Professional Headless WordPress React PHP REST API

Connexus Credit Union

Full stack development on a headless WordPress platform for one of Wisconsin's largest credit unions — building the digital experience for over 400,000 members.

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Overview

Connexus Credit Union is one of the largest credit unions in the United States, serving hundreds of thousands of members. As a contract full stack developer, I worked directly on their public-facing web platform — a headless WordPress architecture where WordPress handles content management and a decoupled React front-end handles rendering.

Architecture

The platform uses WordPress as a headless CMS, exposing content through the WP REST API and custom endpoints. The React front-end consumes this API and renders content client-side, giving the marketing team full editorial control while the development team maintains a modern component-based UI layer.

WordPress REST API as the data layer
Custom PHP plugins extending core WP functionality
ACF (Advanced Custom Fields) for structured content modeling
React component library consuming the REST API
Custom Gutenberg block extensions for editorial tooling

My Contributions

Built and maintained reusable React components aligned to the design system
Developed custom PHP plugins for business-specific functionality
Extended Gutenberg with custom blocks for the content team
Implemented performance improvements reducing page load times
Worked with compliance and accessibility teams to meet WCAG 2.1 AA standards
Collaborated in an agile environment with daily standups and sprint planning

Tech Stack

PHP 8 — WordPress backend, custom plugins
React — decoupled front-end
Next.js — Powerful server-side rendering capabilities
WordPress REST API — data layer
ACF Pro — structured content modeling
SCSS — component styling
Git / GitHub — version control and code review