Fractional Engineering Director

The company is a remote platform connecting freelancers with architecture and interior design studios across multiple regions. The organization needs a hands-on fractional technical partner to rebuild and improve the platform, fix short-term workflow issues (vetting, onboarding), and deliver a production-ready, registration-based marketplace. Initial engagement: part-time (about 8–12 hours/week) with a minimum three-month engagement and a target build window of roughly 3–4 months to make meaningful progress in the coming months. Preferred candidates should be in timezones compatible with the core team to ensure regular overlap.

Responsibilities

• Take ownership of the existing PHP (Laravel or similar) + component-driven UI codebase in GitHub; audit, triage, and restart development where needed.
• Implement short-term workflow fixes: improve vetting, onboarding, and registration flows to match the organization's off-platform operating model.
• Rebuild and complete platform features to support a closed, registration-based marketplace and studio–freelancer matching.
• Integrate and/or complete payment flows (Stripe or similar), including marketplace payouts and payout workflows with regional providers as appropriate.
• Assess and harden security: authentication, access control, secret handling, and payment readiness.
• Work hands-on in code: write, review, and refactor PHP/framework code; add tests and documentation where appropriate.
• Collaborate with founders and the distributed team to align product strategy with technical execution.
• Provide clear technical recommendations, timelines, and deliverables; communicate progress regularly.

Qualifications

• Strong experience with PHP frameworks (e.g., Laravel) and component-driven UI patterns (e.g., Livewire-like approaches); demonstrable ability to read, assess, and work in PHP codebases you did not write.
• Proven track record auditing, rescuing, or taking over inherited codebases (real examples or case studies preferred).
• Practical experience implementing payment integrations and marketplace payout flows (Stripe or comparable providers preferred).
• Security-aware: experience assessing and improving authentication, access control, secret management, and payment security.
• Hands-on contributor who can both strategize and execute — comfortable shipping code directly and mentoring/working with small distributed teams.
• Experience building platforms or marketplaces, custom database designs, and registration/onboarding workflows.
• Availability for an initial fractional engagement (about 8–12 hours/week) with willingness to scale if fit is strong.