Principal Web Developer

About Us
Hiver gives teams the simplest way to deliver outstanding and personalized customer service. As a customer service solution built on Gmail, Hiver is intuitive, super easy to learn, and delightful to use. Hiver is used by thousands of teams at some of the best-known companies in the world to provide attentive, empathetic, and human service to their customers at scale. We're a top-rated product on G2 and rank very highly on customer satisfaction.

At Hiver, we obsess about being world-class at everything we do. Our product is loved by our customers, our content engages a very wide audience, our customer service is one of the highest rated in the industry, and our sales team is as driven about doing right by our customers as they are by hitting their numbers. We're profitably run and are backed by notable investors. K1 Capital led our most recent round of $27 million. Before that, we raised from Kalaari Capital, Kae Capital, and Citrix Startup Accelerator.

What you'll be working on?
Technical Leadership

• Set the technical vision and best practices for all WordPress web development
• Mentor and guide a team of experienced developers
• Oversee migration of legacy content and systems to WordPress with minimal downtime and maximum efficiency

Architecture & Development

• Architect scalable, maintainable, and secure WordPress solutions, including custom themes, plugins, and integrations
• Design and implement advanced templating systems and reusable components
• Ensure robust access control, approval workflows, and content governance processes
• Oversee and optimise multisite or multi-environment setups as needed

Performance Optimisation

• Lead comprehensive site optimisation to meet and exceed Core Web Vitals and performance benchmarks
• Implement advanced caching strategies, CDN integration, and database optimisation
• Diagnose and resolve complex speed, scalability, and reliability issues

Process & Workflow Automation

• Set up and document efficient page creation, update, and approval processes
• Integrate CI/CD pipelines and version control best practices
• Streamline collaboration between developers, designers, and content teams

Security & Compliance

• Ensure best-in-class WordPress security, including hardening, monitoring, and regular audits
• Maintain compliance with accessibility (WCAG), privacy, and data protection standards

SEO & Analytics

• Architect and oversee implementation of advanced technical SEO, schema, and analytics integrations
• Collaborate with marketing and content teams to ensure SEO and analytics goals are met

Stakeholder Management

• Act as the primary technical point of contact for web-related initiatives
• Communicate technical concepts clearly to non-technical stakeholders

What are we looking for?
Experience

• Minimum 10 years of professional WordPress development, including leadership of large-scale projects and teams
• Demonstrable experience with complex migrations, performance optimisation, and workflow/process automation
• Proven track record of architecting high-traffic, high-performance WordPress sites on managed hosting platforms (e.g., Pressable, WP Engine, Kinsta)

Technical Skills

• Expert-level proficiency in PHP (OOP), MySQL, JavaScript (ES6+), HTML5, CSS3/Sass
• Deep understanding of WordPress core, hooks, APIs, custom post types, and plugin architecture
• Advanced experience with server configuration (NGINX, Apache, .htaccess), WP-CLI, and Git
• Strong knowledge of caching, CDN, and database optimisation for WordPress
• Familiarity with modern front-end frameworks (React, Vue) is a plus
• Experience with CI/CD tools and workflow automation

SEO & Analytics

• Advanced implementation of technical SEO, schema markup, redirects, and sitemaps
• Hands-on experience with SEO tools (Yoast, Rank Math) and analytics platforms (Google Analytics, Tag Manager)
• Security & Compliance
• Expert in WordPress security best practices, hardening, and monitoring
• Knowledge of web accessibility standards (WCAG) and privacy regulations

Soft Skills

• Strong leadership, mentoring, and stakeholder management abilities
• Excellent communication and documentation skills
• Analytical, detail-oriented, and proactive problem solver

Preferred Certifications (Not Mandatory)

• WordPress-specific certifications (WP Engine, Yoast SEO, etc.)
• PHP, JavaScript, or cloud architecture certifications
• Google Analytics or similar