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. </li></ul> 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. </li></ul> 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. </li></ul> 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). </li></ul> What success looks like

        30 days

        • Onboarded, local/dev environments humming, shipping small improvements and fixes.
        • Demonstrates understanding of domain models and core modules. </li></ul> 60 days
          • Independently delivering medium'sized features end?to?end.
          • Improving SQL queries and indexes, reducing response times and error rates. </li></ul> 90 days
            • Co?owning a roadmap area; proposing architecture improvements.
            • Raising overall code quality with patterns, guardrails, and clear documentation. </li></ul> 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. </li></ul>