Website build, research org — non-technical owner, need scope advice

I'm building the website for an independent research and publishing organisation. I'm the only person running it — no developer on retainer after launch, no technical background. I need to publish content, edit pages, manage submissions, and manage the intern pipeline myself, in a browser, without touching code. Two or three other people will also need limited logins for parts of this (see below) — none of us can code. Not fixed on any platform — recommend what actually fits the brief and your honest read of my budget, and say why. WHAT IT DOES Publishes written pieces in three lengths: long pieces with a PDF, medium pieces with a PDF, and short pieces published frequently as plain text (a running newsletter-style feed). Content sits in subject categories, each with its own page that auto-lists everything filed under it. I need to add a new category myself later, no code. It also runs a small internship programme, end to end — application, document verification, certificate issuance, and public verification of those certificates. COMPONENTS I NEED PUBLIC SITE - Homepage with a featured piece and recent publications - Filterable publications list (by category, by piece type) - Individual publication page: title, clickable author names, a visible abstract (not just inside a PDF), keywords, embedded PDF with download - Category pages that auto-list their own content - An author page per person, auto-generated, listing everything they've published — every co-author gets one, not just the lead - A frequent short-article / newsletter section, with email signup and sending to subscribers - Careers/Internships page listing open roles, with an application form (file upload for CV) that emails me on submission - Standard static pages, and a contact form that emails me SUBMISSION AND REVIEW SYSTEM - A logged-in area where someone submits a piece on-site: title, category, type, multiple author fields (add/remove), and a rich-text editor for the full text - On submit, status is "Pending Review" and I get an email - An admin view listing pending submissions with three actions each: Accept (publishes live, authors become linked), Request Revision (I add a note, author edits and resubmits), Reject (short reason). Each action emails the author automatically. - A dashboard for submitters showing their own pieces and status INTERN PIPELINE AND CERTIFICATES - Applicants apply through a form; I approve or decline - Approved applicants log in and submit onboarding details plus document uploads (ID, signed agreement, etc.) - A small number of people (2–3, not me) log in with limited access to review and verify those documents — they should not see or touch anything else on the site - On verification, the system auto-generates a joining letter as a PDF, assigns the intern a unique ID, and emails it to them - Interns can be grouped into teams; a team lead can see their team's members and mark progress against milestones in a simple dashboard - Interns submit periodic progress updates through a form - At the end of the internship, interns fill a completion form — I need to be able to change the questions on this form myself, without code - Submitting that form auto-generates a completion certificate as a PDF and emails it; if the intern published something, a separate publication certificate is generated the same way - Every certificate carries the intern's unique ID and nothing else administrative (no registration numbers, no personal document details printed on it) - Interns can log back in any time with their ID to download their own certificates again - A separate public page where anyone (an employer, a university) enters an ID and a surname and gets a yes/no confirmation the certificate is genuine, with no document download — this page must work indefinitely, even years later - 2–3 admin-level logins (including mine) that can see and manage the whole intern pipeline from the website alone THE CONSTRAINT THAT MATTERS MOST I maintain this alone, zero coding ability, indefinitely, and the 2–3 other people with limited logins have no technical background either. If part of this can't be built that way inside a realistic budget, tell me plainly rather than taking the job and leaving me stuck after. IN YOUR PROPOSAL, TELL ME: 1. Platform/stack you'd use, and why it suits non-technical users running this solo and in small teams 2. Your honest opinion — given the full scope above and my budget, what would you build first, and what would you sequence for later? I want your recommendation, not a guess at what I want to hear. 3. Fixed price and timeline for what you'd propose building first, plus a rough estimate for the rest 4. Support window after handover, and your rate beyond it 5. A site you've built with a similar document/certificate workflow, or one a non-technical person still maintains today 6. internship form submission and HR login can be excluded from V1, as will grow we will build that in next phase, opinion? (to keep things in budget) I'd rather hire someone who tells me straight what my budget buys than someone who agrees to everything and disappears after launch.