Senior Outsourced PHP Developer

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.