Darko is available for hire
Hire DarkoDarko Gjorgjijoski
Verified Expert in Engineering
WordPress Developer
Skopje, Macedonia
Toptal member since May 12, 2020
Bio
Darko is a professional with several years of experience in software development and knows how crucial quality code, hard work, and excellent communication are to a project's success. In addition to having in-depth knowledge of WordPress plugin and theme development, WooCommerce, custom web app development, and REST API development, he's also skilled in server and performance optimization. Darko is passionate about learning new things and improving his existing skills.
Portfolio
And Simple ApS
React, Node.js, PHP, WordPress, TypeScript, Large Language Models (LLMs)...
Ideologix
Laravel, Next.js, Supabase, TanStack Router, PostgreSQL, PostgREST, AI Agents...
Frontier Medicines Corporation
WordPress, JavaScript, Vanilla JS, CSS, HTML5, Responsive UI...
Experience
- WordPress - 12 years
- Laravel - 11 years
- WooCommerce - 10 years
- React - 8 years
- Python - 8 years
- Kubernetes - 5 years
- Artificial Intelligence (AI) - 4 years
- LangGraph - 2 years
Preferred Environment
Slack, Unix, Windows, SEO Tools, Claude Code, Codex
The most amazing...
...thing I've built is CelerSearch, a scalable search engine cloud where you can spin up search instances in seconds, with 1,000+ provisioned by paid customers.
Work Experience
Senior Full-stack Developer
2025 - PRESENT
And Simple ApS
- Helped migrate from the old WordPress stack to a modern Next.js-powered stack.
- Used various AI technologies to accelerate development and managed Replit projects through a Git-powered workflow.
- Handled day-to-day tasks regarding AI integrations, technical SEO, and bug fixing.
- Fixed Core Web Vitals issues, brought CWV score from "Failed" to "Passed."
Technologies: React, Node.js, PHP, WordPress, TypeScript, Large Language Models (LLMs), Replit, Claude, Claude Code, OpenRouter, Supabase, Chatbots, Agentic AI, LLM Agents, AI Agents, Auth0, AI Design, AI Tools, Core Web Vitals, PageSpeed, Databases, Fintech
Principal Engineer (Contract)
2023 - PRESENT
Ideologix
- Developed Smetko.mk, an ERP platform for the Macedonian market with modules for retail, warehouse management, hospitality, and lodging. Designed the modular monolith architecture and led a team of three developers from planning through delivery.
- Developed a procurement intelligence platform that notifies clients about national tenders in real time. Built web crawlers aggregating government sources and integrated AI-powered tender summaries.
- Managed eCommerce integrations for various local clients. Including payment gateway integrations, newsletters, and CRM integrations.
- Architected a Kubernetes-based cluster for hosting client projects, offered by the company as a managed service. Standardized deployments and scaling across all hosted applications.
- Developed AI-powered automations using Hermes Agent, OpenClaw, and n8n. Matched each task to the right model tier, using frontier LLMs for complex work and cheaper models for high-volume tasks.
Technologies: Laravel, Next.js, Supabase, TanStack Router, PostgreSQL, PostgREST, AI Agents, LLM Agents, Large Language Models (LLMs), OpenRouter, Claude, Nuxt 3, Nuxt.js, Astro, Python, Python 3, FastAPI, LangGraph, LangChain, AI Programming, Automation, n8n, AI Design, AI Tools, Web Scraping, Databases, Legacy Code
Full-stack Web Developer
2026 - 2026
Frontier Medicines Corporation
- Developed a WordPress plugin for displaying the client’s medical drug pipeline, including clinical phases and approval status.
- Helped the client optimize their online presence by suggesting improvements across the website.
- Guided the IT staff to use the plugin correctly and build precision pipelines.
Technologies: WordPress, JavaScript, Vanilla JS, CSS, HTML5, Responsive UI, Full-stack Development, Cross-browser Compatibility, Dom Manipulation, WordPress Plugins, WordPress Themes, REST APIs, Custom WordPress, React, MySQL, Responsive Web Design (RWD)
WordPress Developer
2022 - 2023
Propellor BV
- Refactored an eCommerce WordPress plugin and optimized its performance and security while improving code quality. Sites that used the secure plugin became 100% faster.
