Quick Summary
WordPress Developer (Volunteer) - Custom Theme & Gutenberg
The Sentinel, powered by Yuvoice, is dedicated to empowering diverse voices and amplifying impact through meaningful conversations and innovative storytelling via our podcast platform. We seek a passionate WordPress Developer to join our collaborative team and help build a high-quality, bespoke website.
Development Team & Technology Stack
You will collaborate with a senior developer leading the custom theme and architecture effort. This is an opportunity to contribute meaningful code and shape the future of our platform.
The project utilizes a solid, modern WordPress foundation:
- Base Theme: Custom theme built on the Underscores (_s) starter framework.
- Build Tools: Webpack for asset compilation and bundling.
- Styling: SCSS with a modular architecture (layouts, modules, sass directories).
- JavaScript: ES6+ compiled via Webpack.
- PHP: WordPress Coding Standards enforced via Composer/PHPCS.
- Version Control: Git with a clean branching workflow.
- Custom Post Types: Extensive use of ACF (Advanced Custom Fields) for content modeling.
Role Overview
We are seeking a talented WordPress Developer to build and maintain a high-quality, bespoke website focused entirely on WordPress, ensuring a great user experience. The ideal candidate possesses a deep understanding of WordPress development, theme customization, and performance optimization necessary to create a scalable, responsive, and content-rich website.
This role involves building custom Gutenberg blocks, developing bespoke plugins, and creating innovative features that push the boundaries of WordPress capabilities. The core architecture and build pipeline are established; the focus is now on developing user-facing features.
Core Responsibilities:
- Develop and maintain a custom WordPress-based website prioritizing performance and responsiveness.
- Develop and customize WordPress themes and plugins to meet bespoke design and functionality requirements.
- Optimize website speed, SEO, and overall performance for high-traffic environments.
- Implement dynamic content features, custom post types, and interactive elements tailored for a media-rich experience.
- Ensure cross-browser compatibility and mobile responsiveness.
- Integrate third-party APIs and other custom features as needed.
- Work with editors, designers, and content teams to ensure a seamless content management experience.
- Maintain security best practices to protect the website from vulnerabilities and threats.
- Troubleshoot and debug issues related to themes, plugins, and server environments.
Key Skills and Qualifications:
- Proven experience developing custom WordPress themes and plugins.
- Strong proficiency in PHP, HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript, and jQuery.
- Experience with WordPress page builders (Gutenberg).
- Deep understanding of WordPress architecture, database management, and REST API.
- Strong knowledge of performance optimization techniques (caching, image optimization, lazy loading).
- Experience with responsive and mobile-first design.
- Familiarity with SEO best practices for WordPress.
Commitment Details
Job Type: Part-time, Volunteer (Unpaid)
Expected hours: 10 – 15 per week
Work Location: Remote
Application Requirements:
- Do you understand this is an UNPAID, VOLUNTEER role?
- Are you committed to actively promoting equality, equity, and inclusion for people of all backgrounds and identities, including minorities, LGBTQ+ folks, folks with disabilities, and more?
- Are you able to commit to 10-15 hours per week for at least 13 weeks and provide two weeks' notice before leaving?