Lead WordPress VIP Engineer

The Opportunity:

CNET Group

is looking for an accomplished Lead Word Press VIP Engineer with hands‑on experience developing, deploying, and maintaining high‑traffic, enterprise‑level websites on the Word Press VIP platform. Proven expertise in high‑performance optimization, strict security compliance, scalable infrastructure management, and complex third‑party system integrations. You’re motivated by curiosity, driven to grow your skills, and eager to contribute to high‑impact websites used by millions.

As a Lead Software Engineer, you will help evolve and maintain the platforms that power CNET and its network of high‑traffic, content‑rich sites. Your work will span modern JavaScript frameworks and enterprise Word Press, building performant and SEO friendly experiences for millions of readers each month.

You’ll develop new features through custom Gutenberg blocks, enhance existing Vue/Nuxt codebases, and collaborate across teams to improve platform performance, stability, and maintainability. This role suits an engineer who’s as comfortable diving into legacy systems as they are experimenting with modern tooling.

• Design and implement a decoupled architecture for front‑end presentation layers using React and the Word Press REST API to achieve superior scalability and faster iteration cycles.
• Participate in and contribute to code reviews, offering constructive feedback and identifying potential code inconsistencies.
• Develop robust, secure, and scalable integrations with critical third‑party services, including e‑commerce platforms and subscription management systems.
• Design and architect complex, custom Word Press themes and plugins for deployment on the Word Press VIP platform, prioritizing performance, maintainability, and security.

• 6+ years of professional experience in full‑stack web development, with a significant focus on the Word Press ecosystem.
• Demonstrated ability to lead technical projects from conception through deployment.
• Deep experience with modern Word Press development, including:
• Demonstrable expertise with the Word Press VIP platform (or similar enterprise Word Press hosting/standards).

• Expert‑level proficiency in PHP (modern object‑oriented) and MySQL.
• Strong experience developing with the Word Press REST API and/or Graph
  
  QL for decoupled/headless architectures (e.g., using React or Vue.js).
• Deep understanding of caching layers (object caching, full page caching, CDNs) and tools like New Relic, Prometheus, or Grafana for performance monitoring.
• Using Timber/Twig for templating and Advanced Custom Fields (ACF) for theme development.
• Experience with Word Press Multisite environments at scale.
• Experience with Gutenberg block development (both static and dynamic).
• Strong problem‑solving and debugging skills in complex, distributed systems.
• Collaborate closely with Product Managers and UX/UI Designers to translate business requirements and designs into technical specifications and scalable implementations.
• Contribute to technical documentation and architecture diagrams for developed solutions
• Proficiency with Git and experience defining or managing CI/CD pipelines.
• Troubleshoot and resolve complex infrastructure, application, and database issues in high‑pressure, production environments.
• Proven experience writing and maintaining automated test suites using frameworks such as PHPUnit (for PHP/Word Press backend logic).
• Familiarity with Agile development practices and the ability to break down work into deliverable units
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, emphasizing effective cross‑team collaboration.

CNET Group, a division of Ziff Davis, is the world’s leading technology and consumer electronics media brand, with a mission to empower people with the knowledge they need to make smart buying decisions. It is a trusted global marketplace that connects technology buyers and sellers with the most actionable and precise intent data. We are uniquely positioned to offer tech brands unmatched visibility into accounts and buyers that are truly in‑market, by leveraging our scale, quality and diversity of data.

With unparalleled access to the…