- Developed new features, fixed bugs, and rewrote existing functionality for better performance and security.
- Created a customized Linux hosting environment to host the client's sites that utilize their services. The new hosting environment improves the sites' performance and security and simplifies the development work and website provisioning using a command line interface.
- Implemented a GitLab CI/CD flow with pipelines on the new Linux hosting environment. This allowed developers to automatically deploy versions to both production and development sites based on certain GitLab repository actions.
- Created a custom plugin that serves as an Elementor support layer used on the clients' sites to improve the main eCommerce plugin compatibility.
- Prepared the eCommerce plugin for WordPress.org plugin directory submission, which required significant codebase changes to use WordPress coding standards and requirements that were not used before.
Technologies: WordPress, WordPress Themes, WordPress Design, HTML5, WordPress Plugins, PHP, CSS, eCommerce, Headless Commerce, GraphQL, Astra, Web Development, DB, Data Visualization, Payment APIs, Payment Gateways, Web Analytics, JSON, Webpack, Software Engineering, Apache, CI/CD Pipelines, Headless WordPress, Performance Optimization, Single Sign-on (SSO), Kubernetes, Responsive Web Design (RWD), Web Scraping
WordPress Developer
2022 - 2023
Northeastern University
- Developed a WordPress plugin that integrates and consumes custom AI-based API for content suggestions.
- Created custom themes and various charts for displaying API data.
- Worked together with another developer on planning the API and custom development.
- Created AWS Lambda functions for various web automations.
Technologies: WordPress, Amazon S3 (AWS S3), APIs, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Python, MySQL, Web Design, WordPress Design, Bluehost, Figma, HTML to WordPress, WordPress Theme Design, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Data Visualization, Web Development, API Integration, JSON, Apache, AI Integration, Node.js, Headless WordPress, Responsive, Kubernetes, Responsive Web Design (RWD), User Experience (UX)
WordPress Developer
2020 - 2023
7055 Inc
- Developed a multivendor marketplace plugin for WooCommerce that provides functionality where product vendors can sign up and post their products on the store where those products can be seen and purchased.
- Integrated Stripe payments through the multivendor plugin and Stripe Connect, where vendors can set up their accounts and receive payouts through the store.
- Developed a custom plugin for events that provides functionality to publish new events on the site. Both admins or regular users can publish events; if published later, then the event is subject to approval.
- Deployed the website on Google Cloud Platform (GCP) and set up the hosting environment using NGINX and PHP-FPM.
Technologies: WordPress, PHP, MySQL, CSS, HTML5, Figma, Advanced Custom Fields (ACF), WooCommerce, WooCommerce API, PSD to WordPress, HTML to WordPress, WordPress Plugins, Stripe, Stripe API, Stripe Connect, Stripe Connect API, Google Cloud Platform (GCP), Web Development, AffiliateWP, DB, Payment APIs, Payment Gateways, JSON, Webhooks, Webpack, Apache, Headless WordPress, Single Sign-on (SSO)
Senior WordPress Developer
2016 - 2022
CodeVerve
- Built the WordPress plugin "WP Vimeo Videos," currently used by more than 500 sites. The plugin integrates WordPress with Vimeo and allows users to upload Vimeo videos from the WordPress dashboard or the Gutenberg editor.
- Developed the GravityForms Handmade Signatures plugin that allows the site owner to embed a signature field in any form created with GravityForms.
- Helped existing clients with bug fixing, website performance, and page-speed optimization to at least 90% percent and up to two seconds of loading time.
- Developed a custom WooCommerce solution and integrated various payment gateways for the clients' needs.
- Created an internal licensing plugin for WordPress that validates license keys and handles auto-updates of the premium plugins.
- Built the Digital License Manager plugin for WordPress that provides functionality for selling license keys for software and acts as a software licensing server. The solution can be used with or without WooCommerce.
