WordPress + Node.js Contractor — 8 Discrete Ship-Ready Tasks (~20–30 hrs total) — Claude (Anthropic) Required, BYO Subscription

We're a small U.S. 501(c)(3) nonprofit operating a nationwide volunteer-matching platform. We're looking for a disciplined contract developer to ship a tightly-scoped 8-item backlog.

Each task already has a written technical brief — you'll execute against specs, not invent scope. The work spans our WordPress theme + custom plugins and our Node/Express backend. Total estimate is roughly 20–30 hours including ramp-up, so this is a focused short engagement rather than a retainer (though strong fits may see follow-on work).


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What you'll do
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A representative sample of the 8 tasks:

-- Deploy two pre-drafted public content pages to WordPress via WP-CLI, then wire one of them into the existing 404 template

-- Extend a Node/Express + Jade transactional email flow to include additional user contact information already available in the database (single backend file plus two email templates)

-- Adjust a small backend service to read a per-user preference value instead of a hardcoded constant

-- Write a server-side cron + shell script for webroot file-hygiene monitoring, with email notification when something is found

-- Update repository .gitignore patterns to catch a handful of file types that are currently slipping through

-- Audit and delete two confirmed-orphan Google Cloud API keys after running a verification grep across the codebase

-- Submit 7 standardized recategorization requests to web-filter vendors (Cisco Talos, Zscaler, Forcepoint, Palo Alto, Fortinet, Symantec, Trellix) so corporate and government networks stop miscategorizing us


Each task ships independently. We're not asking for refactors, framework migrations, or net-new feature design.


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Required: you use Claude (Anthropic) as your coding assistant
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This is non-negotiable. We work with Claude every day. We need a contractor who is fluent with it — knows when it speeds you up, knows when not to trust it, knows how to feed it the right context.

You must have your own active Claude Pro, Claude Team, or Claude Code subscription. We will not provide accounts, share logins, or onboard you to ours. If you are not actively using Claude today, this engagement is not a fit.


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Required experience
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-- 5+ years shipping production WordPress (custom themes + mu-plugins)

-- Production Node.js + Express, ideally with Jade/Pug transactional email templates

-- Comfortable in SSH, git, scp, wp-cli, pm2

-- Strong source-control discipline — comfortable with a master-trunk workflow, commit-before-deploy, mandatory drift checks via raw md5 verification

-- Calm under deploy pressure: you pause and diagnose instead of patching reactively

-- Comfortable working from written specs without inventing scope


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Nice to have
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-- Prior nonprofit or civic-tech experience

-- Familiarity with LiteSpeed Cache, cPanel, HostGator-specific quirks

-- Familiarity with Brevo (Sendinblue) for transactional email

-- Bootstrap 4 + jQuery comfort (we have legacy surfaces we are NOT migrating in this engagement)


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What to expect from us
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-- A written file-ownership map showing which files you can touch freely and which require coordination with the founder

-- A walkthrough of our custom deploy script on a no-op file on day one

-- Direct access to the founder for blockers (4-hour response window during U.S. business hours)

-- Documented rollback procedure for every backend change

-- Per-task acceptance criteria you can verify yourself before flagging done


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Heads up: our deploys are unusually disciplined
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We use a custom shell script with mandatory drift gates, automatic backups stored outside the webroot, and a commit-before-deploy guardrail that will refuse to push files with uncommitted changes. We're a single-founder shop and a broken deploy at the wrong moment costs us real volunteer trust — so the process is strict on purpose. The first deploy will take longer than the others. That's expected.


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Out of scope for this engagement
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-- Framework migrations

-- React or front-end build-toolchain work (handled internally)

-- Net-new feature design or product decisions

-- Direct contact with our volunteers or beneficiaries

-- Coordination with other engineering vendors (there are none)


All decisions and clarifications flow through the founder.


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A note on the Claude-usage question
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When we ask how you use Claude today, we're looking for something specific and honest — not a sales pitch and not a disclaimer.

A real answer might look like: "I lean on Claude heavily for drafting boilerplate, exploring unfamiliar APIs, and writing test scaffolding. I've learned not to trust it on regex edge cases — I write the test cases first and let it iterate. I also won't let it touch a SQL WHERE clause that hits production data without me reading it character by character."

That kind of specificity tells us you've worked with the tool long enough to know where its edges are. We're not testing for anything — we just don't learn much from "Claude is great" or "I always review everything carefully." We want to see your real working relationship with the tool, including the limits.

The same applies to your code sample: small, descriptive commits and any test coverage at all will stand out far more than a polished README. We care about how you actually work, not how you present yourself.


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Compensation
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Hourly, your rate. Submit your rate with your application along with a hard-cap proposal based on the scope above. Payment is weekly.


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To apply
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Send a message with subject line "WP/Node contract — [your name]" and include:

-- A code sample showing production-quality PHP and production-quality Node.js (one repo or two, doesn't matter — we just need to see both)

-- One short paragraph: how you use Claude today, and one thing you've explicitly learned not to delegate to it

-- Your hourly rate and weekly availability

-- Your timezone and earliest possible start date


We respond within 3 business days. We move fast on good fits.