GAIN - Experience - WordPress Developer

Job Specification

Full Stack WordPress Developer

Updated: October 2025

About the Role

Our full-stack specialist developers are able to demonstrate a strong and developing skill set of

both front-end and backend technologies, and their associated best practices, combining their

skillset across the following areas:

Front End

• Ability to write clean native ES6+ JavaScript code, with understanding of when to use 3rd

party libraries and their benefits and drawbacks.

• Strong skills in CSS and Sass, with a solid understanding of BEM, responsive layout,

grid/flexbox, and cross-browser compatibility.

• Identify and address issues that affect Core Web Vitals, ensuring new code is built with

performance in mind

• Experience building React components using hooks and state management

• 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

• Knowledge of creating performant, cross browser animations would be advantageous

Back End

• Understanding of WordPress CMS data structure, including Custom Post Types,

Taxonomies, Plugin ecosystem and how these can be managed.

• 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

• Strong understanding of MySQL and WordPress database queries, with awareness of

performance considerations

• Familiarity with common code quality tools such as PHP CodeSniffer

Tech Stack

Server-side

• PHP 7.4+ (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)

Front End

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

• Webpack v5 for handling asset compilation, including theme images, JavaScript (and

React), CSS files pre-processed via SCSS, supporting lazy loading/dynamic includes

• Yarn for npm package management dependencies and build scripts

• ViteJS as the build tool (standalone development)

Hosting & Infrastructure

• 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)

Code management

• Bitbucket and GitHub for our code repositories

• Bitbucket and GitHub pipelines for our automated deployment process for WordPress

development

Skills and Attributes

• 3+ years working as a WordPress developer in an agency environment

• Strong communication and interpersonal skills.

• Excellent time-management and organisational skills with the ability to work to tight

deadlines.

• Flexible approach with the ability to remain calm and perform well under pressure.

• Personable, and able to work effectively with a variety of different people at all levels.

• The ability to coordinate and balance multiple projects with strong attention to detail.

• A proactive and enthusiastic approach to work.

• Able to solve problems and make effective and timely decisions based on the

knowledge available.