Long-Term IT Development Agency Partner - PHP/Yii, AWS & Custom eCommerce Systems

ABOUT AUSSIEBUM aussieBum is an established Australian men's underwear, swimwear and apparel brand with a global eCommerce business. We're looking for an experienced and highly capable IT development agency to become our long-term technical development partner. This is not a short-term project or a typical agency arrangement where developers are assigned to individual tasks and frequently rotated. We want to establish a dedicated, stable development team that works closely with us over the long term, operates as a genuine extension of our internal business, understands our systems inside out, and takes real ownership of its work. Our preference is to build a relationship that lasts for years, not months. We have substantial ongoing development, maintenance, integration and technical improvement requirements, and we're looking for the right team to grow with us. OUR TECHNICAL ENVIRONMENT aussieBum operates a complex, custom-built eCommerce and business operations environment developed and expanded over many years. Our core technology includes: PHP, heavily customised Yii 1.1 and Yii2 frameworks, MySQL, JavaScript, jQuery, React, Redis, RabbitMQ, AWS, Bitbucket and CI/CD pipelines. Our AWS infrastructure includes ECS, EC2, RDS, S3, CloudFront, CloudWatch and other supporting services. Our main applications include a customer-facing eCommerce storefront, Cavern (our custom administration and CMS platform), Processing (our real-time order processing and warehouse fulfilment system), and several supporting internal applications. These systems are deeply integrated with Fishbowl inventory management, Xero, Amazon, eBay, Naver, PlayAuto, payment gateways, shipping carriers, marketing platforms and numerous third-party APIs. We're not looking to rebuild everything from scratch or migrate to Shopify or WordPress. We need specialists who are comfortable working within established, complex codebases, understanding existing business logic and improving systems without disrupting daily operations. WHAT WE EXPECT FROM OUR DEVELOPMENT PARTNER 1. Dedicated Senior-Level Developers This is one of our most important requirements. We want experienced senior developers who will be consistently assigned to aussieBum and develop a deep understanding of our business and technical environment. We are NOT looking for an agency that frequently rotates developers between clients, substitutes junior developers for senior resources, or changes assigned personnel without prior discussion and approval. The developers introduced during the selection process should be the actual people responsible for our ongoing work. At least one genuinely senior developer must take hands-on technical ownership, supported by other suitably experienced specialists when required. We understand that holidays, emergencies and staffing changes happen. However, continuity must be maintained through proper documentation, knowledge sharing and a reliable backup arrangement. We value consistency, experience and long-term ownership far more than the number of developers an agency can provide. 2. A Genuine Extension of Our Internal Team We don't want a traditional client-agency relationship where tasks are simply sent back and forth. We want your developers to operate as part of the aussieBum team. That means participating in relevant discussions, understanding business priorities, taking initiative, communicating directly with our internal team and treating our systems with the same care and responsibility as an internal development department. We have an internal Head of Development who will oversee technical direction, priorities, architecture and overall delivery. Your team will collaborate closely with this person and be expected to contribute technical expertise, practical recommendations and reliable execution. We want developers who think beyond individual tickets and understand how their work affects customers, revenue, operations and other connected systems. 3. Ongoing Development & Technical Operations Your responsibilities will include maintaining and improving our existing applications, developing new features, investigating technical issues and supporting our interconnected business systems. Examples include: eCommerce storefront improvements, checkout and payment functionality, Cavern CMS development, order-processing workflows, inventory synchronisation, marketplace integrations, shipping and warehouse operations, API development, database optimisation, website performance and AWS infrastructure support. We regularly encounter technical issues involving several interconnected systems. We need developers capable of tracing problems across applications, databases, APIs, queues and infrastructure rather than investigating only one isolated component. We also expect proactive identification of recurring problems and recommendations for practical, long-term improvements. Our priority is reliable, maintainable solutions that deliver genuine business value. 4. AI-Driven Development & Smart Automation We strongly encourage the proactive and responsible use of AI across development and technical operations. We want a modern development partner who understands how to maximise productivity through AI-assisted coding, debugging, testing, documentation, code reviews and workflow automation. Beyond using coding assistants, we'd like to explore intelligent monitoring, proactive issue detection, automated operational workflows and opportunities to reduce repetitive manual work across our business. We believe AI should enable experienced developers to deliver significantly more value in less time. However, AI-generated output must always be backed by genuine technical expertise, proper validation, security awareness and professional judgement. Our goal is to build a smarter, more automated and efficient technology environment, not simply introduce more tools. We're particularly interested in agencies that can demonstrate measurable improvements achieved through AI adoption. 