The new integrated DSL to replace that plugin is going to be great. Unfortunately, managing jenkins plugins themselves via config management/orchestration is still surprisingly difficult.
fwiw, this is very much on the roadmap - https://issues.jenkins-ci.org/browse/JENKINS-31094 - don't know when it'll land, but it will be done. =)
Jenkins has a ton of issues but with a bit of careful plugin selection it provides a ton of bang for your buck.