Senior Back-end Engineer - PHP, Node.js

This position is listed on behalf of a partner company, who manages all applications and next steps. Our partner is looking for a Senior Back-end Engineer - PHP, Node.js based in United Kingdom.

Join a fast-growing global engineering organization building technology that powers commerce at scale.

As a Senior Back-end Engineer, you’ll help design and deliver reliable, scalable systems that directly impact products and customers worldwide.

You’ll work within a product-focused engineering team where solving meaningful problems matters more than simply writing code.

The role offers significant ownership, from technical design and implementation through prioritization, optimization, and continuous improvement.

You’ll collaborate closely with product managers and cross-functional stakeholders while contributing to a strong engineering culture.

The environment encourages experimentation, knowledge sharing, pair programming, and practical use of AI-assisted development tools.

Fully remote across EMEA, this is an opportunity to work with an ambitious international team while maintaining flexibility and autonomy.

Accountabilities:

• Design, develop, test, and deploy high-quality, scalable back-end software, while continuously improving existing code and architecture.
• Contribute to the development of commerce solutions capable of supporting high-load and distributed environments.
• Take ownership of technical initiatives from design through execution, ensuring projects are delivered against agreed priorities and business objectives.
• Partner closely with product managers and stakeholders to translate business needs into effective technical solutions and challenge requirements when a different approach would create greater user or business value.
• Apply sound architectural principles, including Domain-Driven Design (DDD), CQRS, and distributed systems patterns, to build maintainable and resilient services.
• Participate actively in code reviews, refactoring, testing, debugging, and pair programming to maintain high engineering standards.
• Identify and prioritize bugs, performance issues, and platform improvements, taking ownership of their resolution.
• Monitor and optimize application performance, reliability, and overall system quality.
• Contribute to a culture of continuous learning through technical knowledge-sharing sessions, mentoring, and best-practice discussions.
• Use AI and LLM-based development tools thoughtfully to support architecture exploration, implementation, testing, debugging, documentation, and code quality.

Requirements:

• 5+ years of professional back-end development experience, with strong proficiency in either PHP or Node.js and a willingness to develop expertise in the other.
• Strong knowledge of high-load architecture, distributed systems, Domain-Driven Design (DDD), and CQRS.
• Solid understanding of software engineering principles and best practices, including SOLID, TDD, CI/CD, Agile development, and automated testing.
• Professional experience with technologies such as PHP 8.1+, Symfony, Laravel, Yii2, Doctrine, or PHPUnit, or comparable back-end technologies.
• Experience working with databases and infrastructure such as MySQL, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, Redis, AWS, Kubernetes, and Docker is highly relevant.
• Strong debugging, testing, troubleshooting, and application-performance optimization skills.
• Comfortable working with modern engineering and observability tools such as Git, GitLab/GitHub, Grafana, Kibana, Prometheus, and Postman.
• Practical experience using LLMs and coding assistants, including tools such as Claude or GitHub Copilot, as partners for problem-solving, architectural brainstorming, coding, testing, and development workflows.
• Strong product mindset, with the ability to prioritize work based on business and customer impact rather than technical preference alone.
• Demonstrated ownership, critical thinking, adaptability, and ability to operate effectively in a rapidly evolving environment.
• Excellent collaboration and communication skills, with a good level of spoken and written English.
• Comfortable working remotely and collaborating asynchronously with an international, distributed team.

Benefits:

• Fully remote work within EMEA, including Romania.
• Flexible working hours, with the ability to start your day as late as 11 AM.
• Option to work from a modern office environment where available.
• Private health insurance.
• 2 additional paid days off dedicated to mental or physical well-being.
• 1 additional paid day off for your birthday or another personal celebration.
• Internal and external learning and professional development opportunities.
• Access to mentorship, internal meetups, and hackathons, both online and on-site.
• Healthy and free lunch when working from the office.
• Employee discounts and opportunities to design and order branded merchandise.
• Regular team-building activities and social events.
• A supportive, inclusive, and ambitious international engineering environment.
• Opportunities to work with modern technologies, distributed systems, and AI-assisted software development.