Lead Email Systems Developer – Marketing Technology & Localization | Part-Time

Lead Email Systems Developer – Marketing Technology & Localization

Russell Tobin is partnering with a leading technology company to hire a Lead Email Systems Developer for a high-visibility marketing technology initiative supporting global communications.

This is not a traditional email production role. We're looking for a senior, hands-on developer who can take ownership of an existing AI-enabled email development platform, improve its architecture, and build the systems needed to scale email production from hundreds to potentially millions of sends.

The ideal candidate combines deep HTML/CSS and MJML expertise with experience building reusable email systems, working within Iterable and/or Hub Spot, and supporting internationalized email programs. Experience developing for Chinese, Japanese, or Korean (CJK) localization is particularly important.

Own & Scale the Email Development Platform

• Take technical ownership of an existing AI-enabled email development tool and help define its roadmap and architecture.
• Improve the platform's scalability, production quality, and overall email development workflow.
• Build systems and tooling rather than solely responding to day-to-day email production requests.
• Balance immediate stakeholder needs with longer-term platform and infrastructure improvements.
• Identify opportunities to improve efficiency, standardization, and automation across the email development lifecycle.

Build Modular Email Architecture

• Partner with Marketing Technology, Design, and Engineering to build a production-ready system capable of translating Figma designs into email-ready HTML.
• Architect and maintain a modular email component library, including headers, footers, CTA blocks, image modules, and reusable content components.
• Develop primarily in MJML and HTML/CSS.
• Support multiple marketing automation platforms and templating frameworks, including:
• Iterable / Handlebars
• Hub Spot / HubL and fields.json
• Establish scalable standards for email component usage and development.

Email Rendering, QA & Accessibility

• Ensure reliable rendering across major email clients, including:
• Gmail
• Apple Mail
• Outlook 2016–2021+
• iOS Mail
• Samsung Mail
• Build with Outlook-specific rendering limitations in mind.
• Implement and test dark mode experiences.
• Establish email QA workflows and rendering validation processes.
• Develop emails aligned with WCAG 2.1 AA accessibility standards, including semantic HTML, appropriate role attributes, and accessible design implementation.

Internationalization & Localization

• Build email systems that can scale across international markets.
• Support localized email experiences, particularly for Chinese, Japanese, and/or Korean markets.
• Account for CJK-specific font stacks, typography, line heights, character handling, and layout requirements.
• Build components that can accommodate translated copy, text expansion, dynamic content, images, and market-specific variations.
• Help establish localization QA and market-specific rendering workflows.

Documentation & Collaboration

• Create developer documentation and component usage guidelines.
• Work closely with Email Design, Production Design, Marketing Technology, and Engineering partners.
• Communicate technical decisions clearly in a highly asynchronous environment.
• Lead a team training session on the email development system and component library.
• Operate independently while managing competing priorities and stakeholders.

Must-Haves

• 6–8+ years of professional email development experience.
• Advanced HTML and CSS expertise specifically within email development.
• Deep experience with MJML.
• Production experience with Iterable and/or Hub Spot.
• Demonstrated experience building and maintaining email component libraries, design systems, or reusable email frameworks.
• Strong knowledge of rendering behavior across major email clients, particularly Microsoft Outlook.
• Hands-on experience implementing and troubleshooting dark mode email experiences.
• Experience supporting localized or international email programs, with meaningful exposure to Chinese, Japanese, and/or Korean (CJK) localization.
• Experience supporting high-volume email programs, ideally with work scaling…