Word Press Install Missing civicrm.settings.php; dashboard unavailable; no menus
I dug further into the changes that WPE does to the file structure.

It looks like the new magic method of determining the file location using [civicrm.files] is failing. See https://github.com/civicrm/civicrm-core/blob/master/Civi/Core/Paths.php 

I am able to get both 4.6.13 and 4.7.2 running on WPE by adding the following to my civicrm.settings.php file right after the opening &lt;?php tag:

global $civicrm_setting;
$civicrm_setting['Directory Preferences']['customTemplateDir'] = '/nas/content/live/kcrist/wp-content/civicrm/templates/';
$civicrm_setting['Directory Preferences']['customPHPPathDir'] = '/nas/content/live/kcrist/wp-content/civicrm/php/';
$civicrm_setting['Directory Preferences']['extensionsDir'] = '/nas/content/live/kcrist/wp-content/civicrm/extensions/';
$civicrm_setting['URL Preferences']['extensionsURL'] = 'http://kcrist.wpengine.com/wp-content/civicrm/extensions/';
$civicrm_setting['URL Preferences']['imageUploadURL'] = 'http://kcrist.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/civicrm/persist/contribute/';
$civicrm_setting['URL Preferences']['userFrameworkResourceURL'] = 'http://kcrist.wpengine.com/wp-content/plugins/civicrm/civicrm/';


This is based on the following article  https://wiki.civicrm.org/confluence/display/CRMDOC/Override+CiviCRM+Settings

Give this a try and I will create an issue for the [civicrm.files] issue.  edit- Issue updated https://issues.civicrm.org/jira/browse/CRM-18009