Backend Lead for SportsFixtures Platform
Budget: $750 – $1,500 USD
Summary
We’re building a fast, modern sports fixtures + TV schedule platform at SportsFixtures.net, and we’re looking for one strong, reliable backend lead to help us finish the job properly and ship with confidence.
We care about speed, quality, and teamwork. We keep communication simple, we demo working progress daily, and we support each other to get the best result. If you’re the kind of person who enjoys owning delivery and shipping clean systems, you’ll fit right in.
The project (in plain English)
The product is already well underway. Your job is to take ownership of the backend delivery and bring everything together cleanly.
The frontend workstream (PWA / web / iOS / Android) relies on a stable backend contract — you’ll lead that contract so integration is smooth.
We use external sports data sources today and the architecture must be ready to add more providers later without rewrites.
There is also a venue display advertising pull layer that needs stable, fast endpoints/feeds.
Your role (what you’ll own)
You are the backend delivery owner for this sprint. That means you don’t just write code — you keep the whole backend moving forward, unblock integration, and ensure we ship working outcomes.
Week 1 goal: everything connected and fully operational
Week 1 is the most important week. By the end of Week 1, we want a fully working end-to-end system in staging:
Full end-to-end integration working
Backend endpoints stable and returning correct, predictable data
All required frontend sections connected and fully operational (not “wired up but flaky”)
Data flow stable and consistent
Venue display advertising pull connected and working (fast, cache-friendly outputs)
PWA live on staging and functioning end-to-end
Staging reliability from day one
Repo running locally quickly and cleanly
Staging dependable and deploys repeatable
Clear setup documentation (including env/secrets)
Basic CI checks in place (lint/tests/build)
Backend structure + admin usability
Strapi organised cleanly (content types, permissions, roles, policies, naming)
New admin GUI design implemented and functioning (layouts, fields, relations, workflows)
Permissions safe-by-default and easy for the team to use
API contract and provider abstraction
A clean v1 API contract for the pages we ship first
Frontend consumes your contract (not upstream quirks)
Normalisation + caching + throttling/rate limits in place where needed
Postman collection kept accurate and updated (OpenAPI is a bonus)
Security + performance baseline
Tenant/venue isolation enforced properly:
Tenant context from JWT only
Enforced in Strapi policies + service layer
Never trust client-supplied venue/tenant IDs
Negative tests proving venue A cannot access venue B
Input validation, auth hardening, and rate limiting where needed
Sensible DB hygiene (indexes and query sanity)
Background jobs & queues
Idempotent workers
Retry/backoff rules
Clear logging and visibility into failures
Safe re-run strategy when something goes wrong
Documentation that stays current
Runbook started immediately and updated as you go:
setup, deploy, rollback/restore, queue debugging
Practical handover notes so the next developer can continue smoothly
How we work (team-first, no lone wolf)
We ship quickly because we collaborate closely. You’ll never be left alone to guess what we want — we discuss decisions early, remove blockers fast, and keep the whole team aligned.
Daily rhythm:
Start of day: short meeting + plan (what will ship today)
During the day: quick updates when PRs are ready or blockers appear
End of day: what shipped / what’s next / blockers
Next-day plan: submitted at end of day so I can review early and support you
We want a positive working relationship and a smooth delivery rhythm.
Compensation (simple and friendly)
Total: $1,000 for the 1-month full-time sprint
$600 placed into escrow in stages and released on completion (verified working)
$400 bonus paid on completion if KPIs/objectives are fully met (delivery, reliability, collaboration, and timelines)
What “completion” means
At the end of the month we should have:
Stable staging + repeatable deploys
Secure tenant isolation proven with negative tests
Queues/workers reliable with good failure visibility
v1 API contract stable and documented (Postman current)
PWA and the frontend/mobile workstreams fully integrated with stable endpoints
Venue display advertising pull working reliably
Clear documentation + handover notes delivered
We aim for everything to be submitted and live across web/PWA and mobile where platform review timelines allow. If app store review introduces timing, your responsibility is that the backend and integration are ready and stable so submission is smooth and fast.
Must-have skills
Hands-on Strapi v5
Node.js + TypeScript
PostgreSQL
Redis + background jobs/queues (BullMQ or equivalent)
API contract design + versioning
Multi-tenant security patterns + negative testing
Strong delivery ownership and clear communication
Nice-to-have
CI/CD basics, observability basics
Experience taking over existing projects and shipping quickly
Performance tuning and security hardening experience
Quick application questions (so we can move fast)
In your first message, please answer:
How do you enforce tenant isolation in Strapi (policy + service layer)?
How do you handle idempotency + retries/backoff in background jobs?
How do you design a clean API contract that hides provider quirks from the frontend?
What are your first 10 actions in Week 1 to get staging stable and integration working end-to-end?
Can you overlap ICT 06:00–15:00 daily for the full month?
Final note
AI, copy and paste - will be deleted
We’re genuinely excited to find the right person and build a great working relationship. If you’re dependable, proactive, and enjoy shipping real products with a collaborative team, we’d love to talk.
