WordPress Developer

We’re an evidence-driven creative company.

We’re steered by hard evidence and driven by a love of creative work.

We help brands big and small, make confident creative choices that get results. Evidence gives our clients confidence. So we keep our ear to the ground, our eye on the future as well as diving head-first into the data where all the untapped and hidden insights are.

We are seeking a dynamic and results-oriented WordPress Developer to join our Digital Team and play a pivotal role in steering our development output. As a WordPress Developer, you will be responsible for pushing technical boundaries, creating amazing digital experiences and ultimately delivering exceptional work for our clients.

Knowledge & skills

• Be able to identify key issues impacting Core Web Vitals performance, with an awareness of suitable solution and how to implement, ensuring new code takes into consideration Core Web Vitals proactively.

• Demonstrate understanding of the benefits and usage of various linting tools on projects, such as prettier.

• Ability to write clean native ES6+ javascript code, with understanding of when to use 3rd party libraries and their benefits and drawbacks.

• Understanding of React applications and how to create and modify components using hooks and state driven logic. Beneficial: knowledge of server-side frameworks such as NextJS and how server based components work.

• Demonstrate ability to create performant animations with suitable native and library/framework tools/packages with considerations given across multiple browsers and devices.

• Understand build tool configuration/setup i.e. Webpack, ViteJS and why and when to use and deploy them in projects.

• Understand and able to integrate frontend applications using modern request methods and libraries such as Fetch & Axios to perform browser based data requests and the displaying of associated data.

• Design and build extensible APIs/integrations in OO-PHP, either as standalone composer based packages, or WordPress plugins where code can be made reusable.

• Demonstrate understanding of PHP PSR coding standards (ideally PSR 12), ensuring that PHP code makes use of DocBlocks whilst producing well written code that follows best practises in regards to naming conventions and overall structure

• Create and maintain supporting documentation as and when requested, ensuring that any 3rd party dependencies are also referenced as to their purpose and usage

• Demonstrate a working knowledge of both MySQL and the core WordPress WP_Query syntax with awareness of performance-led query optimisations and caching mechanisms and their implementation.

• Demonstrate understanding of the benefits and usage of various code standards and optimisation tools on projects, such as PHP CodeSniffer and PSR standard integrations.

• Understanding of WordPress CMS data structure, including Custom Post Types, Taxonomies, Plugin ecosystem and how these can be managed.

Our technology stack

Candidates should be able to demonstrate experience working across the majority of our tech stack.

Server-side:

• PHP 8.0+ (OO-PHP)

• Composer for PHP package management

• Laravel Valet for local WordPress development environment setup and management

• Bespoke PHP framework based on Timber and twig view templates

• Node JS (v16+ for standalone React projects)

• Managing large data sets (CSV, JSON, XML) and importing/exporting from websites

Front-end:

• JavaScript, HTML5, SASS knowledge

• React for more complex UI-led experiences (standalone development)

• Webpack v5 for handling asset compilation, including theme images, JavaScript (and React), CSS files preprocessed via SCSS, supporting lazy loading/dynamic includes

• Yarn for npm package management dependencies and build scripts

• ViteJS as the build tool (standalone development)

• Twig (and/or other template engines)

Hosting & Infrastructure:

• AWS EC2 web servers for dedicated larger WordPress development projects running a linux based Ubuntu OS on AWS EC2 web instances, running PHP-fpm & Nginx, with a separate database powered by AWS RDS Aurora MySQL

• Dedicated WP Engine shared instances for smaller WordPress development projects

• Netlify for hosting standalone React/HTML development projects

• Additional AWS services also used based on requirements include: AWS ElastiCache (Redis), AWS Opensearch, AWS S3, AWS Cloudfront (CDN)

• Cloudflare for WAF security services and additional edge based caching (if required)

• BunnyCDN for global asset caching at larger scale (outside of AWS)

• Apache server configurations (NGINX also desirable)

Code management:

• Bitbucket for our code repositories

• Bitbucket pipelines for our automated deployment process for WordPress development

• Version control (e.g. Git)

Embodying our values

• Stronger together. You look out for your colleagues, offer support when it’s needed. While there may be disagreements, you handle these openly and respectfully.

• Own it. You take responsibility. You demonstrate determination and taking the initiative. You find solutions.

• Act boldly. You push yourself to go to new places knowing that you have the support of your team. You think big, speak up and are decisive.

• Trust more than our gut. You take pride in being an expert and learning from other experts. You are curious and experimental. You’re passionate about continually improving.