Available now — full-time or contract
Michael Kuhlman · San Diego, CA · Remote, hybrid or on-site
Senior Magento 2 & Adobe Commerce Lead Developer
20 years in eCommerce. 18 storefronts for America's leading museums and zoos. I lead Adobe Commerce builds, ERP/POS integrations and Magento→Shopify migrations.
- 01
Led development of 18 Magento 2 storefronts for museums, zoos and cultural attractions
- 02
Built the ERP and POS integrations that kept in-store and online inventory, orders and fulfillment in sync
- 03
Led Event Network's migration from Magento 2 to Shopify
- 04
5/5 rating across thousands of billable Magento hours as a freelancer
Storefronts I've built and run for
- Shedd Aquarium
- Denver Zoo
- American Museum of Natural History
- National Gallery of Art
- Guggenheim
- Smithsonian American Art Museum
- Missouri Botanical Garden
- Mystic Seaport
- Obama Foundation
As Senior Lead Magento 2 Developer at Event Network (2021–2025) I led development and maintenance of 18 Magento 2 storefronts for museums, zoos and cultural attractions.
01Services
What I do
I work as a lead developer inside your team, as a contractor alongside your agency, or directly for a merchant. Six things I'm hired for:
Adobe Commerce lead development
Custom modules, themes and multi-store / multi-website builds on a shared codebase. Checkout and payments, performance with Varnish, Redis, Elasticsearch and a CDN, security and SEO. I've owned all of it on a portfolio of 18 live stores.
Magento → Shopify migration
Data-model mapping, SEO redirect maps, integrations and cutover. I led Event Network's move from Magento 2 to Shopify, and I've run Magento → Shopify migrations for other merchants both before and since.
Migration discovery audit
Before you commit a budget: what is actually in your Magento install, what maps cleanly to the target platform, what doesn't, and what it will take. You get a written plan you can execute with me or with anyone else.
Upgrades & security patching
Magento 2.4.x upgrades, security patches and Adobe Commerce feature work. 2.4.6 is in its last year of extended support (it ends August 31, 2027), so the next move needs planning now.
ERP, POS & API integrations
REST and GraphQL integrations that keep inventory, orders and fulfillment in step between the store, the ERP, point of sale and shipping (ShipWorks). Webhooks, message queues and data syncing that hold up when the store is busy.
AI-accelerated delivery
Most of what I've built since December 2025 has been AI-accelerated, with Claude Code and multi-model APIs (Anthropic Claude, OpenAI, Gemini) in the loop. I also built Atlas, a sandboxed AI workspace platform, so I know where the guardrails belong.
02Selected work
Selected work
03Support deadline
Magento 2.4.6 is in its last year of support
Standard support for Adobe Commerce 2.4.6 ended on August 11, 2026. It is now in extended support, which Adobe provides at no additional cost, with quality and security patches until August 31, 2027. After that there is a one-time security-only period (isolated security fixes, no quality fixes) until May 31, 2028.
2.4.5 is already past extended support: that ended on August 11, 2026, and it now receives isolated security fixes only, until May 31, 2027. 2.4.4 is in the same position.
Magento Open Source follows the standard support window, so if you run Open Source 2.4.6 or older the clock has already run out.
The choice is the same either way: upgrade to 2.4.7 or later, or replatform. I've done both.
On 2.4.6 or older? Let's work out whether an upgrade or a move to Shopify is the better spend.
Adobe Commerce 2.4.x support windows
Show the dates as a table
| Version | Standard support ends | Extended support ends | Security-only fixes until |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2.4.4 | Apr 12, 2025 | Apr 14, 2026 | May 31, 2027 |
| 2.4.5 | Aug 12, 2025 | Aug 11, 2026 | May 31, 2027 |
| 2.4.6 | Aug 11, 2026 | Aug 31, 2027 | May 31, 2028 |
| 2.4.7 | May 31, 2027 | May 31, 2028 | – |
| 2.4.8 | May 31, 2028 | – | – |
| 2.4.9 (released May 12, 2026) | May 31, 2029 | – | – |
Source: Adobe Commerce lifecycle policy · Last checked 25 Sep 2026
04Process
How a project runs
- 01
Audit
Read the codebase, the extensions, the data and the integrations. Find out what the store really does, not what the documentation says.
