Director of Development

Role Overview

• Lead, coach, and develop an internal team of developers.
• Manage overseas development resources with clear accountability and quality expectations.
• Set expectations around code quality, deadlines, and developer role responsibilities.
• Conduct performance reviews, mentorship, and professional development planning.
• Identify skill gaps and participate in hiring, onboarding, and team scaling.
• Forecast capacity needs and plan hiring proactively based on growth.
• Partner cross-functionally with Design, UX, SEO, Project Managers, Accounts and Project stakeholders to create and execute project plans within scope and timeline.
• Make effective decisions balancing quality, speed, client needs, and profitability.
• Contribute directly to advanced builds, complex implementations, and high-risk debugging.
• Ensure consistent execution of custom and responsive WordPress development across desktop, mobile, and tablet.
• Drive strong front-end execution using HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and modern responsive standards.
• Lead advanced front-end work including animation and complex interactions where appropriate.
• Debug and resolve code, performance, and cross-browser issues quickly and thoroughly.
• Own and evolve development workflows, branching strategies, and code review standards.
• Define and improve staging-to-production deployment workflows.
• Improve documentation standards for scalability and knowledge transfer.
• Strengthen automation across QA, deployments, and repetitive processes.
• Continuously refine internal SOPs to reduce technical debt and increase velocity.
• Monitor and oversee the execution of development-related tickets.
• Improve 'definition of done' clarity to reduce bug recycling and rework.
• Own and improve WordPress development standards and best practices.
• Maintain and advance company theme/plugin assets to support scalable delivery.
• Improve modular, reusable component and Gutenberg block systems.
• Be an expert in site speed and performance optimization, ongoing site maintenance, updates, and iterative site edits.
• Own launch readiness including forms, scripts, plugins, redirects, SEO requirements, performance checks, and post-launch support.
• Own and standardize website migration and launch frameworks to preserve SEO equity, lead flow, and technical integrity.
• Oversee redirect mapping, crawl comparisons, indexation validation, and analytics continuity.
• Establish structured DNS transition protocols and post-launch performance monitoring.
• Partner with SEO and project teams to proactively identify and mitigate traffic volatility risks during structural or domain changes.
• Define internal performance benchmarks (Core Web Vitals targets).
• Monitor performance trends across builds.
• Establish load testing standards where appropriate.
• Reduce technical debt across legacy projects.
• Improve performance consistency across all builds.
• Own WordPress security best practices (hardening, permissions, 2FA, etc.).
• Establish plugin vetting standards.
• Oversee patch management and vulnerability monitoring.
• Ensure reliable backup and disaster recovery protocols.
• Improve intake form security and data protection standards.
• Build risk mitigation practices into QA workflows.
• Serve as internal expert on ADA compliance and WCAG 2.1/2.2 standards.
• Build repeatable accessibility auditing and remediation systems.
• Integrate accessibility into component libraries and QA processes.
• Move beyond reactive compliance toward proactive accessibility standards.
• Ensure development decisions support technical SEO best practices.
• Maintain clean architecture, schema implementation standards, indexation hygiene, and performance alignment.
• Partner closely with SEO teams to ensure seamless implementation of technical requirements.
• Own strong working knowledge of hosting environments and troubleshooting.
• Improve hosting and maintenance operational standards.
• Help define scalable and profitable hosting/maintenance offerings.
• Improve operational clarity around what is included vs. billable.
• Own overall site quality and conduct structured reviews at key phases.
• Continuously improve QA processes and bug triage systems.
• Own BugHerd workflow, expectations, and accountability.
• Reduce post-launch bug volume through stronger internal standards.
• Improve development cycle time without sacrificing quality.
• Improve build efficiency and margin through smarter systems and templating.
• Evaluate build timelines and reduce unnecessary friction.
• Participate in pricing strategy for custom builds and retainers.
• Identify opportunities for productization and repeatable systems.
• Align development output with company profitability goals.
• Evaluate AI-assisted development and QA tools where appropriate.
• Strengthen automation across repetitive tasks.
• Improve component-based systems to reduce one-off builds.
• Continuously evaluate tools and technologies that increase scalability and quality.

Requirements

• 8–12+ years development experience.
• 3–5+ years leadership experience managing developers.
• Expert-level WordPress development experience (custom builds, complex sites).
• Expert-level front-end development (HTML, CSS, JavaScript).
• Strong version control experience.
• Deep understanding of performance optimization and Core Web Vitals.
• Strong technical SEO implementation knowledge.
• Strong ADA/WCAG compliance implementation experience.
• Experience with website launches at scale.
• Experience improving QA systems and development workflows.
• Experience in agency or multi-client environments preferred.
• Strong communication and decision-making skills under deadline pressure.

Tech Stack

• DNS
• JavaScript
• WordPress

Benefits

• Starting Salary of $120k
• Work remotely from home
• Unlimited PTO
• $100 Wellness Reimbursement Program
• 401(k) with 3% Employer match (Safe Harbor)
• 100% Health Insurance (including fully employer-funded coverage)
• Quarterly training stipend for Professional Development