Strong remote candidates separate from weak ones quickly if you do these in order.
Ask questions with checkable answers. Which third-party payment providers have they connected to a Shopify store for a Middle East merchant, and what went wrong? How would they handle tax on a store that only supports manual rates? Have they built an Arabic storefront, and what did customers see at checkout? A vague answer here is a preview of the project.
Commission a small paid task first. Before signing a full build, give your top candidate a paid job of a few days: shipping zones, a payment provider hooked up to a test store, or one product template translated into Arabic and checked. You learn how they communicate, document and meet a deadline, at a fraction of the risk.
Make the brief Saudi-specific. Cover these points:
- the payment provider you've chosen, or that you want advice on
- pricing in Saudi riyal and any other currencies
- Arabic, English or both, page by page
- who sets and maintains tax rates after launch
- product count, shipping regions and a launch date
Send it to two or three experts on the same day, so their replies arrive together.
