Phillip Wessels
Web Producer & CMS Operations Specialist · Web Development · Platform Architecture
Agentic Systems · AI × Human Flourishing
Summary
Web producer and CMS operations specialist with twelve years across web production, structured content, API-enabled CMS architecture, QA, and business operations — and twenty years on the web overall. Built and maintained a custom WordPress CMS supporting thousands of templated pages and 6+ editors; created REST API tools, publishing workflows, documentation, and reporting automations that improved content quality and reduced dependency on developer bottlenecks. Independently designs and ships pawper.dev — a structured-content Astro site with an automated build-and-publish pipeline — and regularly writes and teaches on modern web and agentic workflows. Known for detail-oriented QA, clear communication with nontechnical partners, and turning recurring content requests into scalable publishing systems.
Skills
CMS / Web ProductionWordPress CMS, custom post types, taxonomies, Toolset, Elementor, templated page assembly, structured content models, content collections, publishing workflows Web QA / Content OpsStaging/production review, copy/formatting/link/rendering checks, request triage, stakeholder coordination, editor enablement, documentation/training, publishing governance, SEO metadata TechnicalHTML/CSS, JavaScript/TypeScript, PHP, REST APIs, SQL, PowerShell, Python, React, Node.js, Astro, Git/GitHub, Docker, WSL/Linux, Netlify, Cloudinary Tools / OperationsZoho Desk, Smartsheet, Excel/VBA, Postman, Windows Task Scheduler, technical documentation, training materials AI / AutomationClaude, ChatGPT, Gemini, Ollama, OpenRouter; agentic orchestration (OpenClaw, Hermes Agent); multi-agent workflows, AGENTS.md/CLAUDE.md, Skills, and MCP/WebMCP agent-ready surfaces — used to improve workflow reliability, documentation, and review, not as a substitute for judgment
Experience
Classic Vacations (Expedia Group, acquired by TBO)
Web Producer / Web Platform Architect Oct 2022 – May 2026
- Owned CMS production architecture for a WordPress platform serving thousands of structured destination, hotel, itinerary, product, and taxonomy pages across 6+ editorial users.
- Built custom post types, taxonomies, relational content models, Elementor templates, and reusable publishing patterns that helped nontechnical teams assemble and maintain content consistently.
- Managed recurring web content needs by translating stakeholder requests into scalable CMS fields, templates, workflows, documentation, and governance patterns.
- Created REST API endpoints and reporting views to audit image coverage, content completeness, fallback behavior, and publishing readiness across large page collections.
- Supported content updates and launch readiness through QA of page templates, copy, formatting, links, imagery, structured fields, and rendering behavior.
- Integrated external TBO hotel/property data into CMS-managed pages through an import UI, live JSON store, field-level source toggles, and photo gallery workflow while preserving editorial control.
- Reduced Marketing dependency on developer intervention by improving CMS usability, enabling self-service publishing, training editors, and documenting repeatable processes.
Product Operations Admin — QA & Training Feb 2019 – Oct 2022
- Performed high-volume content/data QA, copy review, booking/product review, and operational reporting for cross-functional travel product workflows.
- Designed and maintained a PowerShell + SQL + Windows Task Scheduler reporting platform that centralized recurring QA, booking, and operational reports for two teams and cross-department stakeholders.
- Took over and corrected production-critical SQL queries powering QA and booking-travel reports; documented and maintained a query library for repeatable use.
- Built an Excel/VBA dashboard that converted a neglected CSV report into a reusable one-click review workflow for recurring operational issues.
- Led team adoption of GitHub for version control and process visibility, replacing email-based code sharing/manual backups; trained new hires and authored workflow documentation.
Product Operations Admin · contracted via Volt Workforce Solutions, Oct 2013 – Jul 2014 Oct 2013 – Feb 2019
- Supported product contracting operations through QA review, data entry, copy editing, and Excel-based reporting.
Selected Projects
pawper.dev — Personal portfolio & publishing platform
Astro 6 · React · TypeScript · Netlify pawper.dev
- Designed and ship a structured-content site on Astro Content Collections — a headless-style content model with reusable templates for projects, writing, skills, and experiences, assembled into pages at build time.
- Built an automated publish pipeline: build-time generators pull content from GitHub, Airtable, and Dev.to and emit Open Graph images, RSS feeds, an XML sitemap, and a print-ready resume PDF on every Netlify deploy.
- Own SEO and cross-publishing end to end — canonical URLs for Dev.to cross-posts, per-page meta and Open Graph, and machine-readable discovery surfaces (llms.txt, agent cards) — QA'ing each release across staging and production.
- Earlier builds (all live, linked on pawper.dev): a dynamic EJS/Octokit portfolio with Puppeteer screenshot automation, plus React and semantic-HTML/SCSS projects.
Speaking, Teaching & Writing
- Speaking — ClawCamp & Dual Tech Summit (San Francisco, 2026): "Beyond Assistants: The Agentic Personal OS," "Your Claw, Every Device," and "Augmenting & Alignment: A2H, A2A, H2H."
- Teaching — Mentor at ClawCamp; lead recurring hands-on beginner workshops (developer onboarding: command line, WSL, Docker, agent setup), turning technical setup into approachable, repeatable guidance for newcomers.
- Writing — Author of the multi-part "Foundations of Digital Agency" tutorial series (11+ articles on pawper.dev, cross-posted to Dev.to with canonical URLs) — onboarding and documentation across web tooling, DevOps, security, and AI/agentic workflows.
Education
B.A., Special Major — Interactive Intermedia 2008–2011, 2013
California State University, Fresno