We are seeking a skilled and motivated Middle WordPress Backend Developer to join our growing BESTIA development team.
You will be responsible for developing, maintaining, debugging, and optimizing WordPress websites and web applications for international clients.
The role focuses on backend WordPress development, custom plugins and themes, API integrations, performance optimization, and solving complex technical issues in existing projects.
An important part of the role is the effective use of AI in the development workflow. We are looking for a developer who actively uses AI tools such as Claude to accelerate development, debugging, code analysis, refactoring, and problem-solving – while being able to understand, verify, and take full responsibility for the code delivered.
The ideal candidate is technically strong, detail-oriented, proactive, and comfortable working with both existing codebases and custom WordPress solutions.
General requirements:
- 3+ years of commercial experience in WordPress development;
- Strong experience with PHP and WordPress backend development;
- Proven experience developing custom WordPress plugins;
- Experience creating and maintaining custom WordPress themes;
- Strong knowledge of WordPress hooks, actions, filters, custom post types, taxonomies, and the WordPress database structure;
- Solid experience with ACF and custom field architectures;
- Experience working with REST APIs and third-party API integrations;
- Good knowledge of MySQL and database optimization;
- Experience debugging complex issues in existing WordPress projects;
- Understanding of WordPress performance optimization;
- Experience optimizing both websites and WordPress admin panels;
- Experience with Git and collaborative development workflows;
- Practical experience using AI tools, especially Claude, in daily development;
- Ability to review, debug, improve, and validate AI-generated code rather than blindly accepting it.
Would be a plus:
- Experience with WooCommerce development and customization;
- Experience with WP-CLI;
- Experience with Composer and modern PHP development workflows;
- Experience with JavaScript and REST API-based front-end integrations;
- Experience with headless WordPress;
- Knowledge of caching systems, object caching, Redis, CDN, and server-level optimization;
- Experience with Docker or modern hosting environments;
- Experience with security hardening and identifying common WordPress vulnerabilities;
- Experience building integrations with CRMs, ERPs, payment systems, and other external services;
- Experience with AI integrations and automation workflows.
Your main responsibilities:
- Develop custom WordPress plugins and backend functionality;
- Develop and maintain custom WordPress themes;
- Build integrations with external services and APIs;
- Work with ACF and design scalable content architectures;
- Debug and resolve complex technical issues in existing WordPress projects;
- Analyze and improve existing codebases;
- Optimize WordPress websites for performance and scalability;
- Optimize WordPress admin panels and backend workflows;
- Improve database queries and overall application performance;
- Investigate and resolve issues in staging and production environments;
- Use AI tools such as Claude to accelerate coding, debugging, refactoring, and technical research;
- Review and validate AI-generated code before integrating it into production;
- Participate in code reviews and technical discussions;
- Collaborate with Project Managers, Front-End Developers, and other team members;
- Continuously improve development processes and contribute to team knowledge sharing.
What we value:
- Strong problem-solving skills;
- The ability to understand an existing codebase quickly;
- Clean, maintainable, and scalable code;
- The ability to debug instead of simply applying workarounds;
- Practical and effective use of AI in everyday development;
- Technical curiosity and willingness to continuously improve;
- Ownership of the result, not just completion of the task;
- The ability to work independently while communicating clearly with the team.
At BESTIA, we believe AI should make developers significantly more productive – but it does not replace engineering judgment.
We are looking for a developer who can use AI as a powerful development tool, while still understanding the architecture, validating the output, and taking full responsibility for the code delivered.
