Senior Wordpress Backend Developer

We’re an Australia based company looking for an expert level WordPress and PHP/Javascript backend developer. This is a remote working role as part of our distributed team. This role is not for “developers” who can build websites, it is for “coders” that understand the WordPress Codex, can build custom plug-in and have extensive experience with custom APIs (not just using APIs with plug-ins).

Our focus is on building and maintaining WordPress and web apps offering an exceptional user experience. These are predominantly based on WordPress and AppPresser for apps.

You’ll be working with various frameworks and API’s to create extendible and customizable solutions. A complex API integration involving 10’s of thousands of lines of code should excite you and note scare you. You should be able to easily identify the data structure of third-party plug-ins and be able to ensure all relevant entries and metadata is applied where applicable.

Customisations need to be done correctly using actions, hooks, filters and any code you create needs to be developed within a custom plug-in based on the BolerPlate Template). Updating WordPress, WooCommerce, the theme or any other plug-in should not break any of your work. You will be a master of OOP and all the associating coding principles.

You must utilise features of existing third-party themes and plug-ins where possible and work with the existing functionality, extending it rather than recreating it using custom code. You will take the time to understand the inherent features of existing functionality before attempting to create new functionality.

Your English will be exceptional, and you will be expected to be available for daily video calls for project stand-ups. You will be able to understand a project at a high level and think about how the user will need to work with the system. We do not provide detailed requirement specifications in most cases, so it is essential you can think about how the user will interact with the system or functionality you are working on and make sensible decisions about how features need to work based on this understanding.


As a skilled WordPress developer, you’ll have lots of experience building websites and integrations with third-party systems. You’ll have a good eye for design elements and consider the user experience in everything you do. You will have a flair for the structure and maintainability of custom code.

We have several ongoing clients and projects. You will sometimes be required to work with legacy code that has been created by others. This is an opportunity for you to stretch yourself and grow your skills with work on hybrid websites and apps.

You’ll work from wherever you want and you’re free to set your daily schedule, but we do need at least 4 hours per day to be in our core hours of 10am until 4pm (AWST) to assist with communicating and working with team members in other countries. You will be available at least 8 hours per weekday in total. This is a full-time role and it is expected that you will not be working for anyone else while engaged by us.

The right candidate will be an expert WordPress/PHP developer with the following required attributes:

- Experience in WordPress development
- Experience creating custom themes
- Experience modifying 3rd party themes
- Experience creating custom plug-ins
- Experience of PHP back-end development
- Experience working with 3rd party APIs (JSON, XML, REST, RESTFUL, etc)
- Experience in creating code that can be easily understood and modified, including comprehensive commenting of each step and process you create.
- Solid testing of code, including testing integrations with other systems and plug-ins. This will include unit testing and regression testing to ensure your changes do not impact other site functionality.
- Be able to work from high-level functional requirements, understand how the user will interact with the system and develop a solution that achieves the desired behaviours from the user’s perspective.
-Strong focus in OOP techniques extensive experience working with OOP frameworks
-Extensive knowledge of the WordPress Codex and data structures of third-party plug-ins and Themes in addition to extensive experience working with tags, hooks, filters and Upgrade to see actual infosirable

In addition to your primary role, experience in the following would be highly regarded however is not essential to be successful in your application:

- Experience with WHMCS
- Experience with Appresser
- Experience using the Boilerplate WP Plug-in template

About you:
– You need to be committed to working to deadlines
– You take pride in delivering above expectations
– You must have a good eye for detail
– You are self-motivated and can manage your time well
– You have exceptional communication skills in written and spoken English (Australian)
– Ability to adapt to dynamic requirements
- You have a webcam and reliable internet connection and you’re happy to have a video interview and daily video stand-up calls.

What’s in it for you:
– An opportunity to work on a wide range of projects for clients based in Australia
– Work with modern technologies with the ability to innovate to meet clients’ needs
– Remote work – work from home – no more commuting
– We have a very casual workplace, allowing you to work hours that suit your life
– You will have regular technical challenges which will provide a high level of reward and satisfaction in completing assigned tasks

We’re not accepting applications from recruiters, agencies or teams.

Anyone contacting us directly by LinkedIn, Skype etc. will be immediately ignored, blocked and not considered for this job. Likewise for any generic replies. Please consider your reply carefully.

As part of your application please provide a detailed response to the following questions. For the last question (Detailed response required), please include the steps you would take, how long will each step require and any clarifications that you would need. Applications without these questions answered will be rejected.

1) Why do you think you are a good fit for this particular project?

2) Why did you apply to this particular job?

3) What is your preferred method of communication?

4) Please briefly explain your understanding of and experience with: -Theme customisations -Creation of CPTs -Integrations with various plug-ins and external systems -Creation of child themes -Detailed permission configuration

5) What do you think is your greatest strength?

6) What do you think is your greatest weakness?

7) What are some of the issues that can be encountered if editing a third-party plug-in

8) Explain where you would find taxonomies for a third-party plug-in?

9) Detailed Response Required:

The client needs to have a membership site built from scratch. As part of this they need data to be linked to and from “Alf and Georges data service” system.

• The product and member data from this needs to be updated every night.
• The membership site will allow the user to buy some products and to have some discounts applied.
• All transactions made on the website need to be sent to the data service to do some validations and credit checks, the result of this should be displayed to the users and recorded against their record in the website.
• The data system includes over 10,000 products and approximately 500 members
• Inventory for products needs to be maintained between the two systems as frequently as possible to ensure that both the website and the data system have an accurate record of available products at any point in time.
• The membership system will be tiered such that different members receive access to different products and have different discounts.