We’re building a fast, modern sports fixtures + TV schedule platform at SportsFixtures.net, and we’re looking for one strong, reliable backend lead to help us finish the job properly and ship with confidence.
We care about speed, quality, and teamwork. We keep communication simple, we demo working progress daily, and we support each other to get the best result. If you’re the kind of person who enjoys owning delivery and shipping clean systems, you’ll fit right in.
The project (in plain English)
The product is already well underway. Your job is to take ownership of the backend delivery and bring everything together cleanly.
The frontend workstream (PWA / web / iOS / Android) relies on a stable backend contract — you’ll lead that contract so integration is smooth.
We use external sports data sources today and the architecture must be ready to add more providers later without rewrites.
There is also a venue display advertising pull layer that needs stable, fast endpoints/feeds.
Your role (what you’ll own)
You are the backend delivery owner for this sprint. That means you don’t just write code — you keep the whole backend moving forward, unblock integration, and ensure we ship working outcomes.
Week 1 goal: everything connected and fully operational
Week 1 is the most important week. By the end of Week 1, we want a fully working end-to-end system in staging:
Full end-to-end integration working
Backend endpoints stable and returning correct, predictable data
All required frontend sections connected and fully operational (not “wired up but flaky”)
Data flow stable and consistent
Venue display advertising pull connected and working (fast, cache-friendly outputs)
PWA live on staging and functioning end-to-end
Staging reliability from day one
Repo running locally quickly and cleanly
Staging dependable and deploys repeatable
Clear setup documentation (including env/secrets)
Basic CI checks in place (lint/tests/build)
Backend structure + admin usability
Strapi organised cleanly (content types, permissions, roles, policies, naming)
New admin GUI design implemented and functioning (layouts, fields, relations, workflows)
Permissions safe-by-default and easy for the team to use
API contract and provider abstraction
A clean v1 API contract for the pages we ship first
Frontend consumes your contract (not upstream quirks)
Normalisation + caching + throttling/rate limits in place where needed
Postman collection kept accurate and updated (OpenAPI is a bonus)
Security + performance baseline
Tenant/venue isolation enforced properly:
Tenant context from JWT only
Enforced in Strapi policies + service layer
Never trust client-supplied venue/tenant IDs
Negative tests proving venue A cannot access venue B
Input validation, auth hardening, and rate limiting where needed
Sensible DB hygiene (indexes and query sanity)
Background jobs & queues
Idempotent workers
Retry/backoff rules
Clear logging and visibility into failures
Safe re-run strategy when something goes wrong
Documentation that stays current
Runbook started immediately and updated as you go:
setup, deploy, rollback/restore, queue debugging
Practical handover notes so the next developer can continue smoothly
How we work (team-first, no lone wolf)
We ship quickly because we collaborate closely. You’ll never be left alone to guess what we want — we discuss decisions early, remove blockers fast, and keep the whole team aligned.
Daily rhythm:
Start of day: short meeting + plan (what will ship today)
During the day: quick updates when PRs are ready or blockers appear
End of day: what shipped / what’s next / blockers
Next-day plan: submitted at end of day so I can review early and support you
We want a positive working relationship and a smooth delivery rhythm.
Compensation (simple and friendly)
Total: $1,000 for the 1-month full-time sprint
$600 placed into escrow in stages and released on completion (verified working)
$400 bonus paid on completion if KPIs/objectives are fully met (delivery, reliability, collaboration, and timelines)
What “completion” means
At the end of the month we should have:
Stable staging + repeatable deploys
Secure tenant isolation proven with negative tests
Queues/workers reliable with good failure visibility
v1 API contract stable and documented (Postman current)
PWA and the frontend/mobile workstreams fully integrated with stable endpoints
Venue display advertising pull working reliably
Clear documentation + handover notes delivered
We aim for everything to be submitted and live across web/PWA and mobile where platform review timelines allow. If app store review introduces timing, your responsibility is that the backend and integration are ready and stable so submission is smooth and fast.
Must-have skills
Hands-on Strapi v5
Node.js + TypeScript
PostgreSQL
Redis + background jobs/queues (BullMQ or equivalent)
API contract design + versioning
Multi-tenant security patterns + negative testing
Strong delivery ownership and clear communication
Nice-to-have
CI/CD basics, observability basics
Experience taking over existing projects and shipping quickly
Performance tuning and security hardening experience
Quick application questions (so we can move fast)
In your first message, please answer:
How do you enforce tenant isolation in Strapi (policy + service layer)?
How do you handle idempotency + retries/backoff in background jobs?
How do you design a clean API contract that hides provider quirks from the frontend?
What are your first 10 actions in Week 1 to get staging stable and integration working end-to-end?
Can you overlap ICT 06:00–15:00 daily for the full month?
Final note
AI, copy and paste - will be deleted
We’re genuinely excited to find the right person and build a great working relationship. If you’re dependable, proactive, and enjoy shipping real products with a collaborative team, we’d love to talk.