WordPress Developer

Planeteria; Northern (KY); Hybrid; USD 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Generous PTO

Continuing education support

Fully remote work

Job summary

Planeteria Media is hiring a WordPress Developer to build and maintain custom block themes and plugins. Translate designs into accessible front-ends, implement content models, and ship secure, maintainable code.

You will use AI tools, applying strong engineering judgment to verify and harden production code. You will collaborate with PM, design, and content, ensure WCAG-minded implementations, and focus on performance through efficient asset loading and prudent caching.

Qualifications

• 3+ years of professional WordPress development experience.
• Strong knowledge of WordPress core APIs, hooks, custom post types and taxonomies.
• Custom block development: create blocks with block.json and editor UX; familiarity with the Interactivity API.
• Block theme fluency: theme.json, templates, and patterns; building editor-friendly, native Gutenberg themes.
• Working knowledge of accessibility best practices and performance fundamentals.
• Experience with Git-based workflows and shipping production code safely.
• Familiarity with OWASP-minded security practices including nonces, capabilities, sanitization, and escaping.
• Demonstrated ability to use AI coding tools responsibly by verifying output, debugging issues, and improving generated code.

Responsibilities

• Develop custom WordPress block themes using templates, patterns, theme.json, and block supports.
• Build and maintain custom plugins including integrations, admin UX, and editorial workflows.
• Translate designs into accessible, responsive front-ends with WCAG-minded implementations.
• Implement secure WordPress patterns including capability checks, nonce verification, sanitization and escaping.
• Improve performance through smart asset loading and Core Web Vitals-minded front-end work.
• Collaborate with PM, design, and content to clarify requirements, estimate work, and communicate tradeoffs.
• Debug production issues thoroughly and improve the codebase.
• Produce clear handoff documentation and participate in client training and support.

Skills

WordPress development

WP core APIs

Block development

Block themes

Accessibility (WCAG)

Performance optimization

Git workflows

Security practices (OWASP)

AI coding tools usage

React/Next.js (bonus)

Tools

Git

Pantheon

ACF

WooCommerce

SCSS

Interactivity API

Job description

Planeteria Media builds websites for the organizations that keep communities running—cities, transit agencies, water districts, and other public institutions. We’re a small, remote team that values craft, accessibility, and long-term maintainability. Our work has real-world impact, and we support what we ship.

About the Role

We’re hiring a WordPress Developer to build and maintain custom block themes and plugins. You’ll translate designs into accessible, responsive front-ends, implement content models and editing experiences that feel native to WordPress, and ship secure, performant code that’s maintainable for the long haul. You’ll also use AI tools as part of your workflow, while applying strong engineering judgment to verify, refine, and harden everything that goes into production.

Responsibilities

• Develop custom WordPress block themes using templates, patterns, theme.json, and block supports
• Build and maintain custom plugins including integrations, admin UX, and editorial workflows
• Translate Figma designs into responsive, WCAG-minded implementations with strong attention to detail
• Implement secure WordPress patterns including capability checks, nonce verification, sanitization and escaping, and safe data access
• Improve performance through smart asset loading, Core Web Vitals-minded front-end work, and pragmatic caching when appropriate
• Collaborate with PM, design, and content to clarify requirements, estimate work, and communicate tradeoffs
• Debug production issues thoroughly and leave the codebase better than you found it
• Produce clear handoff documentation and participate in client training and support as needed

Who You Are

• You communicate clearly in writing and async updates, and you ask the right questions early
• You keep up with WordPress’s evolving features, standards, and best practices, and you proactively apply what changes in real projects
• You’re naturally curious and a practical problem solver—you enjoy debugging, learning, and figuring out the root cause
• You’re analytical and look for ways to optimize workflows, improve maintainability, and reduce repeat work without sacrificing quality
• You have strong product judgment and prioritize usability, accessibility, and maintainability over cleverness
• You’re dependable with timelines and proactive about surfacing risk, ambiguity, or scope creep
• You can work autonomously without going dark, and you collaborate well when unblocked by others
• You welcome feedback, can give it respectfully, and you don’t take code review personally
• You’re comfortable in client conversations—calm, clear, and solutions-oriented
• You care about quality: you test your work, verify edge cases, and treat security as baseline

What We’re Looking For

• 3+ years of professional WordPress development experience
• Strong knowledge of WordPress core APIs, hooks, custom post types and taxonomies, and templating
• Custom block development: create blocks with block.json and strong editor UX; familiarity with the Interactivity API for interactive blocks
• Block theme fluency: theme.json, templates, and patterns; building editor-friendly, native Gutenberg themes
• Working knowledge of accessibility best practices and performance fundamentals
• Experience with Git-based workflows and shipping production code safely
• Familiarity with OWASP-minded security practices including nonces, capabilities, sanitization, and escaping
• Demonstrated ability to use AI coding tools responsibly by verifying output, debugging issues, and improving generated code

Bonus Points

• ACF, WooCommerce, complex integrations, or public-sector web experience
• Pantheon experience and comfort with multi-environment workflows
• Strong SCSS skills beyond basic CSS
• Comfort improving build tooling and front-end architecture when needed
• Experience in React or Next.js

What Success Looks Like

• First 30 days: Ship small fixes and improvements, learn our theme and plugin patterns, and contribute confidently via pull requests
• By 90 days: Own a feature from requirements through build, QA, and launch; handle a client-facing implementation discussion with support from the team
• Fully remote
• Generous PTO policy
• Continuing education support
• Sustainable work pace and real work-life balance