WordPress Developer

Job Position: WordPress Developer
Location: Remote

About Make Waves Design

Make Waves Design is a boutique web design and digital marketing agency that helps businesses build a stronger online presence through exceptional websites and digital marketing solutions. We pride ourselves on delivering personalized service, building long-term client relationships, and creating websites that are both beautiful and results-driven.

We're looking for an experienced WordPress Developer to join our small, collaborative team. This is an excellent opportunity for someone who enjoys solving complex technical challenges, takes ownership of projects, and works efficiently, but produces quality work.

Position Overview

As our WordPress Developer, you will work on new custom WordPress websites while supporting and enhancing existing client websites. You'll work closely with our design and project management team to architect scalable solutions, build custom functionality, maintain client websites, and ensure every project meets our high standards for performance, security, and usability.

This position is ideal for someone who is self-motivated, communicates well, enjoys working in a fast-paced agency environment, and takes pride in creating maintainable, long-term solutions.

Key Responsibilities

• Participate in project planning, technical research, and solution development.
• Develop and maintain custom WordPress websites, themes, and plugins.
• Build and support both front-end and back-end CMS functionality.
• Develop new features and functionality for existing client websites and web applications.
• Perform monthly maintenance including WordPress core updates, PHP upgrades, theme updates, plugin updates, security patches, and routine maintenance.
• Troubleshoot website issues and resolve bugs quickly and efficiently.
• Architect scalable WordPress solutions based on client requirements.
• Integrate third-party APIs and external systems when needed.
• Identify technical risks early and recommend alternative approaches.
• Optimize website performance, security, accessibility, and SEO best practices.
• Collaborate closely with designers and project managers throughout each project.
• Manage multiple projects while meeting deadlines and maintaining exceptional quality.

Required Technical Skills

• 8+ years of WordPress development experience
• Strong expertise in WordPress architecture and development best practices
• Extensive experience developing and customizing WordPress plugins
• Advanced PHP development experience
• Strong knowledge of HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript
• MySQL database experience
• Experience integrating third-party APIs and external services
• Linux command-line and scripting experience
• Experience with Git or other version control systems
• Understanding of website performance optimization and security best practices
• Familiarity with AI-assisted development workflows and modern development tools

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience working in a digital marketing agency or consulting environment
• Ability to manage multiple client projects simultaneously
• Strong problem-solving and analytical skills
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Ability to translate ambiguous client requests into practical technical solutions
• Self-motivated with strong organizational skills and attention to detail
• Passion for building clean, maintainable, scalable code

What You'll Do & Deliver

As a member of our development team, you'll:

• Lead the architecture and backend development of custom WordPress websites.
• Build scalable custom solutions, plugins, and integrations.
• Own technical decisions on new website builds and ongoing client projects.
• Develop solutions that are maintainable, secure, and built for long-term success.
• Collaborate with our design team to turn creative concepts into high-performing websites.
• Recommend better approaches when challenges arise and proactively identify potential issues before they become problems.
• Help continuously improve our development processes and technical standards.

What We're Looking For

We're looking for someone who:

• Loves WordPress and enjoys solving technical challenges.
• Writes clean, organized, maintainable code.
• Takes ownership of projects from concept through launch.
• Is dependable, proactive, and enjoys working independently.
• Thrives in a collaborative, small-team environment.
• Is committed to delivering exceptional work for every client.

Why Join Our Team?

• Work with a small, supportive, and collaborative team.
• Diverse and interesting client projects.
• Opportunity to make a significant impact on every project.
• Flexible remote work environment.
• Long-term opportunity with a growing agency.
• Work where quality, creativity, and client relationships matter.

Application Instructions

Important: This position requires extensive experience with WordPress backend development.

In your cover letter, please include:

• Your experience developing custom WordPress themes and plugins.
• Your experience with WordPress architecture, APIs, integrations, and content management workflows.
• A project you're especially proud of, including:
  • Your role on the project
  • The technical challenges you solved
  • The approach you took
  • The outcome and results
• Links to your portfolio, GitHub, or examples of your work (if available).

We look forward to meeting developers who are passionate about building exceptional WordPress experiences and are excited to grow with us.

Pay: $22.00 - $28.00 per hour

Benefits: Flexible schedule

Experience: WordPress: 8 years (Required)

Work Location: Remote