How to hire a web design/development

How to hire a web design/development, step by step

Here's a step-by-step web design/development hiring guide:

• Step 1: Identify your hiring needs
• Step 2: Create an ideal candidate profile
• Step 3: Make a budget
• Step 4: Write a web design/development job description
• Step 5: Post your job
• Step 6: Interview candidates
• Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new web design/development
• Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist

What does a web design/development do?

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   Before you start hiring a web design/development, identify what type of worker you actually need. Certain positions might call for a full-time employee, while others can be done by a part-time worker or contractor.

   Determine employee vs contractor status

   Is the person you're thinking of hiring a US citizen or green card holder?

   Yes

   No

   A web design/development's background is also an important factor in determining whether they'll be a good fit for the position. For example, web design/development from different industries or fields will have radically different experiences and will bring different viewpoints to the role. You also need to consider the candidate's previous level of experience to make sure they'll be comfortable with the job's level of seniority.

   This list shows salaries for various types of web design/development.

   Type of Web Design/Development	Description	Hourly rate
   Web Design/Development	Web developers design and create websites. They are responsible for the look of the site... Show more	$23-48
   Webmaster	A webmaster is responsible for monitoring website activities for the operating systems and browser database of an organization. Webmasters analyze website traffics and visits and create strategic plans on search optimizations of web servers... Show more	$21-41
   Web Producer	A Web Producer is responsible for monitoring the servers' performance and managing web traffic. Web Producers work with the system engineers in designing web features with a user-friendly interface for smooth navigation and transitions... Show more	$23-46

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • HTML
   • CSS
   • WordPress
   • JavaScript
   • Html Css
   • PHP
   • JQuery
   • UI
   • Adobe Photoshop
   • Website Design
   • HTML5
   • SQL Server
   • Customer Service
   • Graphic Design

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Install and manage all Linux servers.
   • Manage SQL security roles and permissions as needed.
   • Manage SharePoint 2007 search metadata property mapping, configure SharePoint 2007 crawl rules, and create search scopes.
   • Manage Facebook page including update information and content.
   • Create and maintain design documents to manage SharePoint application development process.
   • Manage preparation for all quality assurance audits for intranet and Internet AME applications.

   More web design/development duties

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in the web design/development job description is a good way to get more applicants. A web design/development salary can be affected by several factors, such as the location of the job, the level of experience, education, certifications, and the employer's prestige.

   For example, the average salary for a web design/development in North Dakota may be lower than in Washington, and an entry-level engineer typically earns less than a senior-level web design/development. Additionally, a web design/development with lots of experience in the field may command a higher salary as a result.

   Average web design/development salary

   $69,901yearly

   $33.61 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level web design/development salary

   $48,000 yearly salary

   Updated January 19, 2026

   Average web design/development salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	California	$96,676	$46
   2	Washington	$89,433	$43
   3	Maryland	$84,386	$41
   4	Virginia	$82,791	$40
   5	North Carolina	$79,295	$38
   6	District of Columbia	$78,795	$38
   7	New Jersey	$74,072	$36
   8	New York	$73,360	$35
   9	Connecticut	$73,258	$35
   10	Pennsylvania	$72,694	$35
   11	Massachusetts	$71,852	$35
   12	Nevada	$71,195	$34
   13	Illinois	$70,044	$34
   14	Minnesota	$67,097	$32
   15	Arizona	$66,884	$32
   16	Texas	$64,782	$31
   17	Georgia	$64,586	$31
   18	Ohio	$64,485	$31
   19	Tennessee	$62,949	$30
   20	Maine	$62,514	$30

   Average web design/development salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	Cadence Design Systems	$130,541	$62.76	67
   2	Booz Allen Hamilton	$113,610	$54.62	99
   3	Masimo	$113,468	$54.55	2
   4	HP	$110,793	$53.27	17
   5	Orion Systems Integrators	$96,587	$46.44
   6	The NPD Group	$95,910	$46.11
   7	Clario	$94,281	$45.33
   8	Capricorn Systems	$91,430	$43.96
   9	Idexcel	$88,613	$42.60	20
   10	SBP Holdings	$88,412	$42.51
   11	Planned Systems International	$82,132	$39.49	4
   12	SmartWorks	$80,769	$38.83
   13	InPhonex	$80,738	$38.82
   14	Udacity	$79,784	$38.36
   15	MSC Cruises	$77,697	$37.35
   16	Garland's	$77,276	$37.15
   17	TechStar IMassive	$74,889	$36.00
   18	Monster Worldwide	$74,553	$35.84
   19	InComm Payments	$74,126	$35.64
   20	Apogee Physicians	$74,068	$35.61

4. Writing a web design/development job description

   A job description for a web design/development role includes a summary of the job's main responsibilities, required skills, and preferred background experience. Including a salary range can also go a long way in attracting more candidates to apply, and showing the first name of the hiring manager can also make applicants more comfortable. As an example, here's a web design/development job description:

   Web design/development job description example

   We're looking for a web developer to join our team of innovative designers who are consistently raising the bar on creativity and user experiences. The ideal candidate is a talented artist with technical expertise who can work alongside a team and independently in the creation, maintenance, and updates of websites for clients in a variety of industries. Proficiency in JavaScript, HTML, CSS, and other web services and API applications is essential to succeeding in this role. The web developer will have an immediate effect on our brand and that of our clients', as well as an ongoing impact in solidifying our industry-wide reputation for stellar design.
   *Responsibilities *
   
