Senior WordPress Developer for Complex, High-Traffic Website — White Label Ongoing Hourly Work

We are looking for a highly experienced Senior WordPress Developer to support the ongoing development and maintenance of a large, technically complex website with more than 3,000 pages. This is not a role for someone who primarily installs themes, configures plugins, or builds standard brochure websites. We need a developer with deep WordPress expertise, strong engineering fundamentals, and the ability to work confidently with custom functionality, complex site architecture, and an established production environment. The engagement will be ongoing and billed hourly. The number of hours may vary depending on project needs, but we are looking to build a long-term working relationship with someone who can become a trusted extension of our team. What You’ll Be Working On You will help maintain, improve, and expand a large WordPress website containing numerous custom components, features, templates, and integrations. Your responsibilities may include: - Developing and maintaining custom WordPress components and functionality - Working with custom themes, plugins, post types, taxonomies, and fields - Troubleshooting complex technical issues across a large website - Improving website performance, stability, scalability, and maintainability - Implementing new features based on detailed functional and design requirements - Reviewing existing implementations and recommending technically sound improvements - Working carefully within an established codebase and production environment - Supporting updates, bug fixes, quality assurance, and ongoing optimization - Clearly documenting and explaining important technical decisions - Taking full ownership of assigned requests from clarification through implementation and final verification Who We’re Looking For Agencies, stay away! The ideal candidate is a senior-level WordPress developer who combines extensive platform knowledge with a broader software engineering mindset. You should have: - You are an individual, and not part of an agency - Full professional fluency in English, both written and spoken - Extensive professional experience developing complex WordPress websites - Strong PHP, JavaScript, HTML, CSS, and MySQL knowledge - Experience building custom WordPress themes, plugins, and functionality - Experience working with large websites containing thousands of pages - A solid understanding of WordPress architecture, hooks, APIs, database structure, and development best practices - Experience diagnosing performance, scalability, caching, and reliability issues - Strong Git and version-control practices - The ability to work safely and methodically in established production environments - Excellent attention to detail and a high standard of execution - Strong problem-solving skills and the ability to explain the reasoning behind technical decisions - The ability to collaborate effectively with senior technical experts, project managers, designers, and strategists A formal engineering or computer science background is beneficial, although equivalent professional experience will also be considered. Communication and Availability Requirements Reliable communication is essential for this role. From Monday to Friday, you must be able to respond to messages within approximately four hours during our core collaboration window of 9:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Eastern Time. This does not mean you will be required to work continuously throughout that entire window. However, you must be reachable, responsive, and able to acknowledge requests within the expected timeframe. Time worked will be recorded using our designated time-tracking system. Location Requirement Due to communication and timezone-overlap requirements, we are currently considering applicants based in: - North, Central, or South America - Europe Applications from candidates based outside these regions will not be considered for this engagement. White-Label and Confidentiality Requirements This is a fully white-label engagement. You will work as an extension of our agency and may be presented to clients as a member of our internal team. Professional communication, discretion, and reliability are therefore extremely important. All work, client information, project materials, and communications will be covered by a non-disclosure agreement. What You Can Expect From Us You will be joining a dynamic, supportive, and approachable team that values high-quality work, clear communication, and mutual respect. You will work alongside: - A highly experienced senior technical expert - Proactive project managers - Strategists and designers who provide clear context and direction - A collaborative team that helps remove blockers and enable good work The projects can be technically demanding, but they also offer substantial opportunities to solve meaningful problems, work on complex systems, and learn from experienced professionals. While we cannot guarantee a fixed number of weekly hours at this stage, this is intended to be an ongoing engagement. Strong performance, dependability, and a positive working relationship can lead to consistent, long-term collaboration as the project evolves. We also genuinely value friendliness, approachability, and professionalism. We enjoy working with talented people who communicate respectfully, support their colleagues, and contribute positively to the team. How to Apply Proposals that do not include answers to these will be ignored. Please include the following in your proposal: - Confirm that our are indeed a freelancer - A brief overview of your professional WordPress experience - Examples of complex or large-scale WordPress websites you have worked on - Details about custom themes, plugins, integrations, or components you have developed - An example of a difficult WordPress problem you solved and how you approached it - Your current location and timezone - Confirmation that you can meet the response-time requirements - Confirmation that you are comfortable with hourly tracking, white-label work, and signing an NDA - Your hourly rate and general weekly availability Please begin your application with the words “Senior WordPress” so we know you have read the full description.