[8NW] Content Platform Developer (PHP + Javascripti)

Company Description

NerdWallet develops a financial platform to help people find the right credit cards and mortgage rates. We are now @NerdWallet! We’re excited to join forces with NerdWallet, pairing our data and tech solutions with their trusted brand and knowledgeable financial guidance to help more consumers and SMBs match with better financial products and make smarter money moves. 

Job Description

Software Mind is seeking qualified candidates to fill the role of Content Platform Developer (PHP, JavaScript, and WordPress) located in Latam. 
In addition to a competitive salary rate and a positive work environment committed to delivering high-quality technology solutions, we also offer: 

• Flexible schedules and authentic work-life balance 
• Opportunities for continuing education 
• Social activities per country sponsored by the company 
• Birthday celebration 
• Payment in US Dollars 

 
About the role 

Our client develops a financial platform to help people find the right credit cards, mortgage rates, and various other financial service products and information to enable them to make the best financial decisions for their unique needs.

The Content Platform team is responsible for developing and maintaining the high-traffic, headless WordPress site that powers much of our consumer-facing content. We need an engineer who will help evolve the CMS that supports this critical part of our platform. To thrive on the Content Platform team, you’ll need strong programming skills in PHP and JavaScript along with expertise in WordPress.

Main Responsibilities 

• Design, develop, and maintain our WordPress CMS, including adding new features and configuring updates 
• Work closely with cross-functional teams to support their CMS integrations and ensure smooth implementation 
• Conduct proactive maintenance to optimize the CMS for security, performance, and long-term scalability 
• Own and drive projects from start to finish, balancing stakeholder feedback with the ability to work independently and deliver results 
• Create and maintain unit, integration, and acceptance tests for both existing code and new features. Collaborate with stakeholders to understand current architecture and design equivalent solutions in AWS 

 
Job Skills/Requirements 
- +90% English written and oral (at least B2 level) with excellent communication skills 
- Experience working in a collaborative team environment, with a strong comfort level in pair programming and participating in code reviews 

- Proficiency in PHP and JavaScript with advanced programming skills 

- Solid understanding of MySQL and familiarity with the WordPress database schema 

- Demonstrated expertise in deploying, maintaining, and optimizing high-performance, large-scale WordPress sites 

- Experience with Gutenberg and React, particularly in building custom Gutenberg blocks 

- Familiarity with WP-CLI, including running core commands and creating custom commands 

- Strong knowledge of testing best practices, including unit, integration, and continuous integration (CI) testing 

- Excellent organizational and communication skills 

- Proactive, self-motivated with a strong sense of ownership and accountability 

- Experience working with headless WordPress or headless CMS architectures 

- Able to see the big picture of how systems interact with one another 

Nice to have: 

- Familiarity with Elasticsearch 

- Familiarity with SlimPHP framework 

- Familiarity with modern PHP 8.2+ features 

- Familiarity with GraphQL / Apollo 

- Familiarity with SEO concepts and techniques 

#LI-DNI

Qualifications

- Experience working in a collaborative team environment, with a strong comfort level in pair programming and participating in code reviews.
- Proficiency in PHP and JavaScript with advanced programming skills.
- Solid understanding of MySQL and familiarity with the WordPress database schema.
- Demonstrated expertise in deploying, maintaining, and optimizing high-performance, large-scale WordPress sites.
- Experience with Gutenberg and React, particularly in building custom Gutenberg blocks.
- Familiarity with WP-CLI, including running core commands and creating custom commands.
- Strong knowledge of testing best practices, including unit, integration, and continuous integration (CI) testing.
- Excellent organizational and communication skills.
- Proactive, self-motivated with a strong sense of ownership and accountability.
- Experience working with headless WordPress or headless CMS architectures.
Desired Skills (Not Required):
- Familiarity with Elasticsearch 
- Familiarity with SlimPHP framework 
- Familiarity with modern PHP 8.2+ features 
- Familiarity with GraphQL / Apollo 
- Familiarity with SEO concepts and techniques 

Critical Technology Proficiency

PHP, Vanilla JavaScript, WordPress

Additional Information

Additional Info about the Role / Process: 
• The SEO organization that is responsible for the client’s content management platform needs a nearshore consultant that is highly skilled in PHP and Vanilla JavaScript with experience working with WordPress.
• The Content Platform Team within the SEO organization maintains a platform that is all built on top of WordPress. 
• There is a lot of Tech Debt from the original WordPress site. 
• They have recently moved onto a 3rd Party hosting provider (Altis) that has specific/modern tools they are using. 
• Gutenberg is the WordPress editing experience they are using and it is React based, so they want someone that has specifically worked with Gutenberg already, which is pretty common for modern WordPress development.
• Database /MySQL: knowledge of WordPress DB schema is needed, but most database interaction is through the application layer, and they do not need someone to write complex SQL queries/reports.
• React requirements: exposure to React and some experience is needed, but deep React programming skills are not required. If their only React skills are with Gutenberg, that is fine.
• Tech Skills in order of priority: 
o Priority 1: PHP
o Priority 2: Vanilla JavaScript 
o Priority 3: WordPress 
• This role needs / is more focused on raw programing skills in PHP and JavaScript more than WordPress knowledge. Solid PHP/JavaScript + WordPress is the focus with a bias toward solid PHP/JavaScript 
• Someone that has only worked on or touched WordPress within the context of a digital agency and not at an enterprise level might not be well suited for this role if they don’t have the strong PHP/JS programing experience
• They have headless set up, and the majority of the work is API and backend rather than just frontend WordPress. Headless experience is not required, but it is a real plus
What's Exciting About the Role:
• Their WordPress site is the pinnacle of CMS Development from the standpoint of scale, size, and challenging technical problems
• They are working on lots of cutting edge projects
• Someone w/ interest in WordPress & CMS who likes getting to work on tough challenges will like this role.
• The team is Top-Notch and there is a lot of collaboration and domain knowledge that they will share
• Current Team: 3 FTE Engineers, Product Manager, Engineering Manager