WordPress Expert for News Site Stability

Project Overview We are looking for an expert WordPress backend developer to stabilize and secure a 15-year-old, high-traffic news site with over 64,000 published posts and 20 daily contributors. The site currently experiences instability and code-breaking conflicts during routine updates. Current Environment and Technical Bottlenecks * Core: WordPress 7.0 running on a Liquid Web server using the tagDiv Newspaper theme and tagDiv Composer. * PHP: Environment is locked at PHP 7.4.33. Previous attempts to upgrade to PHP 8.2 crashed the live platform within days due to legacy code conflicts. * Database: Running an outdated SQL server with 3,348 autoloaded options (2MB size) causing severe performance bloat. * Security: Critical vulnerability detected in WP Super Cache exposing sensitive login cookies due to misconfigured directory access. Legacy security restrictions also trigger intermittent 404 errors during high-volume searching. * Plugins: 54 active plugins, including Advanced Ads, Content Views, and a failing RSS Aggregator missing its required Feed to Post dependency. Scope of Work * Audit the 54-plugin ecosystem to resolve the precise conflicts preventing a stable upgrade to PHP 8.3. * Patch the WP Super Cache directory exposure and fix overactive security rules. * Optimize the database by clearing out unnecessary autoloaded options and preparing the core SQL server for an update. * Maintain full compatibility with the existing tagDiv front-end architecture and complex newsletter sorting layouts. * Execute all fixes with a strict zero-downtime requirement for our daily publishing operations. * Please review the attached screenshots of our current plugin panel and Site Health report for exact error details.