WordPress Developer Required – Upgrade Internal Booking Platform

WordPress Developer Required – Upgrade Internal Booking Platform & Configure Waiting List About Us We are a wildlife conservation charity looking for an experienced WordPress developer to upgrade and maintain an existing WordPress installation used internally by our team. This is not a public-facing website. The public booking pages are no longer in use. Instead, the WordPress installation is used daily by staff to manage visitor bookings, activity capacities, notifications and administration. The website is hosted on WP Engine and uses the Booking Activities plugin as its core booking system. Although this is a one-time project, we hope to establish a relationship with a developer who can assist with occasional future maintenance, plugin updates and enhancements. Project Overview The installation is currently several WordPress versions behind and requires a careful upgrade using a staging environment to minimise risk. The project also includes implementing the official Booking Activities Waiting List add-on. Reliability is important because the system is used daily by staff. Scope of Work The successful developer will: Review the existing installation. Create or verify a staging environment on WP Engine. Upgrade WordPress to the latest stable version. Update approximately 15 installed plugins. Resolve any compatibility issues. Review installed plugins and recommend any that are obsolete or no longer required. Thoroughly test all booking workflows. Test email notifications and scheduled tasks. Deploy the upgraded site safely to production. Install and configure the Booking Activities Waiting List add-on. Provide a short handover document explaining future updates and any recommendations. Waiting List Requirement We would like to implement the official Booking Activities Waiting List plugin. Our typical workflow is: An activity has capacity for one booking. One visitor books the activity. Additional visitors request the same activity. Staff add those visitors to a waiting list. If the confirmed booking is cancelled, the first person on the waiting list should be offered the place. If they decline or do not respond, staff should be able to move to the next person. If this functionality is supported by the plugin out of the box, we'd like it configured correctly. If any customisation would improve the workflow, we'd appreciate your recommendations. Existing Environment WordPress WP Engine hosting PHP 8.2 Approximately 15 plugins Premium plugins including Booking Activities and WP Mail SMTP Pro Nightly backups via WP Engine Ideal Experience We're looking for someone with experience in: WordPress upgrades WP Engine WordPress plugin compatibility Booking or event management plugins Working safely on business-critical production websites Experience with the Booking Activities plugin would be a significant advantage, but similar booking systems are also relevant. Deliverables At completion we expect: WordPress upgraded to the latest stable version. Plugins updated where compatible. Booking system fully tested. Waiting List functionality configured. Production site operating correctly. Staging environment retained for future updates. Brief documentation covering future maintenance and recommendations. When Applying, please include: A brief introduction. Examples of similar WordPress upgrade or maintenance projects. Whether you've worked with Booking Activities or similar booking systems. Your fixed-price quotation. Your estimated timescale. Any questions you have after reading the brief. Any risks or opportunities you think we should be aware of. Important To help us identify applicants who have read the brief, please begin your proposal with the words: "Wildlife Ready" Then, in one or two sentences, briefly explain how you would safely upgrade a WordPress installation that is several versions behind while minimising risk. Proposals that do not follow this instruction may not be reviewed.