Hello, we’re looking for an experienced WordPress + Server Optimization expert who can fix several performance and stability issues on a high-traffic news platform. Context We run a large WordPress news website on a cloud instance with: • 14 vCPU / 20 GB RAM • Nginx as web server • MySQL as DB server • PHP 8.1 + PHP-FPM • W3 Total Cache • Yoast SEO • Elementor (design already completed) • Hello Theme • Custom cron (WP-cron disabled) • Security hardening + CAPTCHA (not a DoS issue) • Everything up to date (plugins + WordPress core). Important note We do not have a staging/testing server. All changes must be applied directly on the production server. We take constant backups, so before you apply any fix, just notify us, and we will: 1. Pause all publishing from editors, 2. Take a fresh backup, 3. Give you the green light. The issues we face We have around 30 editors publishing throughout the day. They frequently get “502 Bad Gateway” errors when saving, editing, or navigating the dashboard. This issue is not related to Elementor and not related to weak internet connections. Additional symptoms: • Backend is slow (dashboard, editor, media, post lists). • Search operations are very slow (posts, media, anything). • Frontend is slow for logged-in users, even with caching configured. • Navigation feels heavy despite having strong server resources. • If caching for logged-in users is required to fix performance, we need you to implement it properly. • We don’t need custom cache fragments—we just need the site to be fast and stable. Given our hardware, this performance is abnormal. So the causes are likely related to: • Misconfigured Nginx, • PHP-FPM workers/limits not tuned for concurrency, • MySQL slow queries or lack of optimization, • I/O bottlenecks, • Caching layer misconfiguration, • Elementor/WordPress queries under editorial load, • General server tuning issues. What we need from you Since our internal team does not have time for a deep audit (and we would solve it ourselves if we already knew the root causes), we need you to: 1. Audit the full stack deeply (Nginx, PHP-FPM, MySQL, caching, cron, disk, CPU/RAM usage). 2. Identify all bottlenecks causing: • 502 errors, • slow backend, • slow searches, • slow frontend for logged-in users. 3. Provide clear, actionable recommendations. 4. Implement the fixes, live, with coordination. Pricing & expected time Because this is a production environment with multiple layers, we know performance auditing requires time. Please tell us: 1. Your hourly rate, 2. Your estimated number of hours to complete: • the full audit, • bottleneck diagnosis, • suggested fixes, • implementation. Based on past experience with similar infrastructures, we expect this to take around: • 6–12 hours for a full audit + diagnosis + first round of optimizations, • Up to 12–16 hours if deeper MySQL or PHP-FPM performance tuning is required. We’re flexible as long as the estimate is realistic and communication is clear. Before moving forward, please confirm: • Do you have experience optimizing WordPress + Elementor on Nginx/PHP-FPM at scale? • Do you know how to diagnose and fix 502 Bad Gateway errors under high concurrency? • Are you familiar with W3 Total Cache (or alternative cache strategies) for logged-in and logged-out users? • Can you optimize MySQL and PHP-FPM for large editorial workloads? • Have you resolved similar “slow backend + slow search + random 502” cases before? We’re looking for someone who knows exactly where to look and can solve these issues reliably in a live production environment.