Technologies: Web Hosting, Object-oriented Programming (OOP), ACF PRO, WP-CLI, WordPress API, HTML5, WooCommerce, MySQL, Front-end, Back-end, Git, REST APIs, WordPress Plugins, Gutenberg Editor, Gravity Forms, APIs, Vimeo, WordPress, PHP, JavaScript, Leaflet, Advanced Custom Fields (ACF), Web Development, Site Speed Optimization, Web Applications, DB, Stripe Checkout, Architecture, Payment APIs, Payment Gateways, Klaviyo, Mailchimp, JSON, Webpack, Software Engineering, Next.js, CMS Structure & Configuration, Core Web Vitals, Responsive Web Design (RWD)
Senior WordPress Developer
2018 - 2021
Land Title Association of Mississippi
- Developed an identity verification plugin that utilizes the Stripe Identity Verification API to verify a user's identity.
- Built a user directory that lists all the active user profiles that belong to a specific membership plan.
- Developed a legislation tracking plugin for tracking specific US house/senate bills.
- Built various directories like a state county directory with helpful information.
Technologies: WP-CLI, Gravity Forms, Bootstrap 3+, WordPress API, HTML5, CSS, MySQL, Back-end, Front-end, Git, jQuery, WordPress Plugins, Stripe, BuddyPress, WooCommerce, Stripe API, WordPress, JavaScript, PHP, WooCommerce API, LearnDash, Advanced Custom Fields (ACF), Custom Post Types, WordPress Multi-user, Learning Management Systems (LMS), Typeform.io, Web Development, API Integration, Payment Gateways, Web Analytics, JSON
WordPress Developer
2017 - 2020
The St. Petersburg Group
- Developed the St. Pete Catalyst news site in WordPress. The website handles thousands of requests on an hourly basis and several other plugins that provide various functionalities for this site.
- Built a WordPress plugin and internal events API that hosts an events network used by pre-approved websites through the WordPress plugin, which consumes the events API.
- Created a WordPress plugin for booking advertisements that integrate with Stripe. Clients can top up their accounts with credits that can be used to purchase advertisement slots on pre-approved sites in the network for a given time.
- Developed various custom forms from XD designs used for data input by the guests, namely guest posts.
- Implemented a business directory where local businesses can create their profiles and add information about their business.
- Created a COVID-19 interactive map with several cases in zip-code regions in Pinellas county using Leaflet.js.
Technologies: WP Rocket, ACF PRO, WP-CLI, Gravity Forms, Bootstrap 3+, WordPress API, HTML5, CSS, MySQL, Google Maps, Back-end, Front-end, Git, REST APIs, WordPress Themes, PSD to WordPress, WordPress Plugins, Stripe, jQuery, JavaScript, WordPress, PHP, Advanced Custom Fields (ACF), Custom Post Types, Web Design, DevOps, WordPress Multi-user, Web Development, UI Design, API Integration, Webpack, Stripe API, Cloudflare, Responsive, Web Scraping, Legacy Code
Senior Full-stack Developer
2017 - 2019
MegaOptim
- Built image compression APIs in the Lumen framework from Laravel that serve more than 1,000 web apps and sites. The resulting images are up to 92% smaller in size after optimization.
- Developed a WordPress plugin that utilizes the image compression APIs and automates the image optimization process in WordPress sites.
- Constructed a support-and-billing panel for customers to purchase premium plans, monitor statistics, and open support requests.
- Created a PHP composer package and CLI tool that utilizes the image compression APIs and allows the optimization APIs to be integrated into any application.
- Developed a WordPress website to showcase the service and documentation page for REST APIs.
- Created a load-balanced set up to offload requests to multiple servers and speed up the processing time.
