technical marketing team that now runs it without developers
• Real MCP experience, and has shipped an LLM integration or agent workflow to production, with prompts, instructions and guardrails
• Experience with Algolia or comparable search, ideally multi-index or federated
• Live work we can look under the hood of, including significant custom code, integrations or AI

Technical Skills

• Webflow and Figma (essential), including reading Figma variables and components and translating them into Webflow-native structure
• JavaScript and React for code components, the Webflow Data API, webhooks and REST integrations (enough to specify and review other developers' work), plus Git and Node.js
• Sound judgment on performance, accessibility (WCAG), security (API keys, auth, data privacy) and the line between native and custom code
• Clear written communication, and enjoyment in documenting and teaching
• Fluent English (written and verbal)

Bonus Points

• A component library shared across several sites, or Webflow Localization
• GSAP or Webflow interactions as a reusable motion system
• Experience writing agent skills for Claude, ChatGPT or similar, or mentoring junior developers

Hiring Process

1. Application Review: your portfolio and a cover letter that tells us more about you
2. Video Call with HR: fit, availability, and expectations
3. Portfolio Deep Dive with the Dev and Design Team: walk us through a system you architected, who you worked with, and the trade-offs you made
4. Working Session: about 2–3 hours on a realistic task to further understand how you work
5. Welcome to Afternow!

Apply Now

If you're a senior Webflow builder who thinks in systems and enjoys working closely with designers, we want to hear from you. Show us:

• A live Webflow site you architected, and how its components and CMS are structured
• A system a non-technical team ran on their own after handoff
• Any AI or agent workflow you've built, and the limits you set for it
• A time the platform changed a design decision, and how you handled it

Afternow is an equal opportunity employer. We believe diverse teams build better products and create better experiences. We encourage applications from people of all backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives.