Full-Stack SaaS Developer (Next.js, React & WordPress Integrations)

Southwind Marketing is hiring an experienced full-stack developer to join our team and lead the development of Southwind Guardian, a proprietary, cloud-based platform designed to centralize client services, internal operations, website administration, project management and customer collaboration.

This is an ongoing development position, not a one-time freelance project.

Guardian will be the developer's primary initial responsibility. The selected developer will work directly with Southwind leadership and other team members to plan, design, build, test, deploy, maintain and expand the platform.

Guardian will initially support Southwind Marketing's own operations and clients, including municipal governments, economic development organizations, tourism organizations, chambers of commerce, nonprofits and private businesses.

The platform must support clients with and without websites and must be designed for eventual commercialization as a multi-tenant, white-label software-as-a-service platform.

The objective is to build a reliable, secure and scalable system that Southwind can own, operate and continuously improve.

2. Platform Objectives

Southwind Guardian will provide a centralized system for:

1. Client account and workspace management.
2. Staff and contractor collaboration.
3. Project management and service delivery.
4. Tasks, deadlines, milestones and deliverables.
5. Customer support and ticket management.
6. Client communications and discussions.
7. Secure file and document sharing.
8. WordPress and Elementor website management.
9. Website content editing, staging, approvals and publishing.
10. Domain, hosting and SSL administration.
11. Website uptime, maintenance and security monitoring.
12. Notifications and operational alerts.
13. Client onboarding and offboarding.
14. Internal reporting and audit history.
15. Integration with Southwind's existing systems.
16. Future white-label agency subscriptions and SaaS functionality.

Guardian must operate as a unified application rather than a collection of disconnected tools.

3. Development Responsibilities

The selected developer will be responsible for:

• Reviewing and refining the technical requirements.
• Recommending the application architecture.
• Designing and developing frontend and backend systems.
• Establishing secure databases and APIs.
• Developing WordPress integrations and custom plugins where necessary.
• Building responsive user interfaces.
• Configuring development, staging and production environments.
• Implementing authentication, permissions and tenant isolation.
• Integrating approved third-party services.
• Writing and maintaining automated tests.
• Troubleshooting and resolving application defects.
• Configuring and maintaining Guardian's hosting infrastructure.
• Implementing backups, monitoring and recovery procedures.
• Maintaining technical documentation.
• Participating in planning and progress meetings.
• Providing regular development demonstrations.
• Supporting the platform after launch.
• Developing future Guardian modules and integrations.
• Assisting with other Southwind development assignments when directed.

The developer must communicate technical limitations, risks, dependencies and recommended solutions before making significant architectural decisions.

4. User Roles and Permissions

Guardian must provide secure role-based access controls.

4.1 Southwind Super Administrator

Full access to platform administration, including:

• All client accounts and workspaces.
• All projects and websites.
• Staff and contractor management.
• Role and permission management.
• Platform configuration.
• Hosting and integration settings.
• Approval and publishing controls.
• Security and audit records.
• System-wide reporting.

4.2 Southwind Staff

Authorized access to assigned clients, projects and operational functions, including:

• Project and task management.
• Customer support.
• Client communications.
• Document management.
• Website content administration.
• Content approvals and publishing where permitted.
• Client reporting.
• Website maintenance records.

4.3 Contractors

Contractors must have access only to explicitly assigned projects, tasks, files and discussions.

Contractors must not automatically receive access to entire client accounts, unrelated projects, credentials or internal administrative information.

4.4 Client Administrator

Authorized client representatives may:

• Access their organization's workspace.
• View assigned projects and deliverables.
• Review project progress.
• Submit support requests.
• Participate in discussions.
• Review documents.
• Approve website content when authorized.
• Manage permitted client users.

4.5 Client User

Limited access to explicitly authorized projects, documents, discussions, support requests and approvals.

4.6 Future Roles

The platform architecture must accommodate:

• External agency administrators.
• Board and committee members.
• Department representatives.
• Read-only reviewers.
• Additional custom permission groups.

All authorization must be enforced server-side and at the data-access layer where appropriate.