Technologies: Adobe Photoshop, Object-oriented Programming (OOP), HTML5, Advanced Custom Fields (ACF), LAMP, MySQL, Front-end, Back-end, Git, Redis, Laravel, WordPress, JavaScript, PHP, REST APIs, APIs, HAProxy, Load Balancers, DevOps, Web Development, UI Design, API Integration, Page Speed Optimization, Web Applications, DB, Full-stack, Payment Gateways, Klaviyo, Mailchimp, JSON, Webpack, Software Engineering, Auditing, Optimization, Cloudflare, Cloud Infrastructure, CI/CD Pipelines, Core Web Vitals, Full-stack Development
Senior Web Developer
2013 - 2018
Freelance
- Developed a web app game that primarily focused on people with diabetes (they answered quizzes and then gained points and levels in their accounts). The application served more than 1,000 users simultaneously.
- Built a new functionality and improved the existing functionality to speed up the service phptopdf.com which serves more than 100,000 requests daily.
- Developed, maintained, and hosted over 100 WordPress websites for local and remote clients.
- Created HTML/JavaScript promotional animations for the Starbucks site used for promotion.
- Developed engagestudio.com based on the PSD design, including integrations with HubSpot and Trustpilot.
- Developed the loopsandbits.ch eCommerce site for music equipment. The eCommerce portion is based on WooCommerce and integrates with several payment gateways like PostFinance, PayPal, and Twint.
- Developed the techgarage.blog based on Zeplin designs, including dark mode, integration with Campaign Monitor, and Gravity Forms.
- Developed the Ilubooking.ee WordPress beauty-booking site and the booking REST API consumed by Android and iOS apps.
- Developed a site for online learning based on LearnDash and BuddyPress where students can sign up, create their social profiles and start online learning.
Technologies: Web Hosting, Genesis Framework, Object-oriented Programming (OOP), ACF PRO, WP-CLI, Gravity Forms, Bootstrap 3+, WordPress API, HTML5, CSS, LAMP, WordPress Rescue, WooCommerce, MySQL, Google Maps, Back-end, Front-end, Git, REST APIs, jQuery, PSD to WordPress, Vue, Symfony, Laravel, WordPress, JavaScript, PHP, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Amazon S3 (AWS S3), Advanced Custom Fields (ACF), Custom Post Types, Web Design, WordPress Design, User Interface (UI), YouTube API, DevOps, WordPress Multisite, WordPress Multi-user, Divi, GitHub, IT Security, Webflow, Web Development, UI Design, Webhooks, Webpack, Stripe API, Auditing, CMS Structure & Configuration, Responsive, LangChain, LangGraph, Python, Electron, Amazon Bedrock AgentCore, React Native, Supabase, iOS, Web Scraping, Apify SDK, FaunaDB, Legacy Code
Experience
CelerSearch - Search-as-a-Service Platform
https://celersearch.com/A search-as-a-service platform with an engine-agnostic architecture across the Go control plane, customer portal, and WordPress plugin. Currently deploys Meilisearch instances, with the codebase designed to support additional engines, such as Typesense. As the platform engineer, I built the full stack: a Go-based control plane that handles instance lifecycle (create, start, stop, delete), the public site celersearch.com in Nuxt, and the CelerSearch WordPress plugin that connects WordPress sites to a hosted instance. The customer-facing surface is a Laravel/Livewire portal that queues operations to the control plane and handles subscription billing through Paddle, support ticketing, and the affiliate program.
ILNP - Back End and DevOps/Infra
https://www.ilnp.com/I designed and implemented the on-premises cloud infrastructure for ilnp.com, hosted on our own hardware. The site is built with the Roots WordPress framework and WooCommerce, and runs on a K3s-powered Kubernetes cluster with CI/CD via GitHub Actions and Docker.
Invoiceshelf - Open Source Invoicing Application
https://github.com/invoiceshelf/invoiceshelfAn open-source, self-hosted invoicing and expense-tracking app for individuals and small businesses, built with Laravel and Vue 3 and deployable via Docker Compose. I've been a core maintainer of the original repository since 2024. My work includes shipping multi-tenancy, leading a large-scale refactor across both layers (migrating the front end from untyped JavaScript to fully typed TypeScript, and reorganizing the back end into cleaner modules for better readability and extension), and building AI-powered invoice scanning for the upcoming 3.0 release.
