Web Developer

<Job Overview>

We're looking for a hands-on web developer to own the day-to-day development, maintenance, and reliability of businessden.com and its supporting systems. This is not a design role and it is not a management role — it is a builder role. You will be the person who maintains the site, fixes what breaks, builds what’s needed, and ensures that the technology supporting our newsroom and our subscription business is running smoothly and staying current.

The ideal candidate is someone who is deeply comfortable in WordPress, can write custom PHP without hesitation, understands how subscription billing and payment systems work, and takes pride in keeping a production site stable, fast, and secure. You will work closely with the publisher and editorial team but will operate with significant autonomy.

<Duties>

Website maintenance and reliability

• Own the uptime and performance of businessden.com, including server monitoring, error resolution, and incident response
• Maintain and improve the site’s security posture, including hardening WordPress against common attack vectors, managing SSL certificates, and reviewing access controls
• Manage backups and disaster recovery procedures; ensure the ability to restore the site to a known good state within hours if needed
• Conduct regular reliability testing across all content delivery channels (web, REST API, RSS feed) to verify that the paywall is functioning correctly and subscriber content is protected

Subscription and billing system

• Maintain and troubleshoot the MemberPress subscription platform and its integration with Stripe for payment processing
• Monitor subscriber billing events: failed payments, card expirations, subscription upgrades/downgrades, and cancellations
• Work with Stripe’s dashboard and API to troubleshoot payment issues and support subscriber account resolution
• Maintain the private authenticated RSS feed endpoint for content licensing partners and Apple News Publisher integration

Feature development

• Build and ship new features and enhancements to the website based on business needs — new page templates, content types, subscriber tools, editorial workflow improvements, and integrations with third-party services
• Develop and maintain internal tools that support the newsroom and business operations (data trackers, dashboards, automation scripts)
• Implement structured data (JSON-LD), SEO optimizations, and Google News compliance updates as requirements evolve
• Configure and maintain Google Ad Manager integration, including ad unit setup, tag management, and troubleshooting delivery issues
• Support newsletter and email system integration (currently HubSpot), including signup forms, subscriber list sync, and segmentation

<Experience>

Must have

• WordPress development: Deep expertise in custom theme development, plugin customization, and WordPress architecture. Ability to write custom PHP hooks, filters, and shortcodes. Experience with the WordPress REST API and WP-CLI.
• PHP: Strong working knowledge of PHP 8.x. Ability to read, write, and debug custom PHP code for WordPress plugins, webhooks, and server-side logic.
• Front-end: Proficiency in HTML5, CSS3 (including responsive design and mobile-first development), and JavaScript. Experience with modern CSS frameworks (Bootstrap or Tailwind).
• Payment systems: Experience with Stripe’s API, webhooks, and dashboard. Understanding of subscription billing concepts: recurring charges, proration, dunning, and payment retries.
• Hosting and DevOps: Comfortable managing WordPress hosting environments (Hostinger, WP Engine, or similar). Experience with DNS management, SSL configuration, CDN setup, and deployment workflows.
• Version control: Git proficiency for code management and deployment.
• Database: Working knowledge of MySQL / MariaDB for WordPress database queries, optimization, and troubleshooting.

Nice to have

• Experience working at or with a news publication or media company
• Familiarity with email marketing platforms (HubSpot, Mailchimp, or similar)
• Familiarity with API integrations: Google Places, CourtListener, Stripe, Socrata, or similar data APIs

In your application, include links to sites you’ve built or maintained, and describe a technical problem you solved that you’re proud of. We’re more interested in what you’ve actually built than your credentials.

Pay: $65,000.00 - $85,000.00 per year

Benefits:

• Dental insurance
• Health insurance
• Life insurance
• Vision insurance

Work Location: In person