Automation & Systems Integration Specialist — n8n, Airtable, APIs, CRM & Content

About Next Play Next Play is a growing sports media, technology, and coverage company operating the Next Play Network and additional sports media services. We are currently building the operational infrastructure that will allow the company to scale across markets without requiring large amounts of repetitive manual work. We are looking for an experienced Automation & Systems Integration Specialist to help us finish, improve, test, and deploy several automation workflows across our business. This is not a general virtual assistant role. We are looking for someone who can look at an existing business process, understand how the different systems should communicate, and then build a reliable automation that eliminates or substantially reduces the manual work. ⸻ Role Automation & Systems Integration Specialist Type: Freelance / Contract Location: Remote Initial Engagement: Project-based with potential for ongoing work Hours: Approximately 10–20 hours per week initially, depending on experience and project velocity There is potential for continued work maintaining, expanding, and improving our automation infrastructure as Next Play grows. ⸻ Primary Objective Your job will be to help us turn repetitive operating processes into dependable automated systems. You will work directly with the founder to take clearly defined workflows and implement them using tools such as: * n8n * Airtable * APIs * Webhooks * HubSpot * Canva * Social media publishing/scheduling platforms * ClickUp * Cloudflare * Webflow * Memberstack * Supabase * Google Workspace * Other SaaS platforms as required You do not need to be an expert in every platform listed above. You do need to be highly experienced in automation architecture, APIs, webhooks, data transformation, troubleshooting, and connecting SaaS platforms together. ⸻ Examples of Projects You May Work On Sports Data Automation Next Play operates a sports coverage network containing schedules, scores, rankings, schools, teams, athletes, content, and other structured data. We are developing systems that can: * collect sports schedules from multiple sources * compare data from multiple sources * identify discrepancies * update records in Airtable * detect completed games * retrieve and update final scores * trigger downstream workflows * flag records that require human verification * prevent duplicate records * maintain accurate timestamps and status fields * create logs for failed or questionable records The goal is not simply to scrape information. The goal is to create a reliable workflow with validation, error handling, retries, exception management, and human review where necessary. ⸻ Canva & Content Automation We produce large quantities of repeatable sports graphics using established Canva templates. Examples include: * Power Rankings * Athlete to Watch * Player of the Week * Game of the Week * Top Matchups * Score Graphics * Rankings Graphics * Other recurring social content We want to increasingly automate the process of: Database/Data Source → Canva Template → Dynamic Text/Images/Logos → Finished Creative → Social Scheduling Platform Experience working with Canva’s APIs, template automation, dynamic asset replacement, or similar creative automation systems is highly valuable. ⸻ Social Media Automation Help create workflows that can: * receive approved content * retrieve graphics/assets * generate standardized captions * route posts to the correct account * schedule content * publish through supported APIs or scheduling platforms * track publishing status * prevent duplicate posts * log failures * notify an operator when manual intervention is required Experience integrating platforms such as Buffer, Sprout Social, Meta, LinkedIn, X, or similar systems is helpful. ⸻ CRM & Sales Automation We are also building a scalable sales operation. Potential projects include: * HubSpot workflow automation * lead routing * lead ownership * territory assignment * prospect registration * duplicate prevention * pipeline automation * follow-up reminders * sales activity tracking * sponsorship inventory workflows * automated notifications * reporting dashboards * integrations between CRM and internal systems Strong HubSpot experience is a significant plus. ⸻ Airtable Automation Airtable is an important part of our current infrastructure. You should be comfortable with: * relational Airtable bases * linked records * formulas * lookups * rollups * automations * views * record IDs * API calls * pagination * filtering * bulk record processing * duplicate detection * data normalization You should understand the difference between simply storing records and designing a database that can reliably support automated workflows. ⸻ n8n Experience Is Strongly Preferred A significant portion of our automation infrastructure is being developed through n8n. You should ideally have experience with: * n8n Cloud * HTTP Request nodes * webhooks * scheduled workflows * loops * batches * conditional logic * merge nodes * JavaScript/code nodes * JSON manipulation * API authentication * OAuth * REST APIs * pagination * rate limiting * retries * error workflows * logging * sub-workflows * credential management * data validation We are especially interested in someone who understands how to build production-grade workflows, rather than simply connecting a few nodes together. ⸻ API & Webhook Experience You should be very comfortable reading API documentation and determining how different systems can communicate. Required concepts include: * REST APIs * GET/POST/PATCH/DELETE requests * JSON * authentication tokens * API keys * OAuth * headers * query parameters * request bodies * webhooks * pagination * rate limits * error codes * retries * idempotency * duplicate prevention You should be able to diagnose an integration problem without needing step-by-step instructions from us. ⸻ Automation Philosophy Our goal is not automation for the sake of automation. Our preferred architecture is: Source Data ↓ Automated Collection ↓ Validation ↓ Normalization ↓ Database ↓ Automated Action ↓ Logging ↓ Exception Queue ↓ Human Review Only When Necessary A good automation should not silently fail. It should tell us: * what happened * when it