Paid Test Task First, Then Long-Term n8n Automation Partnership

I run an embedded operations practice for B2B SaaS founders. I need a long-term automation partner to own production-grade n8n builds while I focus on clients and strategy. This is not a "build me a workflow" gig - I can do that too. I am looking for a thinking partner who asks what is actually being asked before writing a single node. THE ONE THING I'M SCREENING FOR Below is a real n8n workflow that I tried to run against production HubSpot. The symptom: it generates duplicate records. The workflow logic itself is not obviously wrong, which is the point. One critical detail: this only happens under load. The client's HubSpot serves a 100-person company and has other automations hitting it concurrently. In testing, with no load, the workflow behaves perfectly every time. You will not reproduce this in a sandbox. Tell me: 1. What questions you would ask me before touching anything 2. What you suspect is happening, and why you are not certain yet 3. What you would need to see or know to confirm it I do not want a cosmetic fix. Deduplication downstream, a filter node, a "check if exists" guard: all of that treats the symptom and I will reject it. I want the actual mechanism causing this, and a fix that addresses it at the root. The root cause is findable. But you will only get there if you ask me the right questions first. Candidates who jump straight to "here is the fix" will not move forward, no matter how clean the fix is. The questions are the deliverable. To be transparent: I already have a working fix. This is purely a screening exercise, not a way to get free work. PAID TEST TASK If your application stands out, I will invite you to a paid test task. Two milestones, $100 total, weighted deliberately: - Milestone 1 ($60): your diagnosis and the questions you would ask me. No code. - Milestone 2 ($40): your fix, after we have talked through the context. The larger payment is on the thinking, not the code. That is not an accident. No skipping to step 2. WHAT I NEED 1. Own n8n workflows end to end: webhooks, error handling, retries, idempotency 2. Can set up your own test environment that simulates load. I will test your workflows against my client's production HubSpot. But first it must pass the simulated load test so we don't waste each other's time. 3. HubSpot and Fibery APIs, or any other CRM you worked with under load 4. Can explain a technical problem out loud, in your own words, on video. Polished written message does not count. I need to hear you think. 5. Not required, but a strong plus: Python inside n8n Code nodes. 6. Not for agencies or teams. One person, long-term relationship. HOW I WORK I have been in tech for 25 years: developer, team lead, business analyst, head of operations. I know what it feels like to be handed a vague ticket and a deadline. I do not do that to people. What that means in practice: - I give context, not just tasks. If you do not have enough to make a good decision, say so and I will fill the gap. - I would rather you tell me something will take 3 days than promise few hours and deliver late and/or not properly tested. Honest estimates always beat optimistic ones. - Saying "I do not know" or "I have not done this before" costs you nothing with me. Pretending you do costs you everything. - If something in my thinking is wrong, tell me. I am not looking for someone who agrees with me. - Agree on the acceptance criteria. - I pay on time, I do not ghost, and I do not disappear mid-project. I am building a long-term working relationship, not filling a slot. If this works, you will be the person I bring into client automation work for years. BUDGET Fixed-price per deliverable, not hourly. Quote should land around a $20-30/hr equivalent. If that does not work for you, please do not apply. TO APPLY, SEND A short unscripted Loom (not a demo, not scripted): one automation you built that broke in production under load. Does not have to be HubSpot, any platform that operates under similar conditions to my clients. What happened, and what you learned debugging it. The Loom is not optional. It also tells me whether we can communicate verbally without friction. If I cannot understand you clearly, I will lose time and money, and so will you. *** I'm not in a hurry. There can easily be 50+ proposals. I will read everyone's and pay attention to the ones who made a real effort to fit my criteria.