Roles we recruit
Seven practices, 27 functions. Start at the practice when you cannot yet name the title; go straight to the function when you can.
Browse all 229 roles Brief us on a seatFlat 15% of first-year base · shortlist in 10 working days
A WordPress developer owns your marketing site end to end: theme, page builder, custom blocks, plugins, forms, speed and security. Plenty of people can install plugins, so we screen for code they wrote, sites they kept fast and secure after launch, and how they work with marketers who need pages yesterday.
The first quarter decides whether the site becomes a platform marketing can rely on or a backlog that keeps growing. Each stage below has a signal that predicts it, and we test for that signal first.
The ramp, and the test behind each milestone
Weeks 1 and 2
Access, hosting, staging, backups and the plugin list. Maps the theme and page builder, finds what is broken or out of date, and ships the small fixes marketing has been waiting on.
On track looks like a written audit of the site, a staging environment that works, and the first fixes live.
How we test for it before you meet them
A code review exercise in our screen: a short theme or plugin snippet with real problems in it. We score what they find and how they would fix it.
Weeks 3 to 6
New pages, form changes, tracking requests and content updates move through one person, with a release routine so changes reach the live site without surprises.
On track looks like a predictable turnaround on page and form requests, released through staging.
How we test for it before you meet them
We ask how they released changes at their last job: staging, version control, rollbacks. A former manager or client confirms it.
Weeks 7 to 10
Custom blocks or page builder components for the sections that keep coming back, so marketers build pages themselves without breaking the design or calling the developer.
On track looks like marketers publishing new pages from components without asking for help.
How we test for it before you meet them
We look at a custom block, theme or plugin they wrote, in a repository or a live site, and ask who used it after they left.
Weeks 11 to 13
Core Web Vitals improved on the pages that matter, updates on a schedule, security hardened, and monitoring that flags problems before a visitor does.
On track looks like faster key pages, a patch schedule in place and no unplanned downtime.
How we test for it before you meet them
A reference call about a site they looked after for a year or more: uptime, speed, and what happened when something broke.
After day 90
Strong developers start shaping the site roadmap: a cleaner theme, fewer plugins, better integrations with the CRM and analytics, and a plan for the next redesign.
On track looks like a site roadmap the website manager can take to marketing leadership.
How we test for it before you meet them
We ask what they would remove from the last site they ran, and why. Developers who cut plugins and complexity tend to keep sites healthy.
Five responsibilities. If the seat also owns the testing program and the conversion numbers, it is a CRO role with a developer’s title.
The theme code, the page builder setup and the design system it renders, kept clean as the site grows.
Reusable components and templates so marketers build pages without breaking layout or brand.
Choosing, configuring and pruning plugins, and connecting forms, CRM, analytics and tag management.
Core Web Vitals, caching, image handling, updates, backups and hardening, with monitoring in place.
Staging, version control and a release routine, so changes reach the live site predictably.
Three neighboring seats absorb work people assume belongs here. Drawing the line wrong is how a developer hire ends up doing design or running tests nobody planned.
That seat ownsPage layouts, visual hierarchy and the components the developer builds from.
Hire it instead whenthe site works but looks dated, and nobody owns how new pages should look.
That seat ownsCustom front-end code beyond WordPress: components, frameworks, performance and accessibility.
Hire it instead whenthe site runs on a custom or headless stack rather than a WordPress theme and builder.
That seat ownsThe site as a product: roadmap, request priorities, vendors and the numbers.
Hire it instead whenthe problem is deciding what the site should do next, not building it.
The title stays the same; the stack does not. Pick the one that matches your site.
Runs a site built on Elementor, Divi or a similar builder: templates, global styles and fast page production.
Writes PHP, JavaScript and custom Gutenberg blocks: a lean theme with fewer plugins.
Connects the site to the stack: CRM forms, marketing automation, analytics, gated content and APIs.
The questions we ask in our own screen. Use them in yours; the warning signs are as useful as the answers.
