Hire a Senior WordPress Developer
A freelance WordPress developer for the backend work your site depends on: architecture, custom functionality, fixes and ongoing improvements, built to stay maintainable as your business grows.
When you need a WordPress developer, not a site builder
Page builders and themes get a site live. They don't help when:
- a plugin conflict breaks checkout or forms after an update, and nobody can explain why
- your team works around WordPress instead of with it: exporting CSVs, copying data between tools, editing the same content in three places
- the previous developer left, the code is undocumented, and every change feels risky
- the site has slowed down as content and traffic grew
These are engineering problems, not design problems. Hiring a WordPress developer with real backend experience means they get diagnosed properly instead of patched with another plugin.
What I do as your WordPress developer
One-off projects: a new feature, an integration, a rebuild of a fragile plugin, a clean-up of inherited code.
Rescue and debugging: production issues where the site is down, slow, throwing errors or behaving inconsistently. I did L3 support for enterprise WordPress sites, the tier you get escalated to when first-line fixes have failed.
Ongoing development: a small monthly block of senior hours for teams that need a reliable developer without hiring one full-time.
Code audits: a written review of your theme and custom plugins covering security, performance and maintainability, with a prioritized fix list.
If your requirement is truly bespoke, such as a workflow or admin tool no plugin covers, see custom WordPress systems. If you need a standalone custom plugin, that's its own service.
Technical capabilities
- ✓Custom functionality through actions and filters, never core-file edits
- ✓Custom post types, taxonomies and ACF-driven editing experiences
- ✓REST API endpoints and third-party API integrations
- ✓WP-CLI commands and scheduled jobs (WP-Cron, Action Scheduler)
- ✓Query optimization, object caching (Redis) and database clean-up
- ✓Multisite and cross-site content workflows
- ✓Security hardening: capability checks, nonces, sanitization and escaping
- ✓Git-based workflow, staging environments and documented deploys
Typical project types
- ✓Replacing 4–5 overlapping plugins with one lean custom solution
- ✓Building an internal admin dashboard for your ops team
- ✓Taking over and documenting a site from a previous developer
- ✓Moving content between WordPress sites in bulk. See my cross-site content import system, which turned hours of manual entry into minutes.
- ✓Upgrading legacy PHP code to PHP 8 without breaking the site
How engagement works
- Fixed-price projects for well-defined scope. You know the cost before work starts.
- Hourly or milestone billing for investigation and rescue work, where the scope becomes clear as we dig in.
- Monthly hour blocks for ongoing development.
See hourly and fixed-price rates. Before you hire anyone, including me, it's worth reading these questions to ask before hiring a WordPress developer.
Working across time zones: async-first with written daily or weekly updates, plus overlap hours for UK/EU mornings and US evenings.
Relevant experience
- Case study: Cross-Site Content Import System
- Case study: Custom Product Release Notes Plugin
- Case study: YouTube Video Import Automation
Questions I get asked
Do you work with existing sites or only new builds?
Mostly existing sites. Taking over, fixing and extending code someone else wrote is a large share of my work. I start with a short audit so we both know what we're dealing with.
Can you work with my page builder (Elementor, Divi, Gutenberg)?
Yes. I focus on the backend logic and leave your editing workflow as it is. When a page builder is the cause of a performance problem, I'll tell you and explain the options.
How quickly can you start?
Usually within 1–2 weeks for new projects. Urgent production issues can often be looked at sooner. Mention it in your first message.
Will I own the code?
Yes. All code is yours on final payment, delivered in your Git repository or as documented files.
Do you sign NDAs?
Yes, before any details are shared. All my client work is under NDA by default.
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Describe what's broken or what you need built. I'll reply within 24–48 hours with questions or a proposed scope.