WordPress Engineer - Palo Alto, CA

Join Robert Half's prestigious client in Palo Alto, California, as a talented WordPress Engineer on an exciting contract opportunity. This role offers the chance to craft a visually breathtaking website that showcases design excellence and attracts top talent in the competitive Silicon Valley market. With a focus on animations, interactivity, and seamless content management, you'll create a digital masterpiece that supports evergreen content and a thriving blog. If you're passionate about pixel-perfect implementations and innovative web experiences, this position is your opportunity to shine.

About the Role

As a WordPress Engineer, you'll play a pivotal role in transforming Figma designs into a fully functional, high-performance WordPress website. Located in the heart of Palo Alto, CA, this contract position offers $50 per hour and the chance to work closely with a world-class design team. The project emphasizes creating an engaging user experience through advanced animations, parallax scrolling, and interactive elements while ensuring the site remains maintainable for non-technical users. You'll integrate the new WordPress site seamlessly with existing systems, optimize for speed and mobile responsiveness, and provide strategic recommendations for long-term success. This is more than coding—it's about building a digital showcase that elevates the brand and drives talent acquisition.

Key Responsibilities

Technical Development & Implementation

Your core duties include collaborating intimately with designers to translate high-fidelity Figma files into a live WordPress environment. Implement sophisticated animations, parallax effects, and hover states that deliver immersive user interactions. Develop custom themes and plugins enabling the design team to independently manage content uploads, blog posts, and updates using native WordPress tools like Gutenberg or ACF. Ensure pixel-perfect execution matching every design specification, while integrating the site flawlessly with legacy systems and APIs.

Optimization & Quality Assurance

Conduct comprehensive testing for cross-browser compatibility, mobile responsiveness, and lightning-fast performance. Optimize images, scripts, and database queries to achieve Core Web Vitals excellence. Provide expert recommendations on architecture, caching strategies (like WP Rocket or Redis), and scalability to support growing blog content. Throughout the project, maintain autonomous workflow while attending regular meetings during standard business hours (9 AM - 5 PM PST).

Collaboration & Communication

Work shoulder-to-shoulder with stakeholders via Slack, Zoom, and project management tools like Jira or Asana. Deliver progress updates, gather feedback, and iterate rapidly to ensure alignment with brand standards. Your ability to communicate technical concepts clearly will be key to project success.

Required Qualifications

Technical Expertise

We're seeking engineers with 3+ years of hands-on WordPress development, including custom theme/plugin creation using PHP, JavaScript (ES6+), HTML5, and Sass/SCSS. Mastery of advanced CSS animations, GSAP, Three.js, or ScrollMagic for parallax and interactions is essential. Proven track record implementing Figma/Adobe XD designs with 100% fidelity. Experience with WordPress REST API, headless CMS, and integrations like Zapier or custom endpoints required.

Soft Skills & Experience

Strong portfolio demonstrating visually stunning, interactive websites—bonus for design agency or talent-focused projects. Ability to work independently in a fast-paced environment while thriving in collaborative settings. Familiarity with SEO best practices, accessibility (WCAG), and performance tools (Lighthouse, GTmetrix). U.S. work authorization and availability for Palo Alto timezone essential.

Why Join Us

Partner with Robert Half, the global leader in specialized talent solutions, to access this high-profile contract in Palo Alto's innovation hub. Earn a competitive $50/hour while building a standout portfolio piece that highlights your animation and WordPress prowess. Gain exposure to cutting-edge design processes, network with Silicon Valley elites, and contribute to a site that powers talent attraction for an elite design team. Enjoy flexible contract terms, professional growth, and the satisfaction of creating digital experiences that captivate and convert. Apply now through Robert Half and elevate your career in web engineering!

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