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.