Senior Full-stack Developer

About Wondersphere

Wondersphere is an independent branding and digital studio based in London. We work with ambitious organisations to bring clarity to complex businesses, creating brand identities, experiences and digital platforms that support their growth.

We’re a small, senior team that works closely with our clients, from the initial thinking through to the finished work.

We’re now building our in-house development capability and looking for an experienced Senior Full-stack Developer to play a central role in that growth.

The opportunity

We’re looking for someone who can take technical ownership of sophisticated websites and digital platforms, working closely with our strategy and design teams to turn complex requirements into well-built, reliable digital experiences.

Our work increasingly involves organisations with multiple audiences, services, locations and content requirements. That calls for more than conventional website development. We need platforms that are thoughtfully structured, straightforward to manage and capable of evolving as the organisations behind them grow.

You’ll initially work alongside an experienced freelance Technical Architect who will help establish our technical architecture and development standards. You’ll contribute to those decisions and take day-to-day responsibility for development, implementation and ongoing maintenance.

Over time, you’ll help shape Wondersphere’s technical capability, from the technologies we use to the way we approach projects and build our development team.

This isn’t a role for someone who simply takes finished designs and turns them into pages. We’re looking for a developer who enjoys solving problems, contributes to technical decisions and takes responsibility for the quality of what they build.

What you’ll be doing

Full-stack development

* Build sophisticated, responsive websites and digital platforms from Figma designs.

* Develop reusable front-end components and maintainable design systems.

* Build and configure complex CMS platforms, including multisite architectures.

* Develop back-end functionality, data models and publishing workflows.

* Create and maintain API integrations with third-party platforms.

* Work with databases, deployment pipelines, hosting and infrastructure.

Technical ownership

* Work with the Technical Architect to implement and develop the agreed architecture.

* Take day-to-day ownership of the codebase, development environment and technical documentation.

* Make sound technical decisions independently, knowing when to seek specialist advice.

* Maintain high standards of accessibility, security, performance and code quality.

* Identify technical risks and find practical solutions before they become problems.

* Help establish development standards, workflows and processes within Wondersphere.

Working with the studio

* Collaborate closely with our strategy, UX and design teams from the beginning of each project.

* Contribute technical thinking during discovery, planning and design.

* Translate complex requirements into practical, maintainable solutions.

* Communicate technical considerations clearly to colleagues and clients.

* Support testing, deployment, training and ongoing maintenance.

* Help guide additional developers and technical specialists as our capability grows.

What we’re looking for

You’ll be an experienced, hands-on Full-stack Developer with at least 6–8 years of relevant professional experience and a track record of delivering substantial digital projects.

You’ll need:

* Strong experience with modern JavaScript or TypeScript and a contemporary front-end framework such as React or Next.js.

* Solid back-end development experience, including APIs, databases and server-side applications.

* Demonstrable experience building and maintaining sophisticated CMS-driven websites.

* Experience with multisite platforms, structured content, user permissions and publishing workflows.

* Confidence working with Git, automated deployment and modern development environments.

* A good understanding of web accessibility, including WCAG standards.

* Practical knowledge of website security, performance optimisation and technical SEO.

* Experience integrating external systems through APIs.

* The ability to take ownership of complex development work with limited supervision.

We’re open-minded about your preferred technology stack. What matters is your ability to choose and work with appropriate technologies, rather than applying the same solution to every problem.

The kind of person we’re looking for

* We’re a small studio, so how you work matters as much as what you know.

* You’ll be comfortable taking responsibility, asking good questions and working closely with people whose expertise is in design, strategy and communication rather than development.

* You’ll have strong technical judgement without making things unnecessarily complicated.

* You’ll care about the details, understand the importance of finishing work properly and recognise that good development is about creating something people can use and maintain, not simply getting it launched.

* You’ll also enjoy the opportunity to help shape how Wondersphere approaches development as the studio grows.

Why join Wondersphere?

* This is an opportunity to establish something, not simply fill an existing position.

* You’ll be our first dedicated senior development hire, working directly with the studio’s leadership and helping build a lasting technical capability.

* You’ll have a genuine influence over the technologies, processes and standards we adopt, with the support of an experienced Technical Architect as we develop our capabilities.

* You’ll work on technically interesting projects alongside people who care about design, clear thinking and the quality of the finished product.

* As the development team grows, there will be opportunities to take on greater technical leadership and help recruit and mentor other developers.

Location and employment

* Full-time, permanent position

* Based at Wondersphere’s London studio

* UK-based candidates only

* Reporting directly to Wondersphere’s studio leadership

* Working closely with an external Technical Architect and the internal design and project team

How to apply

Please complete the following application questions and share examples of two or three substantial digital platforms you’ve worked on.

We’re particularly interested in understanding your personal contribution: what you built, the technical decisions you made and the challenges you solved.

Experience of complex CMS platforms, multisite architectures or large-scale digital systems will be especially relevant.