Backend Lead Developer (Node.js / PostgreSQL / AWS)

About Dancify

Dancify is a mobile-first festival platform for the global social dance community. We help dancers discover events, connect with verified attendees, and plan their festival experience.

Currently pre-launch with 540+ waitlist signups, 11K+ Instagram followers, and pilot festivals lined up in Amsterdam.

This is the MVP build phase targeting the first pilot festival release within 13 weeks.

The Role

You will own the backend architecture and infrastructure side of Dancify’s MVP. A separate React Native specialist will handle the mobile frontend in parallel.

This is an equity-first contractor role focused on fast execution, technical ownership, and milestone-based delivery.

Compensation includes milestone-linked vesting equity. The role also includes a predefined deferred settlement cap of up to €12,000 EUR that may optionally be used in the future if the company secures funding or operating revenue.

Any future settlement remains entirely at company discretion and would only apply in exchange for reducing or repurchasing some portion of vested equity.

Contractors are not co-founders and do not receive governance or voting rights.

What You Will Build

1. Node.js / Express API with TypeScript and Prisma ORM
2. PostgreSQL database design, migrations, and indexing
3. Firebase Phone Authentication — ID token verification via Firebase Admin SDK
4. Event system: CRUD endpoints, attendee management, ticketing integration
5. Matching system: filtered attendee browse, connect requests, cooldown logic
6. Festival Hub: schedules, sessions, planner saves, conflict detection
7. Coordination tools: rides, roommates, meetups
8. Organizer admin system and dashboard endpoints
9. Moderation system: reports, blocks, moderation queues
10. Push notifications via FCM/APNs
11. AWS deployment: EC2/ECS, RDS PostgreSQL, S3, CloudFront
12. CI/CD pipelines via GitHub Actions
13. Background jobs using BullMQ + Redis
14. GDPR compliance features and account deletion/export systems

Milestones and Equity Schedule

| Milestone | Deliverables | Weeks | Equity Vesting |

| M1: Foundation | Backend project setup, Docker Compose, CI/CD, staging deployment, Firebase Phone Auth, user registration, profile CRUD, S3 photo upload, database migrations | Weeks 1-3 | 0.75% |
| M2: Events & Ticketing | Event CRUD, Confirm Going, verified attendee list, ticket attribution, event discovery filters, events and ticketing database migrations | Weeks 4-6 | 0.70% |
| M3: Matching & Connections | Matching query, attendee filters, connect request endpoints, accept and decline flows, 30-day cooldown logic, push notification triggers | Weeks 6-8 | 0.70% |
| M4: Festival Hub & Planner | Hub content endpoints, schedule management, CSV import, planner endpoints, conflict detection, coordination posts, announcements, organizer insights | Weeks 8-11 | 0.85% |
| M5: Safety & Launch | Report and block endpoints, moderation queue, post-event reports, QR code generation, GDPR export and deletion, caching, rate limiting, production readiness, load testing support | Weeks 11-13 | 0.50% |
| TOTAL | Full backend MVP | 13 weeks | 3.50% |

Requirements

1. 5+ years building production backends with Node.js / Express / TypeScript
2. Strong PostgreSQL skills
3. Experience deploying to AWS infrastructure
4. Experience with JWT auth and scalable API architecture
5. Comfortable with Docker and CI/CD pipelines
6. Self-directed and milestone-driven
7. Strong written English
8. Available for one weekly 30-minute sync call

Intellectual Property & Ownership

All work produced under this agreement, including code, infrastructure, systems, documentation, and technical implementations, becomes the exclusive intellectual property of Dancify upon creation and milestone approval.

Contractors are not co-founders and do not receive governance rights, voting rights, or executive authority through equity compensation unless separately agreed in writing.

Application

Send:

1. Relevant GitHub or production code samples
2. Brief overview of similar shipped projects
3. Confirmation of availability for a 1-week trial within the next 2 weeks

NDA will be signed before technical details are shared.