Legacy Systems Discovery & Migration Readiness
Contract / Freelance (Initial 5–15 day engagement) Hybrid / On-site required initially (North West England)
MadeByAI is seeking an experienced technical contractor to support the discovery, interrogation and documentation of a complex legacy business systems environment as part of a wider AI and systems transformation programme. This is not a typical software development role.
The environment
We are specifically looking for someone who is comfortable working with mature, business-critical systems that have evolved over decades. The environment includes:
- Microsoft Access applications
- VBA / Visual Basic logic
- ASP.NET applications
- ERP-linked systems
- Synchronised local and central databases
- Stored procedures and transactional business logic
- Complex relational database structures
- Long-standing operational processes and data dependencies
The immediate objective is not to rewrite systems, but to:
- Understand them properly
- Document them accurately
- Identify dependencies and risks
- Prepare the environment for future migration, consolidation or redevelopment
The type of person we need
Someone who enjoys understanding how older systems really work — not someone who only operates in greenfield environments.
You would suit this role if you:
- Enjoy understanding how older systems really work
- Can independently interrogate databases and workflows
- Understand why long-lived systems often contain important business logic
- Are comfortable working without perfect documentation
- Have strong analytical instincts
- Can distinguish between “legacy because old” and “legacy because mission‑critical”
Key responsibilities
Review and interrogate existing databases and systems
Analyse relational database schemas and dependencies
Understand data flows, synchronisation and locking mechanisms
Review stored procedures, views and business logic
Identify manual workarounds and operational dependencies
Document systems to migration‑ready level
Support assessment of migration and redevelopment options
Work with operational stakeholders to extract undocumented knowledge
Help identify risks, duplication and architectural constraints
Essential technical skills
You should have strong practical experience with several of the following:
Core technologies
- Complex schemas and data relationships
- Reverse-engineering undocumented systems
- Technical documentation
- Workflow and dependency mapping
- Understanding operational business processes through data structures
Highly desirable experience
- Experience with long-running business‑critical systems
- Financial, ERP, invoicing or operational systems experience
- Understanding of synchronisation architectures
- Experience migrating or modernising Access/SQL‑based systems
- Familiarity with audit‑sensitive or highly controlled environments
- Experience working with organisations in regulated sectors
Security & compliance awareness
- NCSC Cloud Security Principles
- Security considerations for defence or sensitive‑sector clients
Duration
This role is as much about technical judgement and systems thinking as it is about coding or development. The successful contractor will need to be capable of understanding not just what systems do, but why they evolved the way they did — and what risks exist if that logic is misunderstood during migration or redevelopment.
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