- 02
Plan
Map the data model, the URLs and every integration to the target. Agree scope, order of work and what done means.
- 03
Build
Modules, themes, integrations and data migration, built and tested against real data, not samples.
- 04
Launch
A rehearsed cutover: freeze, final data sync, redirects live, DNS switch, checks.
- 05
Hypercare
Stay on after launch to watch orders, integrations and search traffic, and fix what shows up.
05The AI edge
The AI edge: Atlas
I built Atlas, a platform that runs Claude Code and Codex behind a tailored AI workspace for each client, with strict sandboxing, so non-technical owners can safely make changes to their own sites. It runs in production today: a coaching business edits its own site through its admin AI panel, fully isolated from every other project on the server.
For a hiring team that means a lead developer who uses AI tools daily and knows how to fence them in: what they may touch, what they may not, and how every change stays reviewable.
06Experience
Experience
AI Systems & Automation Engineer, Independent / Consulting
eCommerce and other sites, largely AI-accelerated; Magento → Shopify migrations; AI adoption for businesses; built Atlas.
Senior Lead Magento 2 Developer, Event Network, San Diego
18 Magento 2 storefronts for museums, zoos and cultural attractions; ERP/POS integrations; marketing and advertising for the portfolio; led the Magento 2 → Shopify migration.
Co-Founder & Full-Stack Engineer, CourseDuck.com
Co-founded and solely built it end to end: PHP, custom CMS, automated Python data pipelines, ML content ranking. Owned architecture, SEO and growth.
Magento Consultant & Agency Owner, Mage Muse and independent engagements
Ran Mage Muse, a Magento agency (2016–18); enterprise Magento work for clients with $10M+ annual revenue (2017–19); 5/5 rating across thousands of billable hours as a Magento freelancer (2012–16).
07FAQ
Questions
Are you available, and for what kind of role?
Yes, now. I'm open to full-time senior or lead Magento / Adobe Commerce roles and to contract work. I'm based in Pacific Beach, San Diego, and work remotely or hybrid/on-site in San Diego.
Can you work as a contractor inside our agency?
Yes. I ran a Magento agency myself (Mage Muse), so I know how agency delivery works: your process, your client, your standards. I can lead a Magento or Adobe Commerce build, take a migration workstream, or handle an audit.
Adobe Commerce or Magento Open Source?
Both. I've worked on Magento 1 and 2, Magento Open Source and Adobe Commerce, including Magento Cloud and headless builds with PWA Studio and GraphQL.
Is Magento 2.4.6 still supported?
On Adobe Commerce, yes, in extended support (at no additional cost) until August 31, 2027, then security-only fixes until May 31, 2028. Standard support ended August 11, 2026. Magento Open Source follows the standard window. Either way it is time to plan an upgrade to 2.4.7 or later, or a replatform.
Do you only do Magento?
Magento and Adobe Commerce are my core. I also work in Shopify: I led Event Network's migration from Magento 2 to Shopify and have moved other merchants from Magento to Shopify before and since.
How do you use AI in client work?
As an accelerator, never unsupervised. I use Claude Code and multi-model APIs to move faster, and I stay accountable for every change that reaches your codebase. Atlas, the platform I built, exists because I take the sandboxing side of this seriously.
08Contact
Let's talk
Hiring for a senior Magento or Adobe Commerce role, looking for a contractor for a migration or audit, or facing the 2.4.6 deadline? Email or call me directly.
- mkuhlman12@gmail.com
- Phone
- 707-540-1336
- Location
- Pacific Beach, San Diego, CA