Moodle Upgrade & Course Management

I need an experienced Moodle administrator to take full charge of our platform remotely. Your primary mission is to keep the system current and running smoothly, then help me launch and manage individual courses without introducing any custom plugins.

The core of the engagement centres on:
• Upgrading our Moodle instance to the latest stable release, applying all minor patches, and confirming that existing core features remain intact.
• Ongoing maintenance—security checks, backups, performance tuning, and quick-turn troubleshooting whenever an update causes unexpected behaviour.
• Course creation and setup: duplicating our template, configuring enrolment settings, and making sure resources display correctly.
• Grading and assessments management: building gradebook categories, aligning activities with rubrics, and verifying grade calculations.

Because we rely solely on Moodle’s native tool-set, there is no need for new plugin development; a solid command of standard administration functions will be enough. If you have a proven track record with version upgrades, database and file system housekeeping, and efficient course workflow, I’d like to hear how you would approach the first rollout and what turnaround time you typically achieve.

Please outline relevant projects, approximate timelines for a major version jump, and any best-practice steps you follow to minimise downtime.