5. Quality, Ownership & Accountability We expect developers to take responsibility for their work from initial investigation through implementation, testing, deployment and verification. Code should be maintainable, properly reviewed and tested before production release. Developers must be comfortable working with existing technical documentation, updating it when systems change and contributing to practical troubleshooting procedures. We value people who can independently investigate problems, communicate clearly, identify blockers early and recommend solutions without requiring constant supervision. Reliability and ownership are essential. We want to spend less time managing developers and more time working together on meaningful improvements. 6. Working Hours & Communication Our standard business hours are Monday to Friday, 8:30am to 5:00pm Sydney time (AEDT/AEST). We want a dedicated development team that can work during these hours, with full overlap. Smooth daily communication with our internal team is extremely important. We are open to agencies located anywhere in the world, provided the assigned developers can consistently meet these working arrangements. We also require a clearly defined escalation and availability process for urgent production incidents outside normal business hours. English communication skills must be strong, both written and verbal. 7. Long-Term Engagement & Commercial Arrangements Our preference is a long-term, dedicated team arrangement with stable developers and consistent availability. We're open to discussing the most appropriate commercial structure, including dedicated monthly development capacity, hourly arrangements or a hybrid model. We expect clear visibility into assigned resources, work performed, progress, deliverables and costs. Any additional project management, administration, meetings, minimum billing increments or other charges should be clearly disclosed and agreed upon in advance. We value efficiency, transparency and fair commercial arrangements that work for both parties. We're looking for the best long-term value, technical capability, consistency and reliability. WHO WE'RE LOOKING FOR Ideally, your agency has extensive experience maintaining complex PHP/MySQL applications, including legacy or heavily customised frameworks. Strong Yii/Yii2, AWS, MySQL, API integration, eCommerce and DevOps capabilities are highly desirable. Experience with inventory management, ERP/WMS systems, order-processing pipelines, payment gateways, marketplace integrations and warehouse operations would be particularly valuable. We expect senior-level technical competence, good architecture judgement, practical problem-solving skills and the ability to work independently within a complex existing system. A smaller specialist agency with exceptional developers may be a better fit than a large agency with frequently changing personnel. What matters is the quality and continuity of the actual people assigned to us. More importantly, a true ownership. That's the keyword. WHAT TO INCLUDE IN YOUR PROPOSAL Please answer the following questions directly. 1. Tell us about your agency, how long you've been operating and your core technical expertise. 2. Who would be the actual developers assigned to aussieBum? Please provide their seniority, relevant experience and expected level of dedication. We don't need a larger team, we want a small but strong team. 3. Can you commit to keeping the same core developers assigned to our account over the long term? How do you manage continuity during leave or unexpected staff changes? 4. Please share relevant examples of complex custom PHP/MySQL, Yii or eCommerce systems your agency has maintained or taken over from another development team. 5. What is your experience with AWS, RabbitMQ, Redis, Fishbowl, ERP/WMS platforms, payment systems and marketplace integrations? 6. How would you approach investigating a recurring issue where customer orders successfully complete on an eCommerce website but intermittently fail to reach the internal order-processing application? 7. How does your agency currently use AI to improve development speed, testing, code quality and technical operations? Please provide real examples. 8. Can your assigned team consistently work during Sydney business hours? 9. We've worked with our existing development agency for approximately 10 years, so we genuinely value long-term partnerships and stability. However, we're now exploring alternatives due to concerns around technical ownership, accountability and proactive involvement. We're looking for a dedicated team that will take real ownership of our systems and operate as an extension of our company for years to come. What commercial arrangements can you offer for this type of long-term partnership? Please include developer rates, monthly costs where applicable, minimum billing increments and any additional charges. 10. How would you approach your first 30 days understanding our systems, establishing technical ownership and becoming productive? OUR SELECTION PROCESS We'll shortlist agencies based on their actual technical capabilities, proposed team members, continuity, relevant experience, working arrangements and overall suitability. Shortlisted agencies will be invited to a technical interview, ideally attended by the senior developers who would actually be working with us. We may then conduct a paid technical assessment or initial trial to evaluate practical development capability, communication and teamwork before entering into a longer-term arrangement. We're happy to invest in the right partnership and want to build a stable, trusted development team that becomes an integral part of aussieBum's ongoing operations. If your agency is looking for a genuine long-term relationship and has experienced senior developers ready to take ownership of a complex, established technical environment, we'd love to hear from you. Please submit a tailored proposal rather than a generic agency introduction.