01Owns
Block themes and theme.json
Sets colours, typography and spacing presets in theme.json and builds templates and patterns, so editors get consistent pages without touching CSS.
Hire · Content platforms
Hire WordPress Developers
Senior WordPress developers who join your web or marketing team to own the theme, custom blocks and plugins your editors rely on. Each has proved in a paid trial that they can build a block, harden plugin code and find why a page is slow on uncached requests.
Block editor and plugin code tested
Senior and principal engineers only
Fits your editorial and release workflow
On your team
What a WordPress developer owns on your team.
02Owns
Custom blocks
Writes Gutenberg blocks in React with block.json metadata, sensible attributes and deprecations, and uses dynamic rendering when content must stay current.
03Owns
Plugin code and security
Escapes output, sanitises input, checks capabilities and nonces on every action, and keeps custom plugins small, namespaced and updatable.
04Owns
Speed and caching
Reduces database queries, uses the object cache with Redis or Memcached, and configures page caching without serving logged-in content to strangers.
05Owns
Editor experience
Locks templates where layout must not change, curates the block inserter and writes help text, so non-technical staff publish confidently.
Page builders, blocks and the developer you need
Some WordPress roles are mainly about assembling pages in a builder. The role described here is different: writing blocks, plugins and theme code that other people build pages with. Ask candidates to show block.json files, plugin code and theme.json settings they wrote, not screenshots of finished pages.
Their answer to “how do you stop an editor breaking the layout?” is telling. Experienced developers mention template locking, curated patterns and restricted block lists.
Vetting
Skills we test before a WordPress developer joins.
01Tested
Hooks and the plugin API
Uses actions and filters at the right priority, avoids side effects at load time and removes hooks cleanly when features are switched off.
02Tested
Data and queries
Custom post types, taxonomies and meta registered properly, WP_Query arguments that hit indexes, and transients only where expiry makes sense.
03Tested
Block development tooling
@wordpress/scripts builds, the Interactivity API for light front-end behaviour, and block variations instead of near-duplicate blocks.
04Tested
Security practice
Prepared statements through $wpdb, file upload restrictions, role design for editors and authors, and a habit of reading plugin changelogs before updating.
05Tested
Multisite
Network activation, per-site settings, domain mapping and the performance cost of switch_to_blog inside loops.
06Tested
Environments and deploys
Composer or a managed host’s Git workflow, WP-CLI scripts for migrations, and search-replace that handles serialised data.
Work sample
How the WordPress developer work sample runs.
- 01Step 1
Secure a leaky plugin
The candidate reviews a small plugin with an unescaped admin field, a missing nonce check and a raw SQL query, and patches each one.
- 02Step 2
Build a dynamic block
They create a block that lists related posts with editor controls and server-side rendering. We set a time limit and pay for the work.
- 03Step 3
Trace a slow template
Using Query Monitor output from a staging site, they find the repeated query behind a slow archive page and remove it.
- 04Step 4
Show an editor the new block
They demonstrate the finished block to a content editor and adjust labels based on the questions asked.
Levels
WordPress Developers: what changes at each level.
01Level 1
Senior
Builds blocks, templates and plugin features on your existing site and reviews teammates’ pull requests.
02Level 2
Lead
Chooses the theme approach, plugin policy, hosting and caching set-up, and the review standard for anything that touches user data.
03Level 3
Principal WordPress engineer
Plans multisite networks, headless or hybrid set-ups, large content migrations and the governance editors work within.
Matching seniority to the site
A single marketing site with a stable theme needs a senior developer. Several brands on one network, migrations from another CMS or a decoupled front end call for a lead or principal who can set rules others follow and make hosting choices that hold up under traffic.
Other options
When to hire someone other than a WordPress developer.
01Consider
A large online shop
WooCommerce suits modest catalogues; for heavy order volume and complex pricing, a Magento developer is the safer hire.
Open register02Consider
A hosted store with simple content
If selling matters more than publishing, a Shopify developer gives you less to maintain.
Open register03Consider
A custom PHP application
When the product is mostly bespoke logic rather than content, a Laravel developer is a better match.
Open registerPlugin choices are security decisions
Most WordPress compromises come through plugins, whether abandoned, nulled or carelessly written. A strong hire keeps the plugin list short, checks maintenance history before installing anything and writes small custom plugins when a large general one would add risk. They will also know to escape late and sanitise early, as the Plugin Handbook recommends.
Practical onboarding for a WordPress hire
Share admin and hosting access, a recent database copy for local work and the list of plugins with their licence keys. Ask the developer to run a plugin and theme audit in the first fortnight and propose what to remove.
Pair them with your most active editor for an afternoon. The friction that person describes is usually the best backlog for the first month.
FAQ
Questions to resolve before the build.
01Do your WordPress developers still work with classic themes?
Yes. Many sites run classic or hybrid themes, and candidates are comfortable maintaining them. Where it pays off, they can migrate templates to blocks gradually rather than in one rebuild.
02Can they look after WooCommerce?
They can extend WooCommerce with hooks, custom checkout fields and payment gateway settings. For high-volume commerce with complex catalogues, we will suggest a dedicated commerce platform hire.
03How do you assess plugin security skills?
The trial includes patching a deliberately vulnerable plugin. We check that fixes use WordPress escaping and sanitising functions, capability checks and nonces, not ad hoc string handling.
Works alongside
Roles a WordPress developer works best alongside.
01Pair with
UI/UX designers
So block patterns and templates come from a design system rather than one-off page designs.
Open register02Pair with
DevOps engineers
For hosting, CDN rules, backups and staging environments that match production.
Open register03Pair with
QA engineers
To check forms, plugin updates and editor flows before each release.
Open registerProduct delivery
Need the whole product built instead?
Primary sources
References behind this page
Dated official documentation, standards, and research that support the factual claims on this page.
- 01WordPress Block Editor Handbook
Official reference for building blocks, themes and editor extensions.
- 02WordPress Plugin Handbook: security
Guidance on escaping, sanitising, nonces and capability checks.
How to read this page
Scope, cost and timeline figures are planning guidance until confirmed in a written proposal. Diagrams and screens are illustrations, not client deliverables, and source-code rights and handover follow the signed agreement. See the delivery process and the full disclaimer.
Next decision
Turn the brief into an accepted product scope.
Define outcomes, constraints, evidence, rights and handover before delivery begins.
Commercial rights, repositories, environments, documentation, acceptance and handover remain contract-defined.