WordPress LMS Developer — Platform Build (Contract)

Build the full technical foundation for a new mobile-first e-learning platform serving East Africa. Fixed fee of USD 1,500, 12–16 weeks, fully remote.

COSMA is launching a mobile-first online learning platform for professional education in East Africa. We're looking for one experienced WordPress contractor to build the complete technical skeleton — from empty server to a live web platform and native apps in both app stores.

This is a discrete, fixed-scope engagement. Content production and day-to-day operations are handled by our internal team. Your job is to deliver a working, secure, well-documented platform and hand it over.

Important: we are not building custom software. We are assembling and integrating proven, production-tested components. This role is configuration, integration, and hardening — not invention.

The stack you'll be working with

Platform & LMS

• WordPress 6.x on managed hosting (Cloudways / DigitalOcean, Johannesburg region) with Cloudflare in front
• TutorLMS Pro — course delivery, lesson drip, quizzes, certificates, progress tracking
• Kadence theme, fully re-branded

Commerce & payments (the critical path)

• WooCommerce + WooCommerce Subscriptions — monthly, quarterly, per-item and all-access recurring plans in TZS
• Selcom Pay as primary gateway: M-Pesa, Tigo Pesa, Airtel Money, HaloPesa, card, bank transfer
• DPO Pay as secondary gateway for failover, both live at checkout
• Full sandbox test coverage across every payment method before go-live

Video delivery

• Bunny Stream — HLS adaptive bitrate (240p–1080p), African edge PoPs, signed URLs with expiry
• Custom shortcode / TutorLMS integration for signed-URL embedding
• Offline lesson download for students on intermittent connectivity

Native mobile apps

• BuddyBoss Platform Pro + BuddyBoss App (React Native), fully white-labelled
• Real-time sync with TutorLMS: courses, lessons, quizzes, progress, certificates
• Published to the Apple App Store and Google Play under our own developer accounts
• Purchases deliberately stay on web — no in-app purchase flow

Authentication

• WordPress core email/password + Google Sign-In (Nextend Social Login)
• Apple Sign-In added at mobile launch
• Mandatory 2FA on all admin, editor and instructor accounts

Security, backup & compliance

• TLS 1.3, HSTS, Cloudflare WAF at the edge, Wordfence Premium at the application layer
• Daily platform backups plus weekly encrypted off-site backups to S3-compatible storage
• File system hardening, brute-force protection, staging-first patch workflow
• A tested restore procedure — not just a backup schedule

Email & deliverability

• Three-provider split: Google Workspace (internal), SMTP2GO (transactional), Brevo (marketing)
• Combined SPF, per-provider DKIM, staged DMARC rollout (p=none → quarantine)

Analytics & monitoring

• GA4 with conversion tracking through the full signup-to-paid funnel
• Sentry for PHP and app crash reporting, UptimeRobot on homepage and checkout
• WP Rocket caching and a documented performance baseline

Timeline

What we need from you

Essential

• Several years of production WordPress experience, with sites you can point to
• Deep hands-on WooCommerce experience, specifically recurring subscription products
• TutorLMS, LearnDash or comparable LMS implementation experience
• Comfort integrating payment gateways via API (prior Selcom experience is not required — willingness to read their docs is)
• Solid WordPress security and performance practice
• Managed hosting or self-managed LEMP stack competence
• DNS, SSL and email deliverability (SPF / DKIM / DMARC) fluency
• The ability to explain a technical trade-off to a non-technical stakeholder in plain language

Nice to have

• Previous African e-learning, fintech or mobile-money work — you already understand bandwidth variability and why mobile money is non-negotiable
• BuddyBoss or React Native app coordination
• CDN video integration (Bunny, Mux, Cloudflare Stream)

Non-negotiable

• Commitment to a fixed 12–16 week delivery against the milestones above
• A short written progress update every week
• Everything version-controlled; all credentials and documentation handed over cleanly at the end
• Reasonable overlap with East Africa Time (EAT / UTC+3) for one weekly call

How we work

We're async-first: written updates, recorded walkthroughs, shared docs, and one scheduled 30-minute call per week. We handle vendor KYC, app store developer accounts and SaaS procurement — you focus on the build.

Scope is the contract. If something needs to change, we document it and price it separately rather than letting it drift.

Engagement & compensation

Fixed-price contract, paid in two tranches: 50% at kickoff, 50% on public launch sign-off. Share your quote for the scope above in your application.

There is no ongoing retainer after launch — routine maintenance is absorbed internally. We do re-engage contractors on an ad-hoc, separately-scoped basis for feature work, major upgrades and new integrations, and we'd expect to do that here if the build goes well.

How to apply

Email justin.omari@cosma.co.tz with the subject line: WordPress LMS Developer — [Your Name]

Include:

1. A short note on your relevant experience — five or six sentences is plenty
2. Portfolio or GitHub, ideally showing subscription or payment gateway work
3. Your quote for the scope above, and your earliest start date
4. Your timezone and typical working hours
5. Any questions about the scope

What happens next: we shortlist within a week, run a 30-minute technical call, a second call covering references and working style, and make a decision within ten days of your application.

A note on the project

Full details of the platform, the content, and the market it serves are shared with the contractor we select. What we can say publicly: it serves thousands of candidates preparing for professional examinations across East Africa, many of whom currently have no structured support at all. The technical foundation you build is what makes that reachable.

COSMA is an equal opportunity employer, committed to building accessible learning systems across Africa..