Smooth Remote – An AWS-based Web Remote Job Board

Smooth Remote is an international platform with fully remote jobs focused on the IT industry with 14 various categories such as marketing, software development, customer service, design, copywriting, and more. They asked CrustLab for help with the implementation and development of as we call, “the smoothest job board” on the global market.

An AWS-based web remote job board challenges

The main challenge of this project was to create a reliable custom-made infrastructure that would meet the expectations of the founders not only for the platform launch but that would allow the platform to grow and scale long-term smoothly.

The project had two aspects: one was the implementation of the user-faced interface both for people looking for jobs and for the companies who want to post remote jobs; the second was creating an admin panel for the Smooth Remote crew to manage the platform. The second aspect required creating various roles with different access scopes.

As part of the project, we had to select and implement the right mechanisms for the platform monetization and integration with external payment providers.

How we built an AWS-based web remote job board

During the job board development, we provided services such as front-end development, back-end development, Content Management System development, payment integration, and the deployment of the job board to the cloud systems.

At the beginning of the project, we focused on ensuring security and high performance. This is why we decided to deploy the application in Amazon Web Services and integrate it with a few ready-to-use AWS native components.

We used UX/UI mockups and designs prepared by the client to ensure design consistency. The key to a positive User Experience was the fact and smooth navigation in the portal and the number of filters for those looking for certain types of jobs. Thanks to the search engine, users can easily search for jobs on a homepage or category pages or for a company on a dedicated “Remote Companies” page. The user can also use filters or categories or mix these features and search functionality within a specific category. 

To meet SEO guidelines, we conducted a basic on-site SEO optimization and built a blog based on the Ghost Content Management System for content creation. In addition, Google API integration automatically publishes job offers on Google News, and users can do the same on social media thanks to sharing buttons.

Smooth Remote’s clients can use different types of plans to post job offers. Some plans allow purchases in bundles which gives clients major price benefits. Publishing remote jobs with certain plans results in creating a company account with login details, which makes it easier for the client to manage his job listings and post jobs in the future. It also creates a public company profile on the ‘Remote Companies’ page with a company logo, description, and a list of existing job offers. 

There are a few types of users in the portal: an unlogged user (i.e., a job seeker), a client who has access to the company’s account with job offers and payment history, a Smooth Remote’s Admin who can manage job offers with a separate login to the admin panel written in Django.

The main monetization model is based on advertising a remote job offer on smoothremote.com that would reach a wide audience of people seeking job offers. Smooth Remote offers various packages with more or less elaborated promotional features – such as displaying job offers on the homepage, pinning them on top of its category, publishing the announcement on social channels, or featuring them in the weekly newsletter. Furthermore, thanks to the integration with Stripe payment operator, users can safely pay by card and use discount codes.

Results

The result of working on the Smooth Remote project is implementing the AWS-based international remote job board, which actively supports employers and remote job seekers around the world. Thanks to AWS cloud solutions, the website guarantees the safety of user data and the proper speed of operation.

Additional options for business customers, the ability to create a company profile, invite users, and payment integration allow further platform monetization.

What’s more, intuitive navigation, a smooth look & feel, and more advanced job search functionalities distinguish the platform from other players on the market.