Why this role exists
We’re building and evolving a custom PHP web application that powers real-world operations. No hand-holding frameworks here — just clean, object‑oriented PHP, RESTful services, and a stack that rewards engineers who love understanding how things actually work.
If you enjoy getting close to the metal with Core/Vanilla PHP, care about performance, and can comfortably move between data layers, UI, and cloud infrastructure, you’ll feel right at home.
What you’ll do (the work)
- Ship features end‑to‑end in a framework‑free, OOP PHP codebase (namespaces, interfaces, traits, SOLID principles).
- Design and implement RESTful endpoints (JSON), including request validation, pagination, error handling, and versioning.
- Write robust SQL (DDL/DML), optimise queries and indexes, and integrate via PDO with prepared statements.
- Work with MongoDB for document‑oriented use cases; design efficient schemas and aggregation pipelines where relevant.
- Build and enhance front‑end interactions with jQuery, HTML/CSS, and Tailwind CSS for fast, clean UI work.
- Integrate external APIs (REST/Webhooks), handle oauth/token flows, retries, idempotency, and rate‑limit strategy.
- Operate in AWS: deploy apps on Elastic Beanstalk, manage assets in S3, use DynamoDB where appropriate, and keep environments healthy (logs, scaling, env vars).
- Handle SSL/TLS certificate management and DNS via Cloudflare; ensure zero‑downtime renewals and sane caching rules.
- Work with WordPress CMS where needed (content ingestion/integration, headless endpoints, custom fields/templates).
- Pair closely with another Senior Developer who knows the platform inside‑out; take part in code reviews and architecture discussions.
- Own quality: write pragmatic tests, instrument metrics, document decisions, and leave the codebase tidier than you found it.
The environment (important context)
- No modern PHP frameworks. We use Core/Vanilla PHP with strong OOP. If your superpower is Laravel or Symfony only, this role isn’t the right fit.
- We follow OOP and RESTful design practices, emphasising clarity, testability, and performance.
- We value speed with discipline: small PRs, sensible testing, continuous improvement.
Must‑have skills & experience
- Core/Vanilla PHP (7.x/8.x) with OOP: interfaces, traits, namespaces, dependency injection, SOLID.
- RESTful API design & implementation (JSON), auth patterns, and versioning.
- SQL mastery (query optimisation, indexing, transactions) and PDO best practices.
- MongoDB fundamentals (schema design, aggregations, performance basics).
- Front‑end: jQuery, semantic HTML, modern CSS, and Tailwind CSS utility workflows.
- External API integrations (OAuth, webhooks, retries, idempotency, error/bounce handling).
- AWS: Elastic Beanstalk deployments, S3 lifecycle, DynamoDB usage, environment configuration, logging/monitoring basics.
- Security: input validation, CSRF/XSS/SQL injection prevention, secrets management, and safe file handling.
- SSL/TLS & DNS via Cloudflare (including HSTS, redirects, caching/CDN rulesets, cert renewals).
- WordPress CMS experience (admin/config, theme/plugin interaction, or headless/REST usage).
- Git and collaborative workflows (feature branches, code reviews, CI basics).
- Comfortable with Linux/CLI for diagnostics and automation.
Nice to have (bonus points)
- Experience with queues/workers for background jobs.
- Testing: PHPUnit or similar; integration test mindset.
- Performance profiling (Xdebug/Blackfire) and caching strategies (OPcache/application‑level caching).
- Observability basics (structured logging, alerts, dashboards).
What success looks like
30 days
- Onboarded, local/dev environments humming, shipping small improvements and fixes.
- Demonstrates understanding of domain models and core modules.
60 days
- Independently delivering medium‑sized features end‑to‑end.
- Improving SQL queries and indexes, reducing response times and error rates.
90 days
- Co‑owning a roadmap area; proposing architecture improvements.
- Raising overall code quality with patterns, guardrails, and clear documentation.
How we work
- Remote first. Clear written communication is king.
- Ticketed workflow with lightweight specs and acceptance criteria.
- Code reviews for every PR; pair programming with the platform owner for complex changes.
- Pragmatic documentation (readmes/ADR notes) close to the code.
