Bespoke WordPress Developer: Convert HTML to Theme

I am looking for an expert WordPress Developer to transform our carefully, written, static, semantic HTML5/CSS3 code into a high-performance, custom WordPress theme. The front-end code, metadata, and internationalization (hreflang) are 99% complete. We have built this site specifically to win traditional Google rankings and Google’s AI Overviews (AIO). We do not want a page builder site. We need a developer who respects clean, semantic DOM structures and advanced JSON-LD data graphs. What You Will Be Doing: Custom Theme Architecture: Take our fully responsive, semantic HTML5 structure (including complex section, article, and figure hierarchies) and convert it into a lightweight, bespoke WordPress theme using a minimal starter theme (like Underscores or Sage) or native Gutenberg custom blocks. Dynamic Schema Integration via ACF Pro: We have highly detailed JSON-LD scripts (@type: "AboutPage", "Organization", "BlogPosting") mapped out. You will use Advanced Custom Fields (ACF Pro) to create a clean back-end dashboard so that when we write a new blog post or update company stats, the data dynamically and flawlessly injects into our exact schema structures. SEO & Structure Preservation: Ensure that no WordPress core functions, plugins, or scripts inject messy code bloat, unmapped div tags, or conflicting schema metadata into our pristine templates. Performance Optimization: Deliver a site that hits 95+ scores on Google Lighthouse / Core Web Vitals across the board. Technical Requirements Expert-level WordPress Development: Deep experience building custom themes from scratch (no Elementor, Divi, Bricks, or pre-made templates). Semantic HTML5 & Modern CSS Validation: A profound understanding of how search crawlers and LLM crawlers parse code. Mastery of ACF Pro: Experience mapping custom fields to complex JSON-LD arrays (including sameAs, knowsAbout, and custom nested entities). Performance & Core Web Vitals: Proven track record of optimizing Time to First Byte (TTFB) and minimizing layout shifts (CLS) on custom themes. Localization : Familiarity handling multi-language directory structures or hooking up translation plugins cleanly alongside existing hreflang architecture. Application Instructions (To filter bots) To be considered for this project, please reply with the word "SEMANTIC" at the very top of your proposal. Please also include: A brief description of your experience building custom WordPress themes using ACF Pro. A link to a live site you built from scratch (not a page builder site) along with its mobile Google Lighthouse performance score. Project Type: One-time project (with potential for ongoing maintenance/updates) Budget: for 13 pages with responsive HTML already built Location Requirement: Remote