Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for AEM Developer

🎯 Role Definition

As an AEM Developer, you will be responsible for designing, building, deploying and maintaining digital experiences on the Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) platform. You will collaborate with product owners, UX designers, back‑end engineers and content teams to deliver scalable, high‑performance websites, portals and web applications. You will lead the development of AEM components, templates and workflows, integrate AEM with external systems, ensure best practices in caching, security and performance, and contribute to the content‑authoring and publishing strategy that enables business growth and digital transformation.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

Web Developer or Java Developer familiar with CMS solutions
Front‑end Developer with AEM or other CMS experience
Full‑stack Developer with experience in web content management

Advancement To:

Senior AEM Developer or Lead AEM Engineer
AEM Architect / Digital Experience Architect
Director of Web Platforms / Head of CMS & Digital Experience

Lateral Moves:

Digital Experience Developer specialising in AEM + other Adobe Marketing Cloud tools
Integration Developer focusing on CMS, DAM and analytics systems
UX/Front‑end Developer transitioning into CMS/Experience Platform engineering

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

Collaborate with business stakeholders and product owners to gather requirements for AEM implementations and transform them into technical design specifications for components, templates, workflows and user‑authoring experiences.
Design, develop and deploy AEM components, templates, dialogs, client libraries and editable templates using AEM architecture (Sling, JCR/Oak, OSGi, CRX) and HTL/Sightly or JSP.
Implement page templates, multi‑site management (MSM), translation frameworks, content fragments, experience fragments and digital asset management (DAM) integration to support global digital experiences.
Integrate AEM with external systems and services (REST/GraphQL APIs, CRM, analytics, Adobe Marketing Cloud, Tag Manager) to deliver a unified digital experience and seamless data flow.
Develop server‑side logic, Sling models, servlets, filters, schedulers, OSGi services and Java code to support AEM functionality and ensure scalable architecture.
Work with UX/UI designers and front‑end developers to translate visual designs into responsive HTML5, CSS3/SASS, JavaScript and client libraries within the AEM ecosystem.
Optimize AEM site performance: manage dispatcher caching, replication agents, content delivery networks (CDNs), load‑balancing, indexing (Oak, Lucene/Solr) and reduce page‑load times across devices.
Ensure AEM solutions adhere to security best practices: authentication/authorization (SAML, OAuth2), jailbreak/hack mitigation, secure code review, content sanitisation and compliance with organisational standards.
Lead build, packaging and deployment processes for AEM projects using Maven, CI/CD pipelines (Jenkins, GitHub Actions), version control (Git/SVN) and Adobe Cloud Manager (for AEMaaCS).
Maintain comprehensive documentation of architecture, configuration, component libraries, authoring guides, run‑books and operational manuals to ensure knowledge transfer and maintainability.
Provide authoring support: configure templates, workflows, permissions and guide content teams in using AEM authoring consoles and DAM, ensuring smooth content operations.
Troubleshoot production issues, monitor logs and metrics, perform root‑cause analysis of AEM deployments and coordinate with infrastructure/operations teams for resolution.
Participate in agile development processes: estimate tasks, break down user stories, engage in sprint planning, stand‑ups and retrospectives to deliver AEM features on time.
Mentor and peer‑review code among AEM developers and front‑end teams, enforce development standards and promote reusable component patterns.
Drive continuous improvement: evaluate emerging AEM versions, headless/spa implementations, front‑end frameworks and propose enhancements to architecture or tools.
Work with analytics and marketing teams to enable A/B testing, personalization (Target/Analytics integration), tracking, and deliver measurable ROI via AEM implementations.
Manage lifecycle of content and assets: design metadata models, configure DAM workflows, support ingestion, tagging, search indexing and consumption in AEM.
Engage in front‑end optimization: manage client libraries, ensure compatibility across browsers/devices, adopt responsive design principles, and test in real‑world user environments.
Provide pre‑sales, scoping or estimation input when required: estimate effort, identify risks and contribute to proposals for AEM digital‑experience initiatives.
Ensure upgrade readiness and maintain AEM infrastructure: plan migrations, evaluate cloud vs on‑prem platforms, apply hot‑fixes/patches and manage ongoing support of digital experience platform.