happened * which record was affected * whether it succeeded * why it failed * whether it requires human intervention ⸻ What We Need From You We need someone who can receive a workflow such as: Check multiple sources for a game’s final score, compare the results, update the Airtable record when confidence is high, and send questionable results to an exception queue. …and independently determine how to implement it. We do not want to have to explain: * what a webhook is * how an API request works * how JSON is structured * how to authenticate an API * how to troubleshoot a failed node * how to prevent duplicate records * how to implement error handling You should already be comfortable with those concepts. ⸻ Required Experience Applicants should have demonstrated professional experience with several of the following: * n8n * Airtable * REST APIs * Webhooks * JSON/data transformation * SaaS integrations * automation architecture * error handling * workflow debugging * database integrations You should also have experience taking a manual business process and turning it into an automated workflow. ⸻ Highly Preferred Experience Experience with any of the following will move applicants to the top of the list: * n8n Cloud * Airtable API * HubSpot * Canva API / Canva automation * social media scheduling APIs * Webflow * Cloudflare Workers * Supabase * Memberstack * Google APIs * ClickUp * JavaScript * Node.js * sports data APIs * scraping/data extraction * AI-assisted workflows * OpenAI APIs or similar LLM integrations ⸻ Important: Reliability Matters More Than Speed We would rather have a workflow that processes 10,000 records correctly than something built quickly that fails when volume increases. Your workflows should account for: * duplicate records * missing fields * conflicting information * failed API calls * API rate limits * malformed responses * retries * timeouts * incorrect mappings * unexpected data * logging * manual overrides * exception handling ⸻ Documentation Requirement Every workflow you build should include basic documentation. At minimum: Purpose What does the workflow accomplish? Trigger What starts the workflow? Systems Which platforms/APIs are involved? Logic What are the major workflow steps? Credentials Which credentials or environment variables are required? Error Handling What happens when something fails? Manual Intervention What situations require human review? Recovery How can the workflow be restarted or repaired? We do not want critical company infrastructure that only the original developer understands. ⸻ Security You must follow basic security best practices. That includes: * never hard-coding sensitive credentials * properly using credential/environment systems * protecting API keys * limiting unnecessary permissions * not exposing private customer or company data * documenting required access * following least-privilege principles wherever possible ⸻ Who This Role Is NOT For Please do not apply if your primary experience is: * data entry * general virtual assistance * basic Zapier templates * social media management * graphic design * administrative work Those skills may be useful, but this role requires someone with genuine automation and systems integration experience. ⸻ Ideal Candidate The ideal candidate is someone who: * thinks systematically * enjoys solving operational problems * can work independently * communicates clearly * identifies problems before they become failures * understands how APIs work * can read technical documentation * can troubleshoot independently * builds clean workflows * documents their work * understands scalability * understands data integrity * doesn’t over-engineer simple problems Most importantly, you should understand that the objective is to eliminate repetitive work, not simply move repetitive work from one person to another. ⸻ Application Instructions Please begin your proposal with: NEXT PLAY AUTOMATION This helps us identify applicants who actually read the posting. Then answer the following questions. 1. n8n Experience Describe the most complex n8n workflow you have personally built. Include: * number of systems integrated * APIs used * workflow purpose * error handling * approximate workflow volume 2. API Experience Give an example of an API integration you built from documentation rather than using a prebuilt integration. 3. Airtable Experience Describe an Airtable implementation where Airtable served as part of an automated backend or operational database. 4. Error Handling Suppose an automation retrieves conflicting information from two different data sources. How would you design the workflow so incorrect information is not automatically published? 5. Duplicate Prevention How would you prevent an automation from creating duplicate records when the workflow runs repeatedly? 6. Canva Have you worked with Canva’s API, template automation, or automated generation of creative assets? If yes, explain what you built. 7. HubSpot Describe any HubSpot automation or integration work you have completed. 8. Availability How many hours per week can you dedicate to this project? 9. Hourly Rate What is your hourly rate? 10. Portfolio Please provide examples, screenshots, Loom videos, GitHub repositories, or explanations of automation systems you have personally built. ⸻ Paid Test Project Final candidates may be offered a small paid test project before receiving access to larger systems. The test will involve building or improving a real automation workflow and documenting the solution. We are evaluating: * technical competency * workflow architecture * communication * documentation * attention to detail * error handling * ability to work independently Strong performance can lead to substantially more work. ⸻ Long-Term Opportunity Next Play is developing an increasingly automated operating infrastructure. As the company expands, there will likely be continued opportunities involving: * new automation development * workflow optimization * API integrations * monitoring * troubleshooting * automation maintenance * new state/market deployment * CRM automation * sports data workflows * content automation * reporting systems We are looking for someone who can potentially become a trusted long-term automation partner as the company grows.