5. Multi-Tenant Architecture

Guardian must support multiple independent organizations within one centrally managed application.

Each organization must have its own logically isolated workspace containing:

• Organization information.
• Users and permissions.
• Projects.
• Tasks.
• Tickets.
• Discussions.
• Files and reports.
• Connected websites.
• Domain and hosting records.
• Approvals.
• Activity history.

Southwind administrators must be able to manage multiple organizations from one administrative account.

The platform must support:

• Multiple projects per client.
• Multiple websites per client.
• Clients without websites.
• Multiple authorized contacts.
• Staff working across multiple clients.
• Contractors assigned to specific work.
• Future agency-level tenants with their own customers.

Database relationships and authorization policies must prevent cross-tenant data access.

The developer must implement automated testing that verifies users cannot access unauthorized client records by manipulating URLs, API requests or identifiers.

6. Authentication and Security

Required functionality includes:

• Secure user registration through invitation.
• Login and logout.
• Password recovery.
• Multi-factor authentication for privileged accounts.
• Secure session handling.
• Session expiration.
• User activation and deactivation.
• Immediate access revocation.
• Role assignment.
• Security event logging.
• Protection against unauthorized API access.
• Rate limiting for sensitive endpoints.
• Secure credential and secret management.

Use established, actively maintained authentication technology.

Passwords, tokens and secrets must never be stored in plaintext.

The platform must follow modern application security practices, including relevant OWASP guidance.

7. Dashboard System

Guardian must provide role-specific dashboards.

Southwind Dashboard

The administrative dashboard should display:

• Active clients.
• Active projects.
• Open support tickets.
• Pending approvals.
• Upcoming deadlines.
• Overdue tasks.
• Recent activity.
• Website monitoring alerts.
• Outstanding client requests.
• Items requiring staff attention.

Client Dashboard

Client users should see:

• Their organization's active projects.
• Project status and milestones.
• Assigned tasks where applicable.
• Pending approvals.
• Shared documents.
• Open support requests.
• Recent updates.
• Connected website information.

Contractor Dashboard

Contractors should see only:

• Assigned projects.
• Assigned tasks.
• Relevant deadlines.
• Authorized discussions.
• Files required for their work.

Dashboards must use real application data and reflect user permissions.

8. Project Management

Guardian must provide native project management functionality.

Project Features

• Create and edit projects.
• Associate projects with clients.
• Assign project owners.
• Assign staff and contractors.
• Set project status.
• Establish deadlines.
• Create milestones.
• Track deliverables.
• Upload project documents.
• Record project activity.
• Archive completed projects.
• Search and filter projects.

Task Features

• Create and edit tasks.
• Assign tasks to authorized users.
• Set deadlines.
• Establish priorities.
• Track task status.
• Add descriptions and attachments.
• Create subtasks and checklists.
• Add task comments.
• Track overdue work.
• Filter by assignee, project and status.
• Support recurring tasks.

Project Templates

Guardian must support reusable templates for recurring Southwind services.

Examples include:

• Website development.
• Website maintenance.
• Search engine optimization.
• Social media management.
• Marketing retainers.
• Economic development consulting.
• Tourism marketing.
• Reporting and dashboard development.

Templates should create predefined milestones, tasks and deliverables.

9. Customer Support and Ticketing

Guardian must include a centralized support ticket system.

Required functionality:

• Create support requests.
• Assign tickets to staff.
• Associate tickets with clients, projects and websites.
• Set priority levels.
• Track ticket status.
• Add internal notes.
• Add client-visible replies.
• Upload attachments.
• Record ticket history.
• Notify relevant users.
• Close and reopen tickets.
• Search and filter tickets.

Internal notes must remain inaccessible to clients.

The architecture must support future ticket routing, service-level agreements and advanced automation.

10. Client Communication and Discussions

Guardian must provide threaded discussions associated with:

• Client workspaces.
• Projects.
• Tasks.
• Support tickets.
• Deliverables.

Required functionality:

• Discussion creation.
• Replies.
• File attachments.
• Activity history.
• Authorized participant access.