Every candidate we put forward is scored on these five, and the scores travel with the shortlist, gaps included. Four out of five with a named weakness beats a clean sweep you cannot verify.
| What we score | Weak evidence | Strong evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Code they wrote | Only configures themes and plugins built by others. | Custom blocks, themes or plugins they wrote, with code we could read. |
| Releasing safely | Edits the live site directly, with no staging or backups. | Staging, version control and rollbacks used as routine, confirmed by a reference. |
| Speed and security | Cannot say how fast or how secure the last site was. | Names measures they improved and how they kept a site patched and monitored. |
| Working with marketers | Treats page requests as interruptions. | Builds components so marketers publish on their own, and ships requests on agreed dates. |
| Fit with your stack | Experience on a different builder or a custom stack only. | Has run a site like yours: your builder, your integrations, your scale. |
Public US benchmarks, read October 2026. Sources disagree sharply on this seat: Salary.com’s employer-reported band starts above $96,000, while Built In’s self-reported median base is $67,442. Price on scope: a developer who owns the whole site, custom blocks and integrations sits toward the first, one who maintains a theme and its plugins nearer the second.
Each bar runs from the 25th to the 75th percentile, the middle half of reported pay.
Base salaryWages including commission (BLS)Median base salaryAverage total pay, base plus variable
WordPress Developer
Salary.com base benchmark
$96,516 to $113,312 base
WordPress Developer, self-reported
Built In, self-reported
$67,442 median base$74,278 average total
Front-End Developer
Built In, self-reported, neighboring seat
$101,000 median base$121,493 average total
Web developers
BLS, all industries
$64,230 to $126,230
WordPress Developer bar: Salary.com base salary, 25th to 75th percentile, United States, as of October 1, 2026. WordPress Developer and Front-End Developer dots and rings: Built In median base salary and average total compensation (base plus additional cash, self-reported), reviewed October 3 and 6, 2026. Web developers: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, annual wage at the 25th and 75th percentiles (SOC 15-1254), all industries. Public aggregates, not ZaphyrRecruit placement data.
A WordPress developer builds and looks after a WordPress site: the theme, the page builder setup, custom blocks, plugins, forms and integrations with the CRM and analytics. On a marketing site they also own speed, security, updates and releases, and they build the components that let marketers publish pages without a developer. The job is part engineering, part keeping a busy marketing team unblocked.
Salary.com puts a WordPress developer at $96,516 to $113,312 base, with a median of $104,886 (October 2026). Built In’s self-reported figures are much lower: a $67,442 median base and $74,278 average total pay. The BLS band for all web developers runs from $64,230 to $126,230. Scope explains most of the spread, so price the seat on what it owns.
A freelancer or agency suits a one-off build or occasional fixes. An in-house WordPress developer pays off when marketing ships pages every week, the site connects to your CRM and tracking, and downtime costs leads. They learn the site, release safely and turn requests around in days. We recruit the in-house seat, and will say on the first call if an agency fits better.
PHP, JavaScript, HTML and CSS; custom block and theme development; at least one page builder at depth; version control and a staging routine; and practical speed and security work. For a marketing site, add form and CRM integrations, analytics and tag management. Ask to see code they wrote, because configuring plugins and writing maintainable code are different jobs that look the same on a CV.
A web designer decides how pages look and how visitors move through them: layout, hierarchy, components and the design system. A WordPress developer builds that design in the theme and page builder and keeps the site fast, secure and connected. In small teams one person sometimes covers both, but strong designers and strong developers rarely come in one hire.
Give them a short piece of theme or plugin code with real problems in it and ask what they would change, then ask how they would release the fix. It takes less than an hour and shows code judgment, security awareness and release habits. Avoid long unpaid builds: they reward free time rather than skill, and strong developers often decline them.
Ten working days from a signed brief to a shortlist of three to five calibrated developers, each with our code review exercise scored and their own code reviewed. Interview speed decides the rest: experienced developers rarely run one process at a time, so a decision within a week of the first interview keeps them. Most can start two to four weeks after accepting.
Tell us how the site is built, the theme, page builder and integrations, and what marketing needs from it this quarter. We come back within one business day with how we would run the search and what it pays.
We build shortlists from people doing this work now, often before a seat is advertised. Set up a job alert for web roles, or send your CV and a link to code you wrote and we will come to you when a seat opens.
The WordPress developer is one of nine seats in this function. If the gap sits elsewhere, start there.