Dan L.

Senior WordPress Engineer - Plugins, Gutenberg Blocks, AI Integration

Senior WordPress engineer, 14+ years. I build the things that off-the-shelf plugins can't: custom Gutenberg blocks, bespoke plugin integrations, and AI features done properly — server-side, secure, cost-controlled. PHP 8.1+, modern stack, no spaghetti. 📍 Iași, Romania · Remote · EU and US Eastern timezone overlap --- What I build Custom Gutenberg blocks - Native React blocks, ACF blocks, dynamic blocks, block patterns, full block themes. InnerBlocks, attribute schemas that won't break on save, ServerSideRender previews, editor experience your content team will actually thank you for. Custom WordPress plugins & integrations - Payment gateways, CRMs, ERPs, REST and GraphQL APIs, Airtable, MSSQL, headless setups, custom post type architectures, complex ACF logic. Properly namespaced, PHP 8.1+ with strict types, PHPCS-clean, no global state soup. AI integration for WordPress - Claude and OpenAI features built into Gutenberg, WP-CLI, and custom plugins. Server-side API calls (never client-side keys), per-user rate limiting, cost logging, embeddings-based search, RAG over site content, bulk content operations. The reference implementation for *"AI in WordPress, done properly."* --- How I work - Modern PHP 8.1+, strict types, idiomatic code - Git workflow, CI/CD, proper code review - Clear scoping before I start — no scope creep surprises - UK English, fluent technical communication - Available for US and EU timezone overlap --- Stacks I work in daily WordPress: Core, Gutenberg, ACF Pro, FacetWP, SearchWP, WP All Import, Gravity Forms, WooCommerce Roots: Bedrock, Sage, Trellis, Acorn AI / LLM: Anthropic Claude, OpenAI, Gemini, Groq, embeddings (Voyage, OpenAI), pgvector, Pinecone, RAG, MCP Other: Laravel, MedusaJS v2, Next.js, Nuxt.js, React, TypeScript --- Who am I a fit for - Agencies and direct clients who need senior engineering, not the cheapest hourly rate. If your last developer said "WordPress can't do that," it usually can — and I'm the one who builds it.