Senior Full-Stack PHP / WordPress Developer (High-Traffic Website) - APKMirror
First seen by Alion on Nov 10, 2026.
About APKMirror
APKMirror.com is one of the largest and most trusted sources of Android app downloads, used by millions of people. Every upload is verified by its cryptographic signature before it is published. The site runs on a heavily customized WordPress platform with a large codebase of our own, maintained by a small, senior, fully remote team.
About the role
We are hiring a senior full-stack developer to join the team full-time on a long-term basis. You will work directly with the founder and our existing developers across the back end, the REST API, the front end, and the systems that process APK files. This is a permanent position, not a one-off project or a short contract. We consider individual contributors only; agencies and development shops, please do not apply.
Responsibilities
Features: design, build, and maintain features in our custom WordPress plugins and theme (modern PHP 8, served by Apache/nginx), covering the public site and internal admin tools.
REST API: develop and maintain our REST API, built on the WordPress REST API and documented with Swagger, and keep every endpoint correct, secure, and fast.
APK processing: develop the pipeline that handles uploaded files: parsing, signature verification (aapt2, apksigner), split-APK bundles, variant detection, and duplicate resolution.
Performance: keep a high-traffic site fast by profiling code, tuning MariaDB queries and indexes across primary and replica databases, and making effective use of Memcached caching and Elasticsearch search.
Background jobs: build and maintain queue workers that run on Beanstalkd under Supervisor.
Scripts and data: write supporting tools in Python and Bash, and write and run data migrations, backfills, and integrity checks on a large dataset.
User interface: build and refine the UI with JavaScript (jQuery), HTML, and CSS (LESS), with attention to responsive behavior, visual detail, and page speed.
Testing and standards: write automated tests (PHPUnit), follow our coding standards (PHP_CodeSniffer), and document non-obvious logic.
CI and tooling: maintain and extend our checks and automation in GitHub Actions and our Docker-based development environment.
Code review and security: review pull requests, including AI-generated code, for correctness, performance, and security, and harden the platform against XSS, CSRF, and injection.
Production issues: monitor errors in Sentry, diagnose problems from error reports and logs, and fix their root causes.
Integrations: maintain third-party integrations, including advertising, premium memberships, S3-compatible object storage, and Cloudflare.
Dependencies: keep WordPress core, plugins, and other dependencies up-to-date and tested.
Requirements
8+ years of professional software development, with deep PHP expertise.
Strong knowledge of WordPress internals: custom plugins and themes, hooks, WP_Query, custom post types and taxonomies, the REST API, and the object cache.
Advanced SQL skills with MySQL or MariaDB, including query analysis and indexing.
Proven experience with high-traffic production systems, where caching, background jobs, and careful releases matter. A change here reaches millions of people and, if careless, can degrade the service within minutes.
Experience designing and maintaining REST APIs.
Solid JavaScript, HTML, and CSS; able to build clean, responsive UI without a heavy framework.
Confident with Git, code review, automated testing, CI, Docker, and the Linux command line. Comfortable scripting in Bash and Python.
Daily, practical use of AI coding tools, combined with the fundamentals to verify what they produce: debugging, performance intuition, and a clear understanding of what the code actually does.
English at Upper-Intermediate (B2) level or higher, with clear written communication. The founder is of Ukrainian descent, but meetings and written communication are in English.
Nice to have
You use Android and understand its ecosystem: APK structure, app signing, split APKs and app bundles, device architectures, and screen densities.
Familiarity with APKMirror as a user or contributor.
Prior experience with Elasticsearch, Beanstalkd, S3-compatible storage, Cloudflare, or Sentry.
A background in web application security.
Public code (GitHub or similar) and participation in technical discussions.
A good eye for design.
A record of staying in roles long-term.
How we work
We use Cursor, Claude Code, and Codex for development and code review. AI speeds the work up; engineers remain fully responsible for everything that ships.
All changes go through pull requests with automated checks, AI reviewers, and human review.
You manage your own schedule. We hold one weekly sync call and otherwise communicate in writing.
What we offer
A long-term, full-time, fully remote engagement as an independent contractor, paid hourly at a competitive rate agreed individually.
A stable product with a large audience, where your work is used by millions of people.
A small team with no bureaucracy and direct access to decision-makers. Our current developers have been with us for years.
Location
Candidates based in Ukraine or Georgia are preferred.
Hiring process
Application with short screening questions.
Introductory video call (30 minutes).
Live technical session (up to 90 minutes): code review and debugging in a sample project. AI tools are allowed.
Paid trial period on real tasks under a contractor agreement.
Reference checks and a long-term offer.