Case Study · Platform Modernization
Outgrew WordPress. Led a headless rebuild for speed, security, and scale.
+43%
LCP improvement
Stack
WordPress → Headless
2 Teams
In-house + agency
3
Properties migrated
The Problem
The WordPress sites were high-traffic and had outgrown the platform. Code bloat and an overloaded GTM setup dragged Core Web Vitals down; the stack was also a growing security exposure and increasingly hard to scale. A full audit was clear: speed, security, and scalability all pointed past WordPress.
What I Did
- Ran the audit, made the case. Diagnosed the bloat, security exposure, and scaling limits, then built the business case for a headless replatform on speed, security, and scalability.
- Chose the stack and the vendors. Led vendor interviews and selection, landing on Next.js and Contentful, and set the architecture direction.
- Moved tracking server-side. Directed a shift to server-side GTM, pulling tracking weight off the page while improving data quality.
- Managed delivery across two teams. Coordinated in-house developers and an agency team through build, testing, setup, and launch.
The Result
Measured against the old WordPress baseline, LCP improved 43%, with server-side GTM taking tracking off the page. Beyond speed, the headless stack shrank the attack surface and gave the team room to scale.
"You can't tune your way out of a platform you've outgrown. Speed, security, and scale share the same ceiling."
Takeaway