Packyard - Selfhosted/Private PHP Composer Registry
https://packyard.devA Composer package registry you can run on your own infrastructure. Ships as a single Go binary with an embedded admin dashboard, organization-scoped tokens, local or S3-compatible storage, and package syncing from GitHub and GitLab.
Laravel/Vue Starter Kit
https://github.com/gdarko/laravel-vue-starterA starter project for Laravel that integrates with the new Vue 3 and utilizes the Composition API, along with Tailwind CSS, Vue Router, and Pinia. The project was created to help reduce the amount of work when bootstrapping new similar projects.
Portal - Support and Billing Software in Laravel
https://app.megaoptim.com/A Laravel-based web application that handles client billing and support ticketing, which integrates with an external payment gateway and the live chat service, Crisp. I developed both the back end and the front end of the application.
AIGraid - AI-powered Exam Grading
https://wordpress.org/plugins/ai-graid/AIGraid is a WordPress plugin that revolutionizes the grading process for LearnDash users. It automatically evaluates and scores student essays using the power of AI. This plugin streamlines the grading workflow, providing instant and accurate assessments, freeing up valuable time for teachers and educators. With seamless integration into LearnDash, it ensures consistent grading standards and enhances the overall e-learning experience.
Engage Studio - Custom WordPress Site
https://www.engagestudio.com/I developed a custom WordPress website from Photoshop designs (PSD) for Engagestudio.com. The site was developed using ACF to provide a seamless editing experience and was integrated with Trustpilot, HubSpot, and Google Maps.
Thunderlawns Website and Sign-up Flow
https://thunderlawns.com/A custom website built with Bricks Builder, fully tailored to an existing design and optimized for maximum performance with a strong focus on achieving top Google PageSpeed scores. In addition to performance optimization, I also developed a custom Sign-Up Form that seamlessly integrates Stripe, Jobber, and Klaviyo into one streamlined solution that simplifies client onboarding and automates key business workflows.
Sardo Foods - Elementor-based Website
https://sardofoods.ca/A WordPress-based website for one of Canada's largest food suppliers/manufacturers. I developed this website based on a wireframe: the site contains a product database and integrates with Instagram and Facebook.
Sardo Foods = B2B Application
A WordPress-based plugin that is used to create a business-to-business web application where businesses can order food products from the manufacturer. I developed various functionalities within this project, including support for different roles (B2B admin, B2B sales rep, etc.), an order form, product and customer import/export, and email notifications.
St. Pete Catalyst - Business News Portal
https://stpetecatalyst.comA website for a local news outlet in St. Petersburg, Florida. I developed the website from the ground, along with various tools for publishing and newsletter management. The website is modular, and every functionality is split into its plugin so that each feature can be enabled or disabled based on usage. The technologies used are WordPress, PHP, and JavaScript.
CityVerse - Virtual Cities
https://cityverse.lifeA website for a news blockchain-based startup. I developed the website from scratch based on Figma design. The website is developed with Bricks builder and custom PHP/JavaScript where necessary. It also uses GravityForms for web forms.
MegaOptim Image Optimizer WordPress Plugin
https://wordpress.org/plugins/megaoptim-image-optimizer/I built a WordPress plugin for image optimization that automates the process of image optimization on websites. It provides a bulk optimization module for a media library, allows the user to select an existing filesystem folder containing images, optimizes it, and integrates with several WordPress plugins, such as NextGen Galleries.
Digital License Manager
https://wordpress.org/plugins/digital-license-manager/A WordPress plugin that integrates with WooCommerce and provides the functionality for selling software licenses through WooCommerce. The plugin also provides an update server that can be integrated to provide automatic updates through your application UI.
