Full-Stack Developer required to build a data-heavy Education Portal

Summary
I am building an SEO-driven education discovery platform that helps students find and compare university programs across 30 countries. It will generate leads for my existing education consultancy business. This is not a brochure website. It is a data-heavy, search-first product with monetization tiers and payment integration. Please visit educations.com (reference website) to understand the project before applying.

What Already Exists
100,000 programs across 1,000 universities in 30 countries – structured Excel data ready for migration.
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Core Features Required: -

1. Search & Discovery:
- Filtered search – country, degree level, fees, duration, intake month.
(Suggest a search engine similar to Elasticsearch)
- All filters must work simultaneously.
- Results under 200ms with all filters active.
- Autocomplete and instant results.
- Course/Category mapping (already done on Excel).
- When a student clicks a university card from search results, the university page must auto-scroll to the specific program matching their search filters on the university page.

2. Data & Admin:
- Excel to database bulk import (1 lakh+ rows without errors or crashes)
- Admin panel to manage universities, countries, programs, categories.
- Category and subcategory mapping logic.

3. Public Pages
- 30 SEO-optimised country pages.
- 1,000 SEO-optimised university pages with filterable program tables.
- No individual program pages required.
- Programmatic meta titles, descriptions, schema markup for all pages.
- Dynamic program-university page URL routing. URL must reflect the specific program context as a clean slug independently indexable by Google for programmatic SEO.
- Auto-generating XML sitemap.
- Pre-filled WhatsApp message button on every program card.

4. Monetisation & Lead Generation:
- Free tier – program selection tool for report request. (delivered manually by backend team) → WhatsApp OTP verification.
- Paid tiers with Razorpay integration.
- Razorpay webhook signature verification mandatory.
- Invoice generation and email confirmation on payment.

5. Blog:
- Blog listing page.
- Individual blog post template.
- Admin ability to publish and manage posts.

6. Analytics & Monitoring
- Google Analytics 4.
- Sentry error tracking.

7. Security Requirements
- CSRF protection on all forms
- Razorpay webhook signature verification
- Rate limiting on search API, OTP requests, and payment endpoints
- HTTPS enforced site-wide
- Encrypted user data at rest
- Admin panel with 2FA on separate subdomain
- Daily automated database backups
- SSH key authentication only on server
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Required Tech Stack: -
Frontend: Next.js 14
Backend: Node.js API
Search: Typesense
Database: PostgreSQL (Supabase or self-hosted)
Admin Panel: Custom Next.js admin or separate Laravel/Filament
Payments: Razorpay
WhatsApp OTP: Twilio
Hosting: Vercel (frontend) + Railway or Supabase (backend/DB)
CDN: Cloudflare (free tier is excellent)
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Payment Structure: -
Total budget: INR 3,00,000. Stage 1 payment released only after client approval on staging.
Fixed price, milestone-based only.

Stage 1 – Rs.75,000 (Entry Gate)
Working Typesense search with all simultaneous filters, Excel bulk upload in admin, category/subcategory mapping, basic university listing with program table – all live and testable on staging.
This stage is non-negotiable. No shortcuts, no partial delivery. Payment released only after client approval on staging. Full project commitment made only after Stage 1 is approved.

Stage 2 – Rs.75,000
30 SEO-optimised country pages
1,000 SEO-optimised university pages with filterable program tables
Programmatic meta titles, descriptions, schema markup for all pages
Auto-generating XML sitemap
Pre-filled WhatsApp button on every program card
Blog CMS – listing and individual post template
WhatsApp lead generation flow

Stage 3 – Rs.75,000
Razorpay integration – all payment tiers
WhatsApp OTP verification flow (Twilio)
Free report request flow – program selection, WhatsApp verification, admin notification
Invoice generation and email confirmations
Google Analytics 4, Sentry setup
Admin notifications for manual report delivery

Stage 4 – ₹75,000 (Split Payment)
Rs.40,000 on production launch – full data migration, domain configuration, SSL, security audit, complete technical documentation, source code handover.
Rs.35,000 released 30 days after launch – contingent on no unresolved critical bugs.

"Budget is flexible for the right candidate. If your proposal exceeds INR 3 lakhs, but you can demonstrate directly relevant past work – a live search-heavy education or directory platform with filters – we are open to discussion."
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Phase 2 – Student Dashboard (Separate Engagement After Phase 1 Launch)
Phase 2 will be offered to the same developer upon successful Phase 1 delivery. It is mentioned here so the developer factors it into the Phase 1 architecture from day one.

1. Student Registration & Authentication
Email and mobile OTP based registration
Secure login, password reset, session management
Basic profile – name, email, phone, nationality, education level, target country/program

2. Dashboard Features
Saved universities and programs.
Document uploads – passport, academic transcripts, financial documents.
Document management – view, delete, re-upload.
Report downloads – free admission criteria report and paid eligibility reports.
Purchase history and payment receipts.
Comments and notes on saved programs.
Notification emails – report ready, payment confirmed, document received.

3. Admin Side:
View all student profiles and uploaded documents.
Assign and upload completed reports to student accounts.
Track service tier purchases per student.
Comment/respond to student notes.

Phase 2 Budget: Flexible – to be finalized after Phase 1 delivery based on developer performance.

Developers are expected to build Phase 1 with Phase 2 in mind – database schema, authentication architecture, and file storage must be designed to accommodate the dashboard without rebuilding.
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Important – Working Style:
1. During development, reasonable scope iterations are natural and expected – a better UI flow discovered mid-build, a filter that makes more sense, a page layout that works better than originally envisioned – especially for an education portal.
2. We expect our developer to embrace this collaborative approach. Minor iterations that improve the product without significantly adding hours are part of professional delivery, not grounds for additional billing.
3. Significant new features beyond the agreed scope will always be discussed, estimated, and approved in writing before implementation.
* If you prefer a rigid, change-nothing approach to development – this project is not the right fit for you.
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Preference:
India-based developers with Fluent English strongly preferred. Familiarity with Razorpay and Indian payment flows.

Disqualifying Factors:
Proposing WordPress as application backend.
Cannot show a comparable live project.
Proposing hourly or time-and-materials billing.
Not answering all screening questions.

Non-negotiable:
NDA to be signed with IP assignment clause and non-compete clause.

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Important: Do NOT use AI to generate your proposal or answers to screening questions. I am a certified English language expert and will identify AI-generated responses immediately. AI-generated proposals will be rejected without consideration. Write in your own words - authenticity matters more than perfect English here.
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