Director of Development

Job Description

At Rankings.io, we're more than just a digital marketing agency—we're a team of specialists who help personal injury law firms get cases in the most competitive markets in the country. We've built a culture where excellence isn't a grind; it's the entire game. As a fully remote, 175+ person team, we believe in empowering each individual with the autonomy, resources, and support they need to do their best work. We're passionate about outcomes, move fast without sacrificing quality, and celebrate wins along the way. With 100% employer-paid health insurance, unlimited PTO plus monthly wellness days, a 401(k) 3% company match, and a values-driven culture that prioritizes growth and collaboration, we've created a place where high standards meet high fulfillment. If you take pride in being great at what you do and want to work alongside people who are exceptionally good at the things that matter, you'll love it here.

The Director of Development is a hands-on, player-coach leader responsible for delivering high-quality WordPress websites at scale while evolving and strengthening our development systems.

This role owns development execution across projects from build to launch to post-launch support, while elevating quality standards, improving QA systems, strengthening development processes, and scaling the department for continued growth.

This Director level position combines an extensive development background, technical excellence, team leadership, operational ownership, and strategic system-building. You will empower your team, remain flexible and collaborative with clients and designers, and be firm and decisive in protecting development quality, timelines, and standards.

Responsibilities

Leadership + Team Management

• Lead, coach, and develop an internal team of developers.
• Manage overseas development resources with clear accountability and quality expectations.
• Set expectations around code quality, deadlines, and developer role responsibilities.
• Conduct performance reviews, mentorship, and professional development planning.
• Identify skill gaps and participate in hiring, onboarding, and team scaling.
• Forecast capacity needs and plan hiring proactively based on growth.
• Partner cross-functionally with Design, UX, SEO, Project Managers, Accounts and Project stakeholders to create and execute project plans within scope and timeline.
• Make effective decisions balancing quality, speed, client needs, and profitability.

Hands-On Development (Player-Coach)

• Contribute directly to advanced builds, complex implementations, and high-risk debugging.
• Ensure consistent execution of custom and responsive WordPress development across desktop, mobile, and tablet.
• Drive strong front-end execution using HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and modern responsive standards.
• Lead advanced front-end work including animation and complex interactions where appropriate.
• Debug and resolve code, performance, and cross-browser issues quickly and thoroughly.

Engineering Systems + DevOps Ownership

• Own and evolve development workflows, branching strategies, and code review standards.
• Define and improve staging-to-production deployment workflows.
• Improve documentation standards for scalability and knowledge transfer.
• Strengthen automation across QA, deployments, and repetitive processes.
• Continuously refine internal SOPs to reduce technical debt and increase velocity.
• Monitor and oversee the execution of development-related tickets.
• Improve “definition of done” clarity to reduce bug recycling and rework.

Technical Ownership + Platform Standards

• Own and improve WordPress development standards and best practices.
• Maintain and advance company theme/plugin assets to support scalable delivery.
• Improve modular, reusable component and Gutenberg block systems.
• Be an expert in site speed and performance optimization, ongoing site maintenance, updates, and iterative site edits.
• Own launch readiness including forms, scripts, plugins, redirects, SEO requirements, performance checks, and post-launch support.

Site Migrations + Launch Integrity

• Own and standardize website migration and launch frameworks to preserve SEO equity, lead flow, and technical integrity.
• Oversee redirect mapping, crawl comparisons, indexation validation, and analytics continuity.
• Establish structured DNS transition protocols and post-launch performance monitoring.
• Partner with SEO and project teams to proactively identify and mitigate traffic volatility risks during structural or domain changes.

Performance & Core Web Vitals Accountability

• Define internal performance benchmarks (Core Web Vitals targets).
• Monitor performance trends across builds.
• Establish load testing standards where appropriate.
• Reduce technical debt across legacy projects.
• Improve performance consistency across all builds.

Security + Risk Management

• Own WordPress security best practices (hardening, permissions, 2FA, etc.).
• Establish plugin vetting standards.
• Oversee patch management and vulnerability monitoring.
• Ensure reliable backup and disaster recovery protocols.
• Improve intake form security and data protection standards.
• Build risk mitigation practices into QA workflows.

Accessibility + Compliance (Expert)

• Serve as internal expert on ADA compliance and WCAG 2.1/2.2 standards.
• Build repeatable accessibility auditing and remediation systems.
• Integrate accessibility into component libraries and QA processes.
• Move beyond reactive compliance toward proactive accessibility standards.

SEO Best Practices for Development (Expert)

• Ensure development decisions support technical SEO best practices.
• Maintain clean architecture, schema implementation standards, indexation hygiene, and performance alignment.
• Partner closely with SEO teams to ensure seamless implementation of technical requirements.

Hosting + Scalable Offerings

• Own strong working knowledge of hosting environments and troubleshooting.
• Improve hosting and maintenance operational standards.
• Help define scalable and profitable hosting/maintenance offerings.
• Improve operational clarity around what is included vs. billable.

Quality Assurance + Development Throughput

• Own overall site quality and conduct structured reviews at key phases.
• Continuously improve QA processes and bug triage systems.
• Own BugHerd workflow, expectations, and accountability.
• Reduce post-launch bug volume through stronger internal standards.
• Improve development cycle time without sacrificing quality.

Operational & Financial Leadership

• Improve build efficiency and margin through smarter systems and templating.
• Evaluate build timelines and reduce unnecessary friction.
• Participate in pricing strategy for custom builds and retainers.
• Identify opportunities for productization and repeatable systems.
• Align development output with company profitability goals.

Forward-Thinking Innovation

• Evaluate AI-assisted development and QA tools where appropriate.
• Strengthen automation across repetitive tasks.
• Improve component-based systems to reduce one-off builds.
• Continuously evaluate tools and technologies that increase scalability and quality.

Requirements

• 8–12+ years development experience.

• 3–5+ years leadership experience managing developers.
• Expert-level WordPress development experience (custom builds, complex sites).
• Expert-level front-end development (HTML, CSS, JavaScript).
• Strong version control experience.
• Deep understanding of performance optimization and Core Web Vitals.
• Strong technical SEO implementation knowledge.
• Strong ADA/WCAG compliance implementation experience.
• Experience with website launches at scale.
• Experience improving QA systems and development workflows.
• Experience in agency or multi-client environments preferred.
• Strong communication and decision-making skills under deadline pressure.

Leadership Expectations

This role requires a leader who:

• Empowers and mentors developers.
• Collaborates effectively with designers and stakeholders.
• Remains flexible with clients when appropriate.
• Is firm and decisive in upholding and protecting timelines, quality standards, and development integrity.
• Balances hands-on contribution with strategic system-building.
  

Success Metrics (First 12 Months)

• Significant improvement in the quality of our website builds and launches.
• Efficiency in managing developers’ growth, workflow, and web project timelines.
• Increased QA consistency and reduced bug recycling.
• Reduction in post-launch bug volume.
• Improved Core Web Vitals consistency across builds.
• Improved hosting and maintenance margin clarity.
• Stronger documentation and systemization across the department.
• Improved team skill development and best practices.

Benefits

• Starting Salary of $120k
• Work remotely from home
• Unlimited PTO
• $100 Wellness Reimbursement Program
• 401(k) with 3% Employer match (Safe Harbor)
• 100% Health Insurance (including fully employer-funded coverage)
• Quarterly training stipend for Professional Development