WordPress Developer

About Pesty Marketing
Pesty Marketing is a fast-growing U.S.-based digital marketing agency that builds and maintains high-performing websites for small businesses ($1M–$20M revenue). We currently manage 30+ active WordPress websites (and growing), primarily built with Elementor and Advanced Custom Fields (ACF).

As we continue scaling, we need a reliable, technically strong WordPress Developer who can maintain stability, troubleshoot confidently, and improve sites without breaking what’s already working.
This is a long-term, stable, full-time position — not a short-term freelance gig.

Compensation
- $20,000 USD per year
- Paid bi-monthly (1st and 15th)
- Stable, long-term role
- Performance-based increases over time
- Full-time position (not project-based)

Work Schedule
- Full-time (40 hours per week)
- Must be available during U.S. CST business hours
- Async-friendly team, but you must be responsive during working hours
- Clear tickets and priorities — no chaos or guesswork

What You’ll Be Doing
You will be responsible for maintaining and improving existing WordPress sites.
Most sites use:
- Elementor
- Advanced Custom Fields (ACF)
- Custom themes

Your work will include:
- Maintaining and improving WordPress sites
Building and modifying:
- Custom theme functionality
- ACF-powered templates
- Elementor templates with dynamic content
Debugging and resolving:
- Plugin conflicts
- PHP errors
- Layout or rendering issues
- Implementing marketing updates safely without breaking functionality
- Performing WordPress, theme, and plugin updates
- Troubleshooting issues independently before escalating
- Communicating clearly with a marketing-focused team

Required Skills (Non-Negotiable)
You must be confident in:
- WordPress Core
- Actions & filters (hooks)
- Template hierarchy
- Custom post types & taxonomies

PHP
- Writing and modifying theme-level PHP
- Debugging confidently
- Reading and understanding existing code

Elementor
- Theme Builder
- Dynamic content
- Maintaining complex builds (not just basic pages)

Advanced Custom Fields (ACF)
- Repeaters and flexible content
- Rendering ACF data inside templates
- Connecting ACF with custom post types

Front-End Basics
- HTML
- CSS
- Responsive layouts

What We Are NOT Looking For
This role is not focused on:
- WooCommerce customization
- Headless WordPress
- REST API development
- Multisite networks
- Accessibility compliance leadership

If your experience is mainly installing plugins and using page builders without touching PHP — this role is not a fit.

This Role Is a Good Fit If You:
- Have worked on multiple client WordPress websites
- Are comfortable fixing problems in existing codebases
- Prefer long-term stability over freelance project hopping
- Can take a vague request and translate it into a clean technical solution
- Care about reliability and preventing issues before they happen
- Test your work carefully before marking it complete

This Role Is NOT a Good Fit If You:
- Avoid debugging
- Only use WordPress through plugins
- Need step-by-step instructions for everything
- Prefer short-term freelance gigs
- Expect to only build brand-new sites from scratch

Important: How to Apply
To filter serious applicants, please include the following in your application:
- A short Loom video (2–5 minutes) introducing yourself
- 2–3 WordPress Elementor sites you’ve worked on and are most proud of
- A brief explanation of a difficult WordPress bug you fixed and how you diagnosed it
- Your internet speed (upload/download)
- Your available work hours (confirm PST availability)

Applications without these will not be reviewed.

What to Expect After Applying
If your application meets our requirements, we will send you a short technical review task as the next step.
You will receive a WordPress template file with intentional issues. Your job is to:
- Review the file and identify as many problems, risks, and improvements as you can
- Explain what each issue is and why it matters
- Record a Loom video (5–10 minutes) walking through your findings

This is not a trick or a timed coding test. It's designed to show us how you think, how you read existing code, and how clearly you communicate.

Final Note
We are intentionally hiring for reliability, real WordPress skill, and long-term partnership — not the cheapest option.
If you are looking for stability, consistent pay, and the opportunity to take ownership of real production websites, we’d love to hear from you.