Django Developer Needed for 4-Week Build, Reports to Technical Lead (Fast start required)

We're a pre-launch startup (Mainstep) building a small business intelligence platform, starting with independent restaurant operators in the Bay Area. We're a few weeks out from our first pilot launch and need a Django developer for a focused 4-week push. Visit our landing page to get a feel: https://joinmainstep.com/ You'd report to our technical advisor, who sets direction and reviews the work. You build against what he lays out. The platform is Django 6, Python 3.12, Postgres, hosted on Render. WHAT'S BUILT: Landing page (joinmainstep.com): marketing page, call-to-action prompts prospective members to sign-up Onboarding: a sign-up survey that prospective members complete to create a profile and join the Mainstep community Threads: a community forum organized into industry and demographic groups, with categorized posts, threaded comments, and a four-reaction voting system (upvote, downvote, funny, lightbulb) on both posts and comments. Pseudonymous identity — a member-chosen handle plus a business-type byline, real name and company never shown publicly. Passwordless login (magic link, no passwords anywhere). Search across posts, groups, and members, with separate directories for operators and vendors. User reporting with an admin triage queue, plus admin impersonation for support. Elder marketplace (the most involved piece): a searchable, filterable, sortable directory of bookable advisors. Self-serve advisor profile setup covering bio, rate, and availability. Slot booking and request-a-call flows. Integrations already wired in: (1) Anthropic API batch-translates posts and comments into 10+ languages, with results cached in the database so nothing gets translated, or billed, twice. Stripe Connect handles full Express onboarding for paid advisors, a Checkout flow with a first-call credit, webhook-confirmed bookings, and automatic payout to the advisor's account. Whereby supports in-platform video calls between members and Advisors. WHAT'S LEFT: Insights: We'll do a full walkthrough once we reach an agreement, but we need to build out the pipeline and UI for the intelligence piece Loads of general cleanup, bug fixes, testing, and myriad adhoc items that will come up over the next 4 weeks. Efforts will likely be reprioritized week to week around whatever's closest to launch-critical. We need someone who can start within days, not weeks. Beyond that: solid, real Django experience, not something to learn on the job. Comfortable with git deploys and debugging under pressure. Responsive and actually available for the full 4 weeks, priorities and all. Pay is $1,000 flat for the 4 weeks. We're bootstrapped at the moment, but this could develop into longer-term work with more meaningful pay in the future.