Senior Fractional Technical Advisor (PHP/MySQL/Wordpress/JS) - Part-time - US-based

About the company

We are a US-based financial publisher producing trading-focused content through email newsletters, books, and subscriptions. The business runs on lead generation. Behind that sits a set of internal systems handling lead distribution, click tracking, ad rotation, and the logging and reporting our sales team uses to report performance back to partners. The team is small and US-based.

The role

We're looking for a senior, hands-on technical advisor to audit our existing systems and guide our next phase. Our platform has been built and maintained by an external agency for over a decade, and we're now bringing development in-house. This is an advisory role — no coding required. You'll review our codebase and architecture, tell us what's working and what isn't, recommend the right path forward (including platform and hosting decisions), and help us interview and select the full-time developer who will eventually take ownership.

This is a practitioner's role, not strategy-from-a-distance. We need someone who can actually read our code and infrastructure and make concrete, informed recommendations.

What you'll do

• Audit our existing codebase, architecture, and infrastructure (PHP / MySQL, WordPress, dedicated hosting)
• Identify what needs to change — we expect targeted improvements rather than a full rebuild — and flag performance issues (e.g. slow page loads)
• Advise on platform and hosting decisions, including whether to move off WordPress/PHP toward a more modern stack
• Help us interview and assess candidates for a future full-time developer hire
• Support a smooth transition from our current agency to in-house development, with no downtime

Engagement details

~10 hours per week
Initial 3-month engagement, with potential to extend
US-based, remote
Start: as soon as possible

Ideal profile

• Senior developer or tech-lead level, with the depth to assess architecture and recommend direction (CTO-level not required)
• Genuine practitioner — comfortable getting into real code and infrastructure
• Strong PHP and MySQL background
• Able to evaluate hosting and platform choices and advise on modernization (e.g. a move toward a JavaScript-based stack)
• Comfortable supporting hiring — reviewing and interviewing candidates

Nice to have

• WordPress experience
• Familiarity with email service providers (ESPs) / email marketing platforms