WordPress/Elementor Expert — Site Speed, Design Refresh, Tracking & Course Catalog Functionality

We run a well-established continuing legal education (CLE) platform serving thousands of attorney subscribers nationwide. Our site is built on WordPress with Elementor and a commercial theme, with Stripe handling payments and subscriptions. The site works, but it needs meaningful improvement in four areas, and we're looking for a senior WordPress developer to own this work end to end. Scope of work: 1. Performance optimization. The site is too slow. We want a full performance audit and implementation: caching strategy, image optimization, script/CSS optimization, database cleanup, CDN configuration, hosting recommendations if needed, and Elementor-specific bloat reduction. Success means passing Core Web Vitals and a clearly faster experience on our highest-traffic pages, with before/after benchmarks. 2. Design improvements — structural and aesthetic. We want to modernize the look and improve the site's structure (navigation, page layouts, content hierarchy). You should be comfortable both proposing design direction and implementing it in Elementor. We'll provide brand assets, reference sites, and notes on what we want changed. 3. Analytics and tracking. Implement clean, reliable tracking across the site: Google Tag Manager, GA4, ad platform pixels, and conversion tracking through our Stripe checkout flow. This includes a compliant cookie-consent solution appropriate for a professional audience. 4. Course catalog display functionality. Our course catalog needs better browsing: the ability to display and filter classes by date, category/practice area, and other attributes, with clean sorting and a good mobile experience. This may involve custom post types, taxonomies, custom queries, or extending our existing setup — we'll want your recommendation after you review how classes are currently structured. Critical constraint: Our Stripe integration processes live subscription revenue. All work happens on staging first, with careful testing of checkout and subscription flows before anything deploys. Breaking checkout is not an acceptable side effect of any improvement. Engagement structure: We'd like to start with a paid discovery phase — a performance and architecture audit with a prioritized recommendation report — then move into milestone-based implementation. This could become an ongoing relationship for the right person; we're a stable business with continuous website needs. To apply, please include: 2–3 WordPress/Elementor sites you've personally optimized or redesigned, with before/after performance numbers if you have them A sentence or two on your approach to speeding up an Elementor site specifically Your experience with Stripe-integrated WordPress sites Your availability and preferred working structure (hourly vs. milestones) Applications that don't address these points specifically will not be considered. Please begin your proposal with the word "Gavel" so we know you read this post. Part 3: Required Skills Core (must have): Expert-level WordPress development — PHP, MySQL, WP hooks/filters, custom post types and taxonomies Deep Elementor experience, including performance tuning of Elementor-built sites (this is a specialty; generic WP speed skills aren't enough) Site performance optimization — caching (server and plugin level), CDN setup, image optimization, render-blocking resource management, Core Web Vitals Front-end skills: HTML, CSS, JavaScript, responsive/mobile-first design Custom WP_Query work and archive/filtering functionality (for the catalog features) Google Tag Manager, GA4, and pixel/conversion tracking implementation Cookie consent / CMP implementation (CCPA/GDPR-aware) Staging-based workflow with proper backup and deployment discipline Strongly preferred: Experience with Stripe-integrated WordPress sites (WooCommerce + Stripe, MemberPress, Restrict Content Pro, or similar subscription plugins) UX/UI design sensibility — able to propose design direction, not just execute specs Membership/subscription or e-learning site experience (LMS platforms, course catalogs) Hosting/server administration (PHP tuning, object caching like Redis, server-level diagnostics) Nice to have: Accessibility (WCAG) awareness — relevant for a professional/legal audience SEO-safe redesign practices (preserving rankings through structural changes) Experience working with US-based small teams asynchronously