Core responsibilities

• Build and support WordPress sites.
• Develop custom WordPress themes using Sage 9 templating system. (We use the Sage WordPressframework, which includes Blade, SCSS, JS, Webpack, Composer, npm.)
• Create and maintain documentation for web processes.
• Peer review each other’s work to help find new solutions.
• Proactively recognize and assess needs of our clients and movement partners.
• Collaborate with project managers, information architects, designers and other developers to estimate project scope, determine feasibility of designs, and do quality assurance checks on finished products.
• Answer client questions and train clients on how to use their websites.
• Commit your code using Git.
• Handle hacked sites.
• Participate in collective, department, and committee meetings and take on internal operations work as needed to co-manage our collectively owned business.

Additional responsibilities you may grow into (depending on your experience and skillsets)

• Research and implement new technical solutions to help us improve our workflow (for example, things like WPackagist and Selenium).
• Help us dream up and then implement new ways to optimize our workflow or departmental structure to support more websites, or just make our web team more efficient and sustainable.
• Communicate with clients who submit support requests in a timely manner.
• Coordinate support requests with appropriate team members so that clients know when their updates will be made and Designers/Developers know when they should be working on what.

Technical requirements**

• Experience with translating design mockups into code templates
• Experience with and/or understanding of open-source content management systems (e.g. WordPress, Joomla, Drupal); the majority of our websites are built in WordPress
• Knowledge of PHP, MySQL, Javascript and/or jQuery
• Proficiency in industry standard design software (Adobe CS, Sketch)
• Proficiency in cross-platform and browser-compatible HTML/CSS/SASS
• Knowledge of Sage 9, Advance Custom Fields
• Familiarity with best practices for making websites that are accessible to people who use screen readers and other assistive technology.

Other requirements

• Ability to juggle multiple projects (3-4) while staying on deadline or communicating any obstacles to teammates in a timely manner
• Interest and involvement in progressive social change work and/or worker-owned cooperatives
• Interest and/or experience with business ownership (this position is on a path of collective ownership of our business)
• Agreement with our Points of Unity (http://designaction.org/about/points-of-unity)

Nice-to-haves

• Basic experience with web design and information architecture, or ability to learn some web design or information architecture
• Experience with project management and client communication
• Experience with office or small business management
• Experience with UX design, user testing, and/or quality assurance
• Experience with collective decision-making

As a candidate, you will be eligible for an ownership position after completing a 9-month Collective Track period. A senior member of the shop will serve as your “buddy,” facilitating evaluations, supporting your growth, and orienting you to the flow of the shop. You will be expected to fulfill certain collective duties, including attending a weekly Collective Meeting, as part of your ownership responsibilities.

What does a DAC Web Developer do?

Our web workflow requires a Project Manager, Information Architect, Designer, and Web Developer for each website we build. We work on multiple projects at a time and we sometimes take on more than one role per project, such as Design and Information Architecture, or Development and Project Management—you get the gist. As a Web Developer, your main work will be building and maintaining custom WordPress themes for our clients. (And don’t worry—you won’t be expected to take on any other roles for the first few months you’re here.)

1. First, you’ll look over a new client’s intake form and talk with our Designers to let them know what you think you can build given the budget and time constraints. The Information Architect and Designer will take it from there to come up with dazzling wireframes and designs for the client.
2. Once the client approves the design mockups, you’ll begin to develop a custom theme using PHP Composer to install Roots’ Sage 9 template. You add the custom post types and custom taxonomies using wp-cli, and build any custom Gutenberg blocks using WPDelaney’s sage-acf-wp-blocks with Advance Custom Fields.
3. We extensively extend custom post types and taxonomies by using Advance Custom Fields, adding things like job titles and phone numbers to staff pages, or adding featured images to taxonomy archives.
4. You use Blade templates to create each page template, piggy-backing on WordPress’s page hierarchy. And finally you use SCSS and Bootstrap to apply fonts, colors, margins, grids, and more. We often use Font Awesome to load custom icons.

A week in the life of a DAC Web Developer

We start the typical work week with a collective-wide production meeting, checking on progress in the last week, looking ahead to what jobs are arriving, and shuffling work as needed.

The rest of the week is split amongst client communication, coding, and behind-the-scenes business infrastructure work. Strong client communication skills are a plus and expected to be developed, but are not required from the start.

You will work on both new and legacy websites, making additions to code bases that are five years old in addition to spinning up repositories for new ones. You will become an expert WordPress developer who manages custom post types, taxonomies, hooks, templates, themes and more.

Since we’re a co-op, we also expect all our members to collaboratively run the business. Over time you’ll pick up more collective duties that fit your skills and interests, such as sitting in on monthly committee meetings, making governance decisions in our weekly Collective Meeting, and helping to do the documentation and infrastructure work that keeps our Web Department running. We value collective wisdom and collective decision-making, andencourage members to problem-solve together.

Pay and hours

The position is full time (37.5 hrs/week) at $31/hr* and will begin as a remote position. Bay Area applicants preferred, but we are open to remote workers from other locations.

Benefits

• 10 days of paid wellness/sick time each year
• 10 days of paid vacation time each year, with increase after the first two years
• 10 paid holidays each year
• Full health, dental, and vision insurance
• Flex Spending Accounts (FSA) for medical expenses, dependent care, and transportation
• Access to 401(k) retirement plan after one year of employment
• Possible year-end bonuses depending on annual profits
• Company patronage (profit sharing) for members
• 3-month sabbatical available to long-term members

One of the biggest pluses of being at Design Action is the rare opportunity to be a worker/owner at a design & tech business that is explicitly committed to social justice. Our democratic workplace structure (no bosses!) allows us to put our political values into action. In addition, many of our members are rooted in community activism and organizing on issues such as anti-imperialism, prison abolition, tenant & housing rights, anti-racism, gender equity, and environmental justice. We also hold regular anti-oppression trainings as well as annual staff and department retreats where we can build our camaraderie with one another and strategize on ways to keep our business bold, radical, and thriving.

Design Action is part of several alliances and networks such as Third World Resistance, Grassroots Global Justice, May First Movement Technology, The Radical Connections Network, Network of Bay Area Worker Cooperatives, and the U.S Federation of Worker Cooperatives. Collective members also have the opportunity to attend annual conferences such as the Allied Media Conference, Aspiration Tech, and Netroots, to present and/or participate in workshops as well as staff our informational booths.

To apply, please send your

1. resume,
2. cover letter that mentions how you heard about us, and
3. code samples and project examples with a line or two about your role in each project, to jobs@designaction.org.

Only applications with cover letters and code samples will be reviewed.

BIPOC (BLACK, INDIGENOUS, AND PEOPLE OF COLOR), WOMEN, GENDER NON-CONFORMING PEOPLE, AND LGBTQAI++ PEOPLE STRONGLY ENCOURAGED TO APPLY.

* Pay rates are not negotiable (all employees and members receive the same pay rate)

**Worried you may not meet all the requirements? We know that women, trans and non-binary people, BIPOC, and folks from other marginalized groups may be less likely to apply if they think they don’t meet all the criteria. We encourage you to apply anyway!