   * Consistently create well-designed, tested code using best practices for website development, including mobile and responsive site design
   * Create websites and user interfaces, using standard HTML/CSS practices, while incorporating data from back-end databases and services
   * Create and maintain workflows with teams to provide visibility and to ensure workload balance for consistent visual designs
   * Develop or validate testing schedules, addressing all browsers and devices to ensure various computers can access content
   * Maintain updated knowledge of new and emerging industry trends and technology
   * Work quickly and carefully to complete small edits requested by customers, develop plans for completing larger projects, collaborate with colleagues, and suggest new solutions to improve existing websites
   * Perform UI designs and coding, creating reusable objects and templates, wireframes for web pages and email templates; manage maintenance, updates, expansions, and scaling of each design
   * Perform regular file backups to local directories for recovery
   
   *Skills *
   
   * Bachelor's degree in web design, multimedia design, or related field
   * Experience planning and developing websites across multiple products and organizations
   * Working knowledge of web applications, programming languages, and web services, such as APIs, CSS, CSS3, cross-browser compatibility, HTML, HTML5, JavaScript, JQuery, PHP, security principles, REST, SOAP, and web user interface design (UI)
   * Proficiency with content management systems, including WordPress and Drupal
   * Dedication to innovative, sophisticated designs and collaborative problem solving
   * Working experience in Windows and Linux environments
   
   Job Type: Full-time
   
   Pay: $45,000.00 - $55,000.00 per year
   
   Benefits:
   * Flexible schedule
   Schedule:
   * Monday to Friday
   
   Ability to commute/relocate:
   * Troy, MI 48083: Reliably commute or planning to relocate before starting work (Required)
   
   Application Question(s):
   * Are you comfortable working with Cannabis Clients?
   
   Experience:
   * HTML5: 1 year (Required)
   * JavaScript: 1 year (Required)
   * CSS: 1 year (Required)
   * Drupal: 1 year (Preferred)
   * PHP: 1 year (Preferred)
   
   Work Location: One location

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

   To find web design/development for your business, try out a few different recruiting strategies:

   • Consider internal talent. One of the most important talent pools for any company is its current employees.
   • Ask for referrals. Reach out to friends, family members, and your current work to ask if they know any web design/development they would recommend.
   • Recruit at local colleges. Attend job fairs at local colleges to recruit entry-level web design/development with the right educational background.
   • Social media platforms. LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter have more than 3.5 billion users, and they're a great place for company branding and reaching potential job candidates.

   Post your job online:

   • Post your web design/development job on Zippia to find and recruit web design/development candidates who meet your exact specifications.
   • Use field-specific websites such as dribbble, authentic jobs, working not working, coroflot.
   • Post a job on free websites.

6. Interview candidates

   To successfully recruit web design/development, your first interview needs to engage with candidates to learn about their interest in the role and experience in the field. You can go into more detail about the company, the role, and the responsibilities during follow-up interviews.

   It's also good to ask about candidates' unique skills and talents to see if they match your ideal candidate profile. If you think a candidate is good enough for the next step, you can move on to the technical interview.

   While interviews are great, you will only sometimes learn enough from a conversation with a web design/development applicant. In those cases, having candidates complete a test project can go a long way in figuring out who's the most likely to succeed in the role. If you aren't a technical person and don't know how to design an appropriate test, you can ask someone else on the team to create it or take a look at these websites to get a few ideas:

   • TestDome
   • CodeSignal
   • Testlify
   • BarRaiser
   • Coderbyte

   The right interview questions can help you assess a candidate's hard skills, behavioral intelligence, and soft skills.

7. Send a job offer and onboard your new web design/development

   Once you've found the web design/development candidate you'd like to hire, it's time to write an offer letter. This should include an explicit job offer that includes the salary and the details of any other perks. Qualified candidates might be looking at multiple positions, so your offer must be competitive if you like the candidate. Also, be prepared for a negotiation stage, as candidates may way want to tweak the details of your initial offer. Once you've settled on these details, you can draft a contract to formalize your agreement.

   It's also important to follow up with applicants who do not get the job with an email letting them know that the position is filled.

   Once that's done, you can draft an onboarding schedule for the new web design/development. Human Resources should complete Employee Action Forms and ensure that onboarding paperwork is completed, including I-9s, benefits enrollment, federal and state tax forms, etc. They should also ensure that new employee files are created for internal recordkeeping.

8. Go through the hiring process checklist

   • Determine employee type (full-time, part-time, contractor, etc.)
   • Submit a job requisition form to the HR department
   • Define job responsibilities and requirements
   • Establish budget and timeline
   • Determine hiring decision makers for the role
   • Write job description
   • Post job on job boards, company website, etc.
   • Promote the job internally
   • Process applications through applicant tracking system
   • Review resumes and cover letters
   • Shortlist candidates for screening
   • Hold phone/virtual interview screening with first round of candidates
   • Conduct in-person interviews with top candidates from first round
   • Score candidates based on weighted criteria (e.g., experience, education, background, cultural fit, skill set, etc.)
   • Conduct background checks on top candidates
   • Check references of top candidates
   • Consult with HR and hiring decision makers on job offer specifics
   • Extend offer to top candidate(s)
   • Receive formal job offer acceptance and signed employment contract
   • Inform other candidates that the position has been filled
   • Set and communicate onboarding schedule to new hire(s)
   • Complete new hire paperwork (i9, benefits enrollment, tax forms, etc.)

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