We are looking for a Senior Software Developer to join our engineering team on a permanent, full-time basis, working hybrid from our Sheffield office. Reporting to the Engineering Manager, you will lead delivery on a large PHP platform serving enterprise customers, and mentor a team of mid-level and junior developers.
Key responsibilities:
- Design, build and maintain backend services and RESTful APIs using PHP and the Laravel framework.
- Develop responsive front-end features using JavaScript, Vue.js and modern CSS.
- Write and maintain automated unit, integration and end-to-end tests using PHPUnit and Playwright.
- Design and optimise relational database schemas and complex queries in MySQL.
- Review pull requests, enforce coding standards and provide constructive feedback to peers.
- Maintain and improve CI/CD pipelines in GitHub Actions, including automated deployment.
- Containerise services with Docker and support infrastructure running on AWS.
- Diagnose and resolve production incidents, performing root cause analysis and post-incident reviews.
- Collaborate with product managers and designers to refine requirements and estimate work.
- Mentor junior developers through pairing, code review and structured one-to-ones.
- Contribute to architectural decisions and technical documentation.
Essential skills and experience:
- Minimum five years' commercial software development experience, with at least three years in PHP.
- Strong working knowledge of Laravel, Symfony or a comparable MVC framework.
- Proficient with Git, branching strategies and trunk-based development.
- Solid understanding of object-oriented design, SOLID principles and design patterns.
- Experience with test-driven development and automated testing at scale.
- Familiarity with message queues, caching strategies and Redis.
- Excellent problem solving, communication and stakeholder management skills.
- Proven ability to lead technical work and mentor others.
Desirable:
- Experience with Kubernetes, Terraform or infrastructure as code.
- Exposure to Elasticsearch and search relevance tuning.
- Understanding of WCAG 2.2 accessibility standards and secure coding practices.
Qualifications and training:
- BSc (Hons) in Computer Science, Software Engineering or a related discipline.
- AWS Certified Developer – Associate certification is desirable.
- Zend Certified PHP Engineer certification is desirable.
- Professional Scrum Master (PSM I) certification would be an advantage.
- Completion of a recognised secure development or OWASP training course is desirable.
Languages:
- Fluent written and spoken English is essential.
- Spoken German or Spanish is desirable, as we support customers across Europe.
We offer a competitive salary, company pension, 27 days' annual leave plus bank holidays, a generous training and conference budget, and flexible hybrid working.