Education
2013 - 2019
Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science and Engineering
Saints Cyril and Methodius University of Skopje - Skopje, Macedonia
Skills
Libraries/APIs
WordPress REST API, WordPress API, Vue, Stripe, Vimeo API, YouTube API, WooCommerce API, jQuery, REST APIs, Stripe API, BuddyPress, Google Maps API, Google Maps JavaScript API 3, Google APIs, Vue 3, React, Stripe Connect, Stripe Connect API, Node.js, Campaign Monitor API, Leaflet, Google Maps, Shopify API, Typeform.io, Claude API, OpenAI API, PostgREST
Tools
ACF PRO, PhpStorm, Slack, LearnDash, Git, Cron, Advanced Custom Fields (ACF), Figma, GitHub, AffiliateWP, Stripe Checkout, The SEO Framework, Mailchimp, Apache, Roots, Composer, Claude Code, Claude, GitLab, Codex, n8n, WP-CLI, Trello, Subversion (SVN), Jira, Gutenberg Editor, Webpack, Amazon CloudFront, Adobe Photoshop, C#.NET WinForms, Meilisearch, Auth0, TanStack Router, Astro, PageSpeed
Languages
CSS, HTML, HTML5, SQL, TypeScript, Python, JavaScript, PHP, GraphQL, Go, Java, SCSS, C, C++, Python 3
Frameworks
Genesis Framework, Laravel, Divi, Tailwind CSS, Next.js, Django, LangGraph, Electron, AWS HA, React Native, Bootstrap 3+, Angular, ASP.NET Web Forms, Symfony, Laravel Livewire, Nuxt.js, Vanilla JS, Nuxt 3
Paradigms
Object-oriented Programming (OOP), Responsive Layout, REST, DevOps, UI Design, Responsive, Responsive Web Design (RWD), Automation, Agile, Scrum, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Database Design, Unit Testing, Maintainability, Modularization
Platforms
Windows, Amazon Web Services (AWS), WordPress, WooCommerce, WordPress Theme Design, Google Cloud Platform (GCP), Klaviyo, Kubernetes, AWS Lambda, iOS, LAMP, LEMP, HubSpot, Amazon EC2, Unix, Android, Bluehost, Webflow, Replit
Storage
Amazon S3 (AWS S3), MySQL, DB, JSON, PostgreSQL, Microsoft Entra ID, Databases, Redis, Redis Cache, Memcached, SQL Performance
Industry Expertise
Web Design
Other
Elementor, WordPress Themes, PSD to WordPress, Autoptimize, Back-end, APIs, Gravity Forms, Web Hosting, WordPress Plugins, PSD to HTML, PSD Slicing, Maps, Google Maps Styling, Performance, User Experience (UX), HAProxy, Custom Post Types, Bricks, WordPress Multisite, WordPress Multi-user, HTML to WordPress, Artificial Intelligence (AI), WooCommerce Subscriptions 2, Data Visualization, Learning Management Systems (LMS), Web Development, API Integration, Software Engineering, Page Speed Optimization, Site Speed Optimization, Web Applications, Stripe Payments, Full-stack, Adobe XD to WordPress, Payment APIs, Payment Gateways, AI Agents, Web Analytics, Webhooks, Optimization, Auditing, Cloudflare, Cloud Infrastructure, AI Integration, Plugin Development, CI/CD Pipelines, SEO Tools, Headless WordPress, Performance Optimization, CMS Structure & Configuration, Core Web Vitals, TanStack Start, Agentic AI, Full-stack Development, Large Language Models (LLMs), LangChain, Microsoft Entra, Single Sign-on (SSO), Geolocation, Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Amazon Bedrock AgentCore, AWS Database Management System, Supabase, AI Programming, AI Design, AI Tools, Web Scraping, Apify SDK, FaunaDB, Cloud Architecture, Legacy Code, Fintech, Data Structures, WordPress Rescue, Front-end, Responsive UI, Responsive Design, Load Balancers, Ajax, Campaign Monitor Integration, Pop-ups, WordPress Design, eCommerce, Headless Commerce, Astra, Laravel Sanctum, Laravel Fortify, IT Security, Architecture, Content Delivery Networks (CDN), GitHub Actions, Internet of Things (IoT), WP Rocket, Vimeo, PHP Performance, User Interface (UI), Pinia, Jobber, OpenRouter, Gemini API, Maintenance, Cross-browser Compatibility, Dom Manipulation, Custom WordPress, Chatbots, LLM Agents, FastAPI
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