CMS Implementation Engineer (Drupal & Wagtail) - Contractor

Summary

RESPEC is an employee-owned company that develops solutions in energy transition, infrastructure resilience, digital transformation, and sustainability. The CMS Implementation Engineer will lead the end-to-end technical implementation of the GeoInfo website using Drupal and/or Wagtail, including CMS configuration, content and asset migration, integrations, testing, defect resolution, and production deployment.

Responsibilities

• Implement approved, responsive CMS page models and structured content types using Drupal (Twig, custom modules, blocks) and Wagtail (StreamField, Page models, Django templates)
• Support the full structural build-out and taxonomy alignment of the website information architecture from Level 0 through Level 2 and beyond
• Coordinate with the agency’s technical, infrastructure, and security stakeholders to ensure all architecture decisions align with institutional compliance, accessibility, hosting, and security standards
• Support the execution of priority content migration workflows in close alignment with the finalized Content Migration Plan
• Lead the technical extraction, cleaning, and ingestion of legacy static assets—including technical PDF reports, scientific images, and downloadable datasets—into structured CMS media libraries
• Implement robust URL routing, 301 redirect mappings, menu navigation, breadcrumbs, and cross-site transition pathways connecting legacy GeoInfo content to the new web environment
• Lead and support technical testing, including template rendering, responsive UI, editorial workflows, access control permissions, search indexing, and launch-critical functionality
• Support the technical integration of third-party institutional systems, APIs, and enterprise databases (e.g., HigherEd ERP / Ellucian Banner)
• Actively track, estimate, and document implementation deliverables, backlog stories, bugs, and future-phase technical debt using Jira
• Deliver a fully tested, secure, and production-ready live website populated with validated, migrated Level 0 through Level 2 content by target deadlines

Skills

• 3–5+ years of demonstrable hands-on CMS development and technical implementation experience, with a track record of delivering multiple production website builds, custom module/model configurations, and large-scale data migrations
• Hands-on development and implementation experience with modern enterprise CMS platforms, with direct proficiency in Drupal (PHP, Composer, Twig) and/or Wagtail (Python, Django)
• Deep technical understanding of modular structured content, reusable templates, atomic page components, custom field configurations, and multi-tier editorial publishing workflows
• Demonstrated experience executing content migration pipelines, database transformation scripts, and digital asset migrations for extensive static repositories (PDFs, media files, datasets)
• Working knowledge of end-to-end web QA, functional and cross-browser testing, accessibility compliance (WCAG), redirect rule engines, and go-live deployment procedures
• Demonstrated ability to collaborate smoothly across multi-disciplinary teams including software engineers, UI/UX designers, content strategists, project managers, and executive client stakeholders
• Proven experience managing implementation sprints, tickets, pull requests, and bug backlogs using Jira or comparable agile project management tools
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with an emphasis on creating clear technical documentation, architectural decision records (ADRs), and handoff guides
• New Mexico and West Texas residents willing to travel on-site to Socorro, NM, up to 2 times during the project lifecycle
• Direct experience engineering web solutions for Higher Education, scientific research organizations, geological surveys, or public-sector agencies

Qualifications

Must Haves

• 3–5+ years of demonstrable hands-on CMS development and technical implementation experience, with a track record of delivering multiple production website builds, custom module/model configurations, and large-scale data migrations
• Hands-on development and implementation experience with modern enterprise CMS platforms, with direct proficiency in Drupal (PHP, Composer, Twig) and/or Wagtail (Python, Django)
• Deep technical understanding of modular structured content, reusable templates, atomic page components, custom field configurations, and multi-tier editorial publishing workflows
• Demonstrated experience executing content migration pipelines, database transformation scripts, and digital asset migrations for extensive static repositories (PDFs, media files, datasets)
• Working knowledge of end-to-end web QA, functional and cross-browser testing, accessibility compliance (WCAG), redirect rule engines, and go-live deployment procedures
• Demonstrated ability to collaborate smoothly across multi-disciplinary teams including software engineers, UI/UX designers, content strategists, project managers, and executive client stakeholders
• Proven experience managing implementation sprints, tickets, pull requests, and bug backlogs using Jira or comparable agile project management tools
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with an emphasis on creating clear technical documentation, architectural decision records (ADRs), and handoff guides

Nice to Haves

• New Mexico and West Texas residents willing to travel on-site to Socorro, NM, up to 2 times during the project lifecycle
• Direct experience engineering web solutions for Higher Education, scientific research organizations, geological surveys, or public-sector agencies

Benefits

• Remote work arrangement
• 100% employee-owned company