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Open to US & EU clients · PHP · WordPress · Laravel

Senior PHP & WordPress developer for US teams.

I'm Ruslan, a full-stack developer from Ukraine. I've been writing PHP since 2011: custom WordPress themes and plugins, WooCommerce stores and Laravel APIs, with React and Next.js on the frontend. My working day overlaps with US business hours.

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From composer install to production, I handle the whole stack.

15

years of PHP & WordPress, across agencies, product teams and freelance

12

services, from custom WordPress plugins to Laravel APIs and Next.js

PHP 8 · Laravel · WordPress · WooCommerce · MySQL · React · Next.js

The stack I use daily, plus whatever your project needs.

What I can do for you

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PHP Development

Custom PHP applications, APIs and integrations — plus upgrades and refactoring for legacy PHP code that still runs the business.

WordPress Development

Custom WordPress themes, Gutenberg blocks and ACF builds that editors enjoy using — plus speed, security and ongoing maintenance.

WordPress Plugin Development

Custom plugins for the features no off-the-shelf plugin gets quite right — API integrations, admin tools and business logic done properly.

WooCommerce Development

Custom WooCommerce stores, checkout and product customization, integrations and speed fixes for catalogues that have outgrown their theme.

Laravel Development

Laravel and PHP backends — REST and GraphQL APIs, database design, third-party integrations, and a path forward for legacy applications.

Next.js Development

Production Next.js applications on the App Router — Server Components, streaming, ISR and caching strategies that keep pages fast and hosting bills predictable.

React Development

React 18/19 applications with TypeScript — component architecture, state that stays predictable, accessibility built in rather than retrofitted.

Headless WordPress

WordPress as a content backend, Next.js as the frontend — editors keep the admin they know, visitors get a statically served site.

WordPress to Next.js Migration

Moving off a slow WordPress theme onto Next.js — with permalinks, redirects and structured data preserved so rankings survive the switch.

Web Performance Optimization

Failing Core Web Vitals fixed at the cause — LCP, INP and CLS profiled on real user data, optimized, and verified after.

E-commerce Development

PrestaShop stores, WordPress commerce and headless Next.js storefronts — catalogues that load fast and checkouts that do not lose people.

Test Automation

Cypress E2E suites and Jest coverage wired into CI — tests that catch real regressions instead of breaking on every refactor.

What people I've worked with say

Read full recommendations →

His input and experience guided us to delivering a solution which was intuitive and had a solid user experience.

Alexander Galvez✓Senior technology leader who bridges product, project delivery, business process transformation, and technical teams

Worked with Ruslan on the same team · December 2023 · via LinkedIn

An extremely professional engineer with great attitude to work!

Maxim Markin✓CEO Cookiedev | Co-Founder Mark Digital | Head of Delivery | Engineering manager | Sr. Project manager

Managed Ruslan directly · October 2022 · via LinkedIn

He is competent, high-performance developer, who really cares about quality of his work.

Roman KukinLead Backend Tests Automation Engineer

Ruslan was senior to Roman on the team · October 2022 · via LinkedIn

All recommendations are public on LinkedIn ↗

Hiring a PHP developer from Ukraine?

How it works →

Senior, not junior

15 years of PHP and WordPress for agencies and product teams. You get a developer who has seen your problem before.

US hours overlap

My afternoon is your morning: a daily window for calls and stand-ups, with progress waiting when you log in.

Direct, no middlemen

No agency markup or account managers. You talk to the person writing the code, in fluent English.

Low-risk start

Begin with a small paid task. NDA, IP assignment and USD invoicing are standard.

From the blog

All articles →

Hiring a PHP Developer from Ukraine: A Practical Guide for US Companies

Time zones, contracts, payments and how to tell a senior developer from a confident junior — written by a Ukrainian PHP developer who has been on the other side of these calls.

Upgrading from PHP 7.4 to PHP 8: A Practical Checklist

PHP 7.4 has been out of security support since 2022. Here is how I upgrade legacy PHP applications and WordPress sites to PHP 8 without a white screen on launch day.

Custom WordPress Plugin vs. Off-the-Shelf: How to Decide

Stacking three plugins and a forum snippet works until the next update. A decision framework for when a small custom plugin is the cheaper, safer option.

Why Is My WooCommerce Store Slow? Causes and Fixes

A store that was quick with fifty products can crawl with five thousand. The usual suspects, how to confirm which one is yours, and what to do about it.

15 years, 5 teams

2022 — now

Svitla Systems

Senior Frontend Developer building a React platform.

2018 — 2022

Hero Teams

Full-stack engineer, React apps + Cypress testing.

2013 — 2018

Loud & Clear

Custom WordPress themes & plugins for global clients.

2011 — 2013

Early years

PixelTeh & BestWebSoft — where WordPress became a superpower.