Lead WordPress Engineer

ADLIB; West of England, Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 65,000 - 75,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

25 days holiday

Private medical insurance

Life insurance

Pension

Training budget

Personal development plan

Employee assistance programme

Team socials

Job summary

ADLIB is seeking a Lead WordPress Engineer to own a large WordPress estate, combining hands-on development with team and client leadership. You’ll guide a major platform build, set standards for security and performance, and mentor engineers while working remotely with two office days per month in London or Bristol.

The role demands deep WordPress, PHP, MySQL, AWS, and Kubernetes experience, plus strong JS (React) and plugin/theme development capabilities.

Qualifications

• At least five years' professional WordPress development, with deep PHP and WordPress core knowledge.
• Experience leading engineers and serving as a technical point of contact for clients.
• Proven architecture and management of large WordPress Multisite networks or production website estates.
• Strong custom theme, Gutenberg block and plugin development, including ownership of a plugin suite.
• Hands-on WP-CLI, Composer and Git-based deployment pipeline experience.
• Confident use of AI-assisted development tools, with the ability to critically review generated code.
• MySQL performance, caching and CDN knowledge, plus production AWS experience and working knowledge of Kubernetes and Docker.
• Good JavaScript, including React, and a strong approach to WordPress security.
• Managed WordPress hosting, headless WordPress, Terraform or e-commerce experience would be advantageous.

Responsibilities

• As Lead WordPress Engineer, you'll lead the WordPress team and own its codebase, delivery and technical decisions.
• You'll define the roadmap and scope for a next-generation platform with product and project managers, then guide its build and delivery with a major global music client.
• You'll act as the technical point of contact, leading requirements and estimation sessions, explaining trade-offs and challenging requests when needed.
• You'll also oversee the plugin suite, themes and block library; work with DevOps on AWS and Kubernetes hosting; and partner with Service Delivery to plan safe changes across the estate.
• You'll set quality, security and performance standards, use AI-assisted development tools with sound judgement and mentor engineers as the team develops.

Skills

WordPress development

PHP

MySQL

AWS

Kubernetes

Docker

React

Gutenberg blocks

WP-CLI

Composer

Git

Security

Terraform

Tools

WP-CLI

Composer

Git

AWS

Kubernetes

Docker

Terraform

Job description

• Lead a dedicated engineering team and shape the technical direction of a large, complex WordPress estate.
• Own a major platform build from roadmap through delivery, working closely with product, project and client teams.
• 2 days per month in either Bristol or London, generous benefits, ambitious, supportive environment.

A growing technology business is looking for a Lead WordPress Engineer to take ownership of its WordPress platforms, which support a large international portfolio of websites. You'll combine hands-on development with team and client leadership, setting standards for a substantial, live multi-site estate. You'll also guide a major platform build, helping artist teams create and publish websites more independently.

What experience you'll need to apply

• At least five years' professional WordPress development, with deep PHP and WordPress core knowledge.
• Experience leading engineers and serving as a technical point of contact for clients.
• Proven architecture and management of large WordPress Multisite networks or production website estates.
• Strong custom theme, Gutenberg block and plugin development, including ownership of a plugin suite.
• Hands-on WP-CLI, Composer and Git-based deployment pipeline experience.
• Confident use of AI-assisted development tools, with the ability to critically review generated code.
• MySQL performance, caching and CDN knowledge, plus production AWS experience and working knowledge of Kubernetes and Docker.
• Good JavaScript, including React, and a strong approach to WordPress security.
• Managed WordPress hosting, headless WordPress, Terraform or e-commerce experience would be advantageous.

What you'll be doing

As Lead WordPress Engineer, you'll lead the WordPress team and own its codebase, delivery and technical decisions. You'll define the roadmap and scope for a next-generation platform with product and project managers, then guide its build and delivery with a major global music client. You'll act as the technical point of contact, leading requirements and estimation sessions, explaining trade-offs and challenging requests when needed. You'll also oversee the plugin suite, themes and block library; work with DevOps on AWS and Kubernetes hosting; and partner with Service Delivery to plan safe changes across the estate. You'll set quality, security and performance standards, use AI-assisted development tools with sound judgement and mentor engineers as the team develops.

What you'll get in return for your experience

The salary is £65,000-£75,000, with remote-first working and two office days a month in London or Bristol. Benefits include 25 days' holiday, private medical and life insurance, an employee assistance programme, pension, a training budget and a personal development plan. You can also work abroad for four weeks a year and take part in regular team socials. Occasional out-of-hours support may be required.