Director Development - HubSpot CMS (Development Lead)

SmartBug Media is the most decorated HubSpot agency, specializing in crafting digital solutions that drive sustainable growth across the entire customer lifecycle. We are a fully remote team of over 250 professionals, excelling at creating intelligent web and digital ecosystems, including complex web applications integrated with AI-powered solutions.

The Development Lead is a strategic leadership role responsible for mentoring our developer team and serving as the senior technical liaison for the business. This position requires significant time (estimated 50–70%) dedicated to people leadership, technical scoping, sales collaboration, and resource planning. The remaining time (30–50%) focuses on senior-level development tasks, technical architecture oversight, and hands-on resolution of urgent, complex client issues, primarily within the HubSpot CMS (Content Hub).

Responsibilities

Leadership & People Management

• Lead, manage, and mentor a team of front-end developers, fostering a culture of technical excellence and continuous improvement.
• Conduct performance reviews, manage professional development plans, and support team career growth.
• Serve as the primary people leader, ensuring high morale, motivation, and team effectiveness.
• Create forward-thinking development training plans for future coding languages, themes, or platforms the team intends to support, staying current with HubSpot development market trends.

Scoping & Business Collaboration

• Partner with the Sales team on new business and upsell opportunities, providing expert technical scoping, estimates, and solution design for complex projects.
• Collaborate closely with the Program Management team to manage project resourcing, timelines, and technical debt.
• Translate business requirements and sales proposals into actionable technical plans and resource allocations.

Technical Leadership & Oversight

• Act as the final escalation point for urgent, senior-level client development issues and technical challenges, providing hands-on resolution when necessary.
• Define and enforce best practices, coding standards, and architectural patterns for HubSpot CMS themes, templates, and React-based custom modules.
• Oversee code reviews, ensuring all developed assets are optimized for maximum speed, scalability, cross-browser compatibility, and accessibility.
• Stay current with HubSpot CMS updates and new front-end technologies, making recommendations for adoption.
• Provide infrequent support for urgent (site down or conversion broken) requests during Pacific Time hours if the broader team is unavailable.

Supervisory Responsibilities

This position holds direct supervisory and people leadership responsibilities for the development team, including managing performance, career development, and daily team guidance.

Qualifications

• Proven success in leading, mentoring, and managing a team of developers (People Leadership Skills).
• Ability to clearly communicate technical concepts and implications to the development team, non-technical stakeholders, and the Sales team (Excellent Business Communication).
• Expertise in HubSpot CMS development, including HubSpot Design Manager, dynamic pages, blogs, and landing pages. Membership portal and custom coded workflow experience is a major plus.
• Proficiency in React and modern JavaScript/ES6+.
• Demonstrated ability to manage scoping, accurately estimate effort, and align development resources with project needs.
• Strong organization and time management skills with a high degree of attention to detail.
• Deep understanding of responsive design principles and mobile-first development.

Education & Experience

• Minimum of 7+ years of professional front-end development experience.
• Minimum of 2+ years of formal or informal technical leadership or management experience.
• 3+ years of hands-on experience developing within the HubSpot CMS.
• Proven experience partnering with cross-functional teams (e.g., strategy, creative, sales, program management).
• A Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or relevant equivalent experience is required.

Computer / Software Skills

• Expert-level proficiency in HTML5, CSS3, React, and modern JavaScript/ES6+.
• Deep experience with version control (Git) and command-line tools.
• Experience with build tools (e.g., Webpack, Babel).
• Knowledge of HubSpot APIs and integrations.
• Back-end development experience (e.g., React, HubSpot UI Extensions, Serverless Functions Node.js, Python, PHP) is a significant plus.
• Proficiency in Google Suite is a plus.

Certifications

• HubSpot CMS Developer Certification is required.
• Other relevant front-end development certifications (e.g., React Specialist) are a plus.

Other Qualifications

• Experience with both Agile development (Scrum/Kanban) and Waterfall methodologies.
• Experience with B2B and B2C website marketing and optimization.
• A portfolio of live HubSpot CMS projects is highly desirable.
• Knowledge of quality assurance and cross-browser testing processes.