Can you make the 1.4.4 dev snapshot available on the maven? This tutorial says to use it: https://github.com/ForgeEssentials/ForgeEssentials/wiki/Developer-documentation but it's not there.

Take a look here: http://files.minecraftforge.net/maven/com/forgeessentials/forgeessentials#Downloads

There's no 1.4.4 files at all. There should be, right?

Try removing -dev

Should be online now.