Open to new opportunities

Dhanuka Nuwan Gunarathna

Full-Stack Engineer

Building fast, secure and delightful web experiences with PHP, WordPress, React.js, Next.js and Astro.js — 13+ years of doing it well.

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Experience

13+ years

PHP · WordPress · React · Next.js · Astro

Based in

Stockholm

Sweden · remote-friendly

Open source

WordPress

WPCS & WP-CLI contributor

About

A bit about me

For 13+ years I've built fast, secure and maintainable web experiences for startups, agencies and enterprise teams — from boutique WordPress sites to full-stack products.

My sweet spot is where PHP meets modern JavaScript: WordPress at the core, React.js and Next.js on the front, and a relentless focus on performance, accessibility and the details that make software feel effortless.

Beyond the code

When I'm not shipping, I'm usually somewhere else — traveling, meeting new people and hunting down good coffee. Stockholm is my current home base, and I'd be lost without my friends.

Highlights

Milestones worth mentioning

Codeable Certified Expert

Top-ranked WordPress developer · Jul 2019

WordPress Contributor

WPCS & WP-CLI — helping build the ecosystem I build with

CFHack 2024 — Overall Winner

Also Web Impact & Social Media Awards

Skills

What I work with

Primary Stack

WordPress & PHP

My home turf — 13+ years of custom themes, plugins, headless CMS and performance tuning, from boutique sites to enterprise products.

Modern Front-ends

React.js, Next.js & Astro.js

Component-driven front-ends and full-stack apps — PWAs, headless WordPress front-ends, SSR/SSG with Next.js and content-driven sites with Astro.js.

Also in my toolkit

PHP MySQL SASS JavaScript/jQuery Git Docker Algolia WooCommerce Progressive Web Apps AngularJS Vue.js Astro.js

Experience

Where I've been

Current
Blendow Group

Software Engineer

Feb 2026 – Mar 2026
Full-time · Stockholm

Optimized a high-traffic news website and a custom WooCommerce site selling physical and online courses — offloading heavy WordPress database queries to Elasticsearch and Typesense so both stay fast under peak traffic, holding 90%+ Google Core Web Vitals scores for performance, SEO and best practices, and keeping the sites accessible and WCAG AA (2.0) compliant.
Yacht.com

Full Stack Engineer

May 2025 – Feb 2026
Contract · Remote

Led the implementation of the new yacht.com design to replace the outdated and slow WordPress site while keeping the existing data — then designed the architecture and led development of the yacht owners platform, built with Next.js, WordPress as the CMS and PostgreSQL as the relational DB.
MariaDB Corporation

Full Stack Engineer

Jan 2019 – Feb 2026
Freelance

WordPress MariaDB ReactJS Algolia
rtCamp

Senior Frontend Engineer

Apr 2025 – Jul 2025

React JS Next JS PHP
Codeable

Senior WordPress Developer

Dec 2019 – Mar 2025
Freelance

WordPress ReactJS Plugin development Headless CMS
Sustain4 AB (Sustain You)

System Engineer

May 2021 – Dec 2024
Part-time · Hybrid

React JS Progressive Web Apps Headless CMS
Mapiful

System Developer

Jun 2019 – Dec 2019

WordPress WooCommerce AngularJS Node.js Vue.js Docker
Triggerfish AB

Web Developer

Nov 2018 – Jun 2019
Stockholm
BuddyBoss

Frontend Developer

Aug 2016 – Nov 2018
Sri Lanka

Front-ends for WordPress themes and plugins built on the BuddyPress platform — front-end and back-end for the client team.
SUXIID Solutions

Web Developer → Senior Web Developer

Sep 2013 – Sep 2016

Full-stack web development — helping project managers estimate and deliver client projects on time.
ODDLY LLC

Junior Web Developer

Dec 2012 – Sep 2013

My first professional role — building WordPress sites and sharpening the craft alongside senior developers.

Selected Work

Projects I'm proud of

Featured · Enterprise

MariaDB

Enterprise open-source database — full-stack web development & performance. WordPress front-ends, React.js components and Algolia-powered search across mariadb.com.

WordPress React.js Algolia Performance

Full-stack