Secondary Functions

Support ad‑hoc data and content requests, prototype new AEM features and conduct exploratory analysis or proof‑of‑concepts to support business experiments.
Contribute to the organisation’s digital‑experience platform strategy and roadmap: help define AEM architecture, CMS standards, component library governance, and technology stack.
Collaborate with business units (marketing, content operations, UX, IT) to translate digital content and experience requirements into engineering tasks and prioritise accordingly.
Participate actively in sprint planning, backlog reviews and agile ceremonies within the digital‑experience engineering team.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

Hands‑on proficiency with Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) development (Sites, Assets, Forms) including multi‑site management (MSM), translation frameworks, templates and workflows.
Strong Java/J2EE development skills and experience in AEM‑relevant frameworks such as Apache Sling, Jackrabbit/Oak, OSGi, JCR/CRX.
Front‑end development competence: HTML5, CSS3/SASS, JavaScript/TypeScript, client libraries in AEM, responsive UI and SPA integration (React/Angular/Vue).
Solid understanding of build/deploy tools and DevOps practices: Maven, Jenkins/Cloud Manager, Git/SVN, CI/CD pipelines tailored to AEM.
Database/search knowledge: experience with Oak/Jackrabbit indexing, Lucene/Solr, query optimisation and repository design within AEM.
Experience integrating AEM with external systems: REST/GraphQL APIs, DAM/CRM/Marketing platforms, third‑party services and authentication protocols (SAML, OAuth2).
Performance‑tuning and caching expertise: dispatcher configuration, CDN integration, content replication, multi‑site performance optimisation.
Content‑management and digital‑asset‑management (DAM) experience: metadata modelling, asset workflows, ingestion and authoring experience in AEM.
Testing and quality practices: unit/integration testing of AEM components, use of automation tools, peer‑review and code‑quality governance.
Strong documentation and architecture skills: define component libraries, authoring guides, run‑books and technical specification documents.

Soft Skills

Excellent communication and collaboration: engage with designers, marketers, content teams, architects and stakeholders to deliver cohesive digital experiences.
Analytical and problem‑solving mindset: diagnose content‑management platform issues, identify bottlenecks, recommend improvements and execute solutions.
Ownership and accountability: take responsibility for delivery of AEM solutions, quality, performance and maintainability from inception to production.
Adaptability and continuous learning: stay current with AEM versions, cloud CMS trends, headless architectures and evolving front‑end technologies.
Time‑management and prioritisation: balance multiple projects, deadlines, enhancements and maintenance tasks in an agile environment.
Mentoring and leadership: guide junior developers, conduct code reviews, promote best practices in AEM engineering and front‑end integration.
User‑focus and content‑authoring empathy: understand the needs of content authors, marketers and end‑users and craft CMS solutions that empower them.
Strategic thinking: align AEM development roadmap with business objectives, digital experience goals, platform strategy and component reuse.
Attention to detail: ensure component architecture, code quality, accessibility, performance and cross‑browser compatibility meet high standards.
Creative mindset: bring innovative solutions to CMS challenges, optimise authoring experience, content workflows and deliver engaging digital experiences.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:
Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Technology or a related discipline (or equivalent professional experience).
Preferred Education:
Master’s degree in Digital Media, Information Systems, Software Engineering or a related field is a plus.
Relevant Fields of Study:

Computer Science
Software Engineering
Digital Media / Interactive Systems
Information Technology / Content Management

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:
3 – 6 years of practical experience in AEM development, including component/template development, CMS integrations and authoring workflows.
Preferred:
5+ years of experience implementing enterprise‑scale AEM solutions (Sites, Assets, Forms), working with multi‑site deployments, global content operations and mentoring others.

Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for AEM Developer