Senior Full-Stack Engineer (MVP) — DTC eCommerce MandA Brokerage + Valuation Platform to $4000

Senior Full-Stack Engineer (MVP) — DTC eCommerce M&A Brokerage + Valuation Platform
 

Scope: Build a production-ready MVP for a brokerage marketplace focused exclusively on DTC eCommerce brands. The platform must (1) onboard sellers via a clean valuation wizard, (2) create gated listings, (3) let vetted buyers browse, filter, inquire, and (4) support payments/fees, KYC, notifications, and basic analytics.

Goal: Ship an MVP we can use to close the first 100 paid customers (listings) and generate serious buyer inquiries.
 

Tech We Expect You To Use

• Frontend / Hosting: Next.js (App Router, TypeScript) on Vercel
• DB/Auth/Storage/Realtime: Supabase (Postgres + RLS, Auth, Storage, Realtime)
  • Realtime via Supabase Realtime or Ably (justify tradeoffs)
• Payments: Stripe (prefer Stripe Connect) for application/listing fees, buyer deposits, disbursements
• Notifications: Knock (in-app + email feed); Twilio for SMS
• KYC/Compliance: Persona (buyers & high-value sellers)
• Bank Linking: Plaid (ACH, verification)
• eCom Integrations (MVP): Shopify (Admin API + OAuth + webhooks)
• Email: Resend/Postmark/SendGrid (pick one and wire it cleanly)
• Search (MVP): Postgres FTS; plan to swap in Typesense/Algolia later
• Jobs/Workflows: Inngest or Trigger.dev (background tasks, webhooks, report generation)
• Error & Analytics: Sentry (errors), PostHog (product analytics)

You must have a public GitHub with recent full-stack code. We will collaborate via PRs and code reviews.
 

What You’ll Build (MVP Scope)

1. Public Site
   • Homepage with dual CTA: “Sell Your Brand” (valuation) / “Browse Listings” (buyers)
   • Category browsing (Beauty, Apparel, Supplements, Home, etc.), trust elements, FAQ
      
2. Seller Flow
   • Valuation Wizard (TTM revenue/profit, SKU count, AOV, repeat rate, ad mix/ROAS, fulfillment model, channel split, platform risk)
   • Instant valuation range + drivers (risk/quality adjustments)
   • Create draft listing from the wizard; editable before publish
   • Upload docs to data room (Supabase Storage, signed URLs)
      
3. Marketplace
   • Listings grid/list with filters: revenue, profit, margin, category, geography, age, growth %, channel mix
   • Listing detail with teaser metrics; sensitive data gated behind KYC (+ optional refundable buyer deposit via Stripe) and click-through NDA
      
4. Buyer Flow
   • Buyer signup → Persona KYC → optional small Stripe deposit to unlock details
   • Request Info / Inquire → route to seller via in-app thread + email/SMS
   • Basic message thread (realtime) between buyer & seller (mask emails)
      
5. Payments
   • Stripe application/listing fee for sellers (one-time)
   • Optional buyer deposit/intent fee to unlock confidentials
   • Stripe Connect account model for future success-fee flows
      
6. Notifications
   • Knock for in-app feed; email + SMS (Twilio) for critical events: “New inquiry”, “KYC approved”, “NDA signed”, “Deposit received”
      
7. Admin
   • Role-based dashboard (admin/broker)
   • Approve listings, see KYC status, refund deposits, redact content, audit log
      
8. Security & Compliance (MVP-realistic)
   • Supabase RLS and row-level permissions (buyer/seller/admin)
   • Secrets via Vercel + Supabase; PII encryption at rest where appropriate
   • GDPR-friendly data deletion hooks; audit_log table for sensitive events
      
9. Observability
   • Sentry wired on both server & client; PostHog for funnels and eventing
      
10. Docs & Handoff

• README + runbook, env sample, ERD diagram, endpoint catalog, postman collection
   

Suggested Data Model (initial ERD)

• users (role: buyer | seller | admin; KYC status; 2FA)
• organizations (optional; for seller teams)
• brands (name, domain, category, geo, platform)
• metrics_monthly (brand_id, month, revenue, cogs, opx, profit, sessions, AOV, repeat_rate)
• listings (brand_id, status: draft/live/gated; asking_price; teaser fields)
• listing_assets (files in Supabase Storage, access policies)
• valuations (inputs + computed range + risk adjustments)
• ndas (status, signed_at, pdf_url)
• inquiries (buyer_id, listing_id, message, created_at)
• messages (thread_id, sender_id, body, read_at)
• payments (stripe ids, amount, type: listing_fee | buyer_deposit)
• audit_log (actor_id, action, entity, before/after, ip)
   

Nice-to-Have (Stretch after MVP)

• Escrow provider integration (Escrow.com/Mangopay) for deal deposits
• DocuSign / Dropbox Sign for NDAs & LOIs (PDF generation)
• WooCommerce or Amazon Seller Central adapters (post-MVP)
• Typesense/Algolia for richer search & ranking
• CSV import for sellers not on Shopify
• Basic comps/multiples library to explain pricing vs peers
   

Your Responsibilities

• Own the architecture and ship the MVP fast with clean code, tests, and docs
• Implement Shopify OAuth + webhooks (orders/paid, refunds) to compute core metrics
• Build valuation logic (simple, explainable, weighted on risk & quality)
• Set up Stripe Connect, Persona, Plaid, Knock, Twilio
• Enforce RLS and robust permissioning; cover critical paths with tests
• Collaborate with our designer (you’ll receive Figma) to match a Wayflyer-level polish
• Set up CI/CD (Vercel), preview deploys, env config, seed scripts

What Success Looks Like (30/60 Days)
 

• Day 30:
  • Seller valuation → draft listing → publish → appears in marketplace
  • Buyer signup → Persona KYC → deposit → gated unlock works
  • Inquiries/messages functional; notifications live; admin approve flow
     
• Day 60:
  • Shopify integration powering metrics on listings
  • Stripe Connect flows; deposits/refunds; audit logs; Sentry/PostHog dashboards
  • We have >50 live listings and real buyer conversations in product
     

Must-Have Experience

• Next.js + TypeScript in production; Vercel deployment
• Supabase (Auth, Postgres, Storage, RLS) or equivalent (and can learn fast)
• Payments (Stripe/Connect), webhooks, and secure background processing
• Third-party KYC (Persona/Alloy) + Twilio/Knock-style notifications
• OAuth app development (ideally Shopify) and webhook handling at scale
• Designing RBAC/permissions and shipping secure, auditable systems
• Writing tests (unit/integration) + owning monitoring/alerts
   

Bonus

• Built a marketplace, brokerage, or fintech-style product before
• Typesense/Algolia, Inngest/Trigger.dev, Ably/Pusher
• DocuSign/Dropbox Sign, Escrow providers
• Data viz (simple charts) and CSV ingest pipelines
   

How to Apply

1. GitHub link (required). Point to a repo showing:
   • Next.js + TS + DB + third-party integration + tests
2. Short note on which parts you’d implement first and why (be specific)
3. A one-page architecture sketch (bullet points) for the MVP:
   • Folder structure, ERD, key tables, RLS approach, background jobs, error handling
4. Estimate for a 6–8 week MVP with weekly milestones and hours
    

Quick Screening Task (paid, small)

• Build a Next.js route that completes Shopify OAuth, stores the shop + token in Postgres (Supabase), and exposes an API endpoint /api/shops/:id/metrics that returns last-30-day revenue & orders from Shopify. Include a minimal Prisma or SQL migration and a Jest/Vitest test for the endpoint.