Web Engineering Manager

Position Summary:

The Web Engineering Manager is a hands-on technical leader within the Web Engineering and Ops team, part of the Communications and Marketing division at Vanderbilt. This position is responsible for architecting, building, and modernizing the university’s web applications and digital products, with a primary emphasis on front- and back-end engineering, systems integration, and AI-enabled ways of working.

Reporting to the Web Engineering and Ops Lead, this role manages a small team while remaining deeply engaged in day-to-day development and troubleshooting. A central focus is leading the modernization of the university’s WordPress ecosystem and championing the adoption of AI-assisted development practices across the team.

The Web Engineering Manager partners closely with UX/UI designers, product stakeholders, and VUIT to architect, develop, and deploy secure, accessible, and performant digital experiences that advance institutional priorities. The ideal candidate is a full stack developer who enjoys building as much as leading, and who can move a legacy environment toward modern tooling, architecture, and workflows.

About the Work Unit:

The Communications and Marketing team at Vanderbilt University is a dynamic and deeply collaborative group. The division serves as the institution-wide center of excellence for communications and marketing, developing and executing strategies that inform, engage, and inspire others to take part in the University’s global academic and research mission. The division is a strategic adviser and partner to other divisions, providing comprehensive plans and thoughtful analysis on messaging opportunities and constraints, and it continuously seeks innovative solutions to emerging challenges in order to deliver results at scale.

Key Functions and Expected Performance:

Development and Architecture

• Architect, design, and develop web applications and custom software solutions that support university objectives, with primary ownership of front- and back-end development and systems integration.

• Support the ongoing modernization of the university’s WordPress platform.

• Develop custom WordPress solutions, including page builder modules, theme templates, and third-party integrations.

• Design and optimize database schemas, queries, and data processing within web applications to support performance, maintenance and reporting functionality.

• Integrate external software libraries, APIs, AI platforms, and third-party services into new and existing applications.

• Maintain and incrementally improve legacy PHP/MySQL applications and WordPress codebases while planning their migration to upgraded and/or new systems, tools and environments.

• Troubleshoot and resolve application-level defects, security vulnerabilities, and performance issues. 

       Emerging Technologies

• Lead adoption of AI-assisted development practices across the team, including AI coding tools, workflow automation, and evaluation of emerging capabilities. 

• Design and build emerging technology features into web products, such as intelligent search, chat interfaces, and automated workflows, and recommend new applications that improve user experience and operational efficiency.

        Team Leadership and Culture

• • Directly supervise a small team including assigning work, setting priorities, providing performance feedback, and supporting professional growth.

  • Provide technical mentorship and code review, ensuring adherence to development standards, accessibility requirements, and security best practices.

  • Coordinate the work of external development vendors on assigned projects.

  • Participate in hiring and onboarding for development positions in collaboration with leadership.

  • Foster a culture of innovation, continuous improvement, collaboration, and professional growth within the team.

   

  Collaboration and Coordination

  • Serve as the department’s technical liaison to central IT for hosting, security, proxy serverrequests and infrastructure needs, and lead website migrations in coordination with central IT.

  • Collaborate with UX/UI designers, product stakeholders, and cross-functional teams to design, build, test, and deploy new digital experiences.

  • Provide advanced technical support and consultation to university clients, serving as the escalation point for complex web application issues.

  • Document system architecture, technical specifications, and operational procedures for solutions the team builds and maintains.

  • Support the Web Engineering and Ops Lead on strategic initiatives and special projects, and contribute to departmental planning.

  • Communicate effectively with diverse audiences, including faculty, students, staff, leadership, alumni, vendors, and external partners, and maintain confidentiality for embargoed or restricted projects and data.

  • Other duties as assigned.

   

  Supervisory Relationships:

  This position reports to the Web Engineering and Ops Lead. The Web Engineering Manager has formal supervisory responsibility for direct reports and coordinates the work of external development vendors.

   

  Qualifications

   

  • Bachelor's degree in computer science, information systems, or a related field, or commensurate experience, is required.

  • A minimum of five years of professional full stack web development experience, including significant back-end work with PHP/MySQL, front-end HTML/CSS/JavaScript and frameworks/libraries.

  • Deep experience with WordPress development, including custom themes, plugins, and the WordPress REST API.

  • Proficiency with modern JavaScript, including at least one framework such as React, and experience consuming APIs from decoupled front ends.

  • Experience integrating third-party APIs and services into web applications.

  • Working knowledge of web application security, performance optimization, and accessibility standards.

  • Demonstrated experience leading or mentoring developers, whether through direct supervision, team lead responsibilities, or sustained mentorship.

  • Ability to manage multiple deadline-driven projects independently while balancing competing priorities.

  • Exceptional communication and collaboration skills across technical and non-technical audiences.

  • Experience implementing headless or decoupled WordPress architectures and tools.

  • Hands-on experience with AI development tools, schema, JSON-LD, and building AI-powered application features.

  • Experience working within a shared services environment where infrastructure is managed by a central IT organization.

  • Experience in higher education or a similarly complex, multi-stakeholder organization.