Part-time DevOps / SaaS Operations Contractor

SmarterQueue is an established social media scheduling SaaS looking for a senior part-time DevOps / SaaS Operations contractor.

We need help maintaining and de-risking our AWS/Linux infrastructure, GitLab CI/CD, deployments, monitoring, backups, security updates, and production-risk review process.

Stack includes AWS, Linux, Apache/PHP-FPM, PHP/Symfony plus legacy PHP, React/TypeScript, MySQL, Redis, Resque-style workers, cron, self-hosted GitLab CI/CD, S3, SSM/Secrets Manager, Kibana/Elastic, Sentry, and Tideways.

This is an ongoing retainer role, around 10 to 15 hours/month initially, with additional pre-approved project work. Romania / Eastern Europe preferred, with UK timezone overlap.

The first few months would probably involve more hours (~30-40/month as you get up to speed, and we have some one-off projects to work on, but thereafter it would be an ongoing maintenance/support retainer of around 10-20 hours per month).

Compensation: expected range $45 to $70 USD/hour (200-300 lei/hr) equivalent depending on experience.
(The advertised annual salary range is only for comparison with other roles - the hours of this contract are reduced, so the salary will be reduced accordingly).

Initial access will be reduced-risk: reviewing, advising, documenting, and guiding the founder, who has owner/admin access and can implement changes. Direct infrastructure access may be granted later once trust is established.

You should be comfortable inheriting a mature SaaS, writing runbooks, reviewing AI-assisted code/infrastructure changes for production risk, and helping keep a real production system stable without trying to rebuild everything from scratch.

Current technical environment
You do not need to know every part of this stack already, but you should be confident operating similar systems.

• AWS infrastructure
• Linux servers
• Apache, PHP-FPM, systemd
• PHP 8 / Symfony 5.4 plus legacy PHP code
• React 18 / TypeScript frontend
• MySQL 8
• Redis and Resque-style worker queues
• Cron and scheduled background jobs
• Self-hosted GitLab, GitLab CI/CD, GitLab registry
• CI runners using AWS/Fargate-style execution
• S3, AWS SSM Parameter Store, AWS Secrets Manager
• Kibana/Elastic logs
• Sentry frontend monitoring
• Tideways PHP profiling
• Deployment scripts using SSH, SCP, rsync, tar, symlink releases, database migrations, cache rebuilds, and service reloads

What you’ll do
Initially, this role will focus on reduced-risk support: reviewing, advising, documenting, and guiding the founder, who has owner/admin access and can implement changes with your input. As trust builds, the role may expand to direct infrastructure access and hands-on changes.

Responsibilities include:

• Review and understand our AWS, server, deployment, CI/CD, database, queue, cron, logging, and monitoring setup
• Help maintain production reliability, security, backups, deployment processes, and operational documentation
• Review infrastructure changes, deployment changes, and AI-assisted code changes for production risk
• Advise on server updates, dependency updates, security patches, and operational improvements
• Help troubleshoot incidents involving PHP, Apache/PHP-FPM, MySQL, Redis, queues, cron jobs, GitLab CI/CD, or AWS services
• Improve or maintain monitoring, logging, alerting, and runbooks
• Help verify backup and restore readiness
• Support occasional project work, such as setting up new internal AI infrastructure inside our AWS/VPC environment

What the retainer covers
The monthly retainer is intended to cover ongoing operational continuity, including:

• Monitoring and alert review
• Security and patch review
• Deployment or CI/CD review
• Production-risk review for selected changes
• Documentation and runbook updates
• Advice, calls, and small operational tasks
• Incident support during reasonable working hours where available Additional work beyond the retainer will be agreed and approved in advance.

Availability expectations
This is a best-efforts part-time role, not a 24/7 managed SLA.

We would like someone who can usually respond during normal working hours, and who is open to being contacted in a serious out-of-hours emergency if available. However, we understand that individuals need time off, and this role does not require guaranteed out-of-hours coverage.

Initial 30-day priorities
The first month will be focused on understanding and reducing risk.

You would be expected to:

• Review the existing handover documentation
• Build or improve an infrastructure map covering AWS, servers, databases, queues, cron, CI/CD, deployment, monitoring, backups, DNS, and credentials ownership
• Review deployment and rollback processes
• Review monitoring and alerting coverage
• Review backup and restore readiness
• Identify the top operational risks
• Produce clear runbooks so the founder can handle common incidents with your guidance

Good fit
You are likely a good fit if you:

• Have operated production SaaS infrastructure before
• Are comfortable inheriting mature systems rather than rebuilding everything from scratch
• Have strong AWS and Linux operations experience
• Understand GitLab CI/CD and deployment pipelines
• Can work with PHP/Symfony applications, MySQL, Redis, queues, and cron jobs
• Can read PHP and React/TypeScript code well enough to spot security, performance, data, and availability risks
• Write clear documentation without being chased
• Are calm, practical, and communicative during incidents
• Are comfortable working directly with a technical founder and AI coding agents
• Prefer practical risk reduction over over-engineering

Not a good fit
This probably is not the right role if you:

• Only want greenfield DevOps work
• Want to rebuild everything immediately
• Need a full-time role
• Avoid legacy PHP systems
• Do not like documentation
• Are uncomfortable reviewing application code for production risks
• Require a large team or heavy process around you
• Expect guaranteed 24/7 SLA responsibilities as an individual contractor

Required experience
Please apply only if you have strong experience with several of:

• AWS operations
• Linux server administration
• GitLab CI/CD
• Production MySQL
• Redis or queue/worker systems
• PHP application operations
• Monitoring/logging tools such as Kibana, Elastic, Sentry, Tideways, CloudWatch, New Relic, Datadog, or similar
• Security-conscious deployment and code review
• Backup, restore, and incident response processes

Strongly preferred

• PHP/Symfony or Laravel experience
• React/TypeScript familiarity
• Experience with legacy SaaS applications
• Experience inheriting undocumented systems
• Experience writing operational runbooks
• Experience supporting AI-assisted development workflows
• Professional liability or cyber insurance