10 years of full stack work, most of it on the parts that never make the demo. Laravel and PHP on the server, Vue in the browser, MySQL underneath — and WordPress when a client needs to own their own content. One engineer from the schema to the deploy, through agencies, in-house teams, and a claims operation that still runs on it every day.
I began in PHP and WordPress, developing themes and plugins for small businesses that needed a site they could manage independently. That work established a principle I still apply: build for the person editing the page, not only the person visiting it.
Most of my current work is Laravel on the server and Vue in the browser — REST endpoints, SQL schemas that remain maintainable as the data grows, and JavaScript that sustains its frame rate on mid-range hardware. 10 years in, my focus remains on the final margin: the states that were never specified, and the query that quietly becomes quadratic.
I'm not a designer, and I don't pretend to be. Hand me a Figma file, Zeplin, a PSD and I'll build it to match — down to the spacing, the breakpoints that fall between the artboards, and the interactions the comp only hints at. Design direction isn't what I'm selling. The build behind it is.
A good chunk of that work has been about conversion. Sales funnels built on a custom PHP MVC framework instead of thrown together in a page builder, landing pages where what sits behind the form — validation, the CRM handoff — matters more than the hero image, and Google Analytics under both of them tracking the events and goals the business actually cares about, so a closed lead can be traced back to the spend that brought it in. A funnel you can't measure is just a guess with a deploy pipeline.
All work
Server-side development in PHP, using Laravel on new projects and working within existing custom frameworks where one is already in place. I design the data model first, keep business logic out of the controllers, and treat third-party integrations as a planned part of the architecture rather than a late addition.
Interfaces built in Vue, React and JavaScript, implemented to both the technical specification and the design. Components that manage their own state and compose cleanly, forms and data tables that perform under production volumes, and considered GSAP scroll and transition work that gives the finished product a deliberate feel.
Custom themes developed from scratch rather than adapted from commercial templates. Advanced Custom Fields behind every editable region, so marketing teams can update pages without touching template code; WooCommerce where there are commerce requirements; and custom plugins for functionality that belongs outside the theme layer.
The work that follows launch. LAMP environments provisioned and configured against the correct DNS, queries profiled and tuned before they affect page performance, and existing applications maintained through patches, updates and ongoing feature development — with code review alongside the team so standards hold after handover.
Pages built to bring in leads, not adapted from a template. The form is the whole point and the design is there to serve it — validation on the server as well as in the browser, and submissions handed straight to whatever CRM the client already runs on. What matters is the full path from first paint to a lead you can actually count, not a nice page with a form stuck on the end. If there is enough traffic for the answer to mean anything, I split-test it rather than argue about it.
All services
Sep 2023 — Present · Remote
Developing and maintaining the core software behind the claims operation — PHP on a custom in-house MVC framework, JavaScript in the browser and SQL beneath. Integrating third-party APIs and services to extend system capability, and maintaining existing applications through updates, patches and new feature development. Reviewing code alongside the wider team to uphold best practice and raise overall quality.
May 2023 — Jul 2023 · Remote
Full-stack studio work — PHP and MySQL on the server, WordPress builds for clients requiring independent content management, and the accompanying front-end development. Delivered client briefs from initial scope through launch, and provided ongoing support after release.
Dec 2022 — Jan 2023 · Remote
Custom WordPress development — a theme built from scratch rather than adapted from a commercial template, with Advanced Custom Fields driving every editable region so the marketing team could update pages without touching template code. Developed custom plugins for functionality that belonged outside the theme layer, including the integrations that pulled content and data from external APIs.
May 2022 — Nov 2022 · Remote
Front-end engineer on the Lilly Regulatory Requirements Application. Built the complex user interface to requirement in React, TypeScript and Material UI — components that manage their own state and compose cleanly — delivered under Agile Scrum, with the project structured into sprints that each produced a working increment. Provided troubleshooting and debugging support throughout, managed code releases in Git, and wrote maintainable, extensible code within a team environment.
Sep 2021 — Dec 2021 · Hybrid
Developed new features in object-oriented PHP and JavaScript, carrying sites through every phase — planning, development, debugging and launch — in direct collaboration with the design and marketing teams. Delivered end-to-end WordPress work for customers: installation, plugin and widget configuration, and integration of existing modules alongside custom themes, modules, views, functions and hooks. Built a custom theme on Advanced Custom Fields, Yoast SEO and WooCommerce to meet the business objectives behind the brief.
Jul 2018 — Sep 2021 · Remote
Led development of campaign platforms and the reporting behind them — Laravel APIs, Vue front ends, custom WordPress sites the marketing team could operate without engineering support, and SQL that remained performant as advertising data volumes grew. Integrated ACF (Advanced Custom Fields), WooCommerce and multiple other plugins into WordPress themes, and maintained a Shopify site with custom features built on top. Provisioned the LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP) environment on DigitalOcean, DNS records included, and optimized sites for usability, SEO, speed and accessibility. Also owned tracking and attribution analysis, and established the development standards the team worked to.
Dec 2016 — Feb 2019 · On-site
Developed and maintained client-facing sites and the internal tooling behind them — PHP on the server, WordPress for content the team managed directly, and MySQL beneath. Owned delivery end to end, from client scoping through deployment.
Kenny Baustert — Lakeland, Florida
kenny@kennyb.dev
linkedin.com/in/kennybjr
github.com/kdbaustert