PHP Full-Stack Developer — Live Multi-Integration Self-Storage Platform, Long-Term Role

About Nomad Self Storage We've built something genuinely interesting. Nomad Self Storage is a premium self-storage startup in Bali with one location live and a second opening within the week. We run two products on one platform: self-storage units (subscription and short-term) and a valet storage service where we collect, store, and return customer belongings on demand. The platform is fully automated end to end. A customer books online, payment is processed, a unique access PIN is generated and delivered, and the door unlocks — without a single human involved. Behind that is a system we've built from scratch: interactive facility maps where units can be clicked and managed in real time, automated move-in and move-out flows, subscription and short-term customer management, remote door unlock and individual lock sensors per unit via TT Lock smart access, a messaging API for customer communications, a custom iOS app, an AI chatbot 75% of the way to completion, Stripe and Xendit payment processing, Meta integration, and a DigitalOcean server behind Cloudflare. It's a complex, interconnected, live system handling real customers and real money every day. And it was built entirely from scratch in-house under PRD direction of our co-founder and a talented systems problem solver (non-developer) using AI-assisted coding — which means it works, it makes money, and it has room to be significantly improved by someone who actually knows what they're doing. That's where you come in. One of our founders has a background in algorithmic trading and technical development. He has written every PRD, designed every system flow, and continuously optimises conversion and backend performance. He creates detailed briefs and storyboards for every update. You won't be guessing what needs to be built — you'll be given clear direction and trusted to execute it cleanly and reliably. We're not looking for someone to run the show. We're looking for someone who's brilliant at implementing, debugging, and keeping a live system running smoothly. The codebase is large and complex — we're evaluating a move to Laravel which we believe could reduce it significantly and make the whole system faster and cleaner. The right developer will have real input into how that happens. This role is approximately 30 hours per week with the expectation of growing as the business scales. What we need solved — fast We have two live comms issues that are our immediate priority: a) Our customer communications run through a messaging API delivered via our iOS app (currently on TestFlight). It is extremely slow — chats can take up to a minute to load. This needs diagnosing and fixing at the backend level. b) Our backend dashboard has chat functionality built but it has never been successfully connected to our messaging API. We need to manage all customer and staff communications directly from the browser, not just the iOS app. Our previous developer was unable to get this working. We also have a conversion funnel with a complete brief ready to implement across frontend and backend, a bug backlog to work through, and a codebase that needs someone to get across it properly and start cleaning it up. QUESTIONS: Walk us through the most complex PHP/MySQL system you've built or maintained. Include GitHub links or live URLs. We have a valet system, self-storage unit management, interactive facility map, move-in/move-out flows, and subscription and short-term customer management. What's most familiar to you here? Are you comfortable working inside a codebase you didn't write? How do you approach understanding it before touching it? Have you refactored a large or messy codebase before? Walk us through how you approached it. How familiar are you with Laravel? If we moved to a full Laravel rewrite, is that something you could lead or contribute to? What do you think is causing our iOS app chat to take up to a minute to load? Where do you start diagnosing that? How do you approach implementing new features from a detailed brief while keeping existing branding and frontend intact? When something breaks on a live system, what do you do? Give us a real example. How do you prefer to receive access when onboarding — repo, server credentials, third party integrations? What does secure onboarding look like from your side? Are you currently working with other clients? We're open to it but we need to be your priority — responsive, available, reliable. Can you commit to that? Please visit www.nomadselfstorage.com and click through the Storage Units and Luggage Drop funnels before you reply. The quality of your answers is how we decide who we get on a call with.