Senior PHP/Symfony Engineer

Smart Working is committed to providing a work environment where your role aligns with your skills and brings daily fulfillment. This position offers more than a typical remote job by nurturing a genuine community that supports both personal and professional development. We aim to remove geographic limitations by connecting talented professionals with outstanding global teams in full-time, long-term roles. Join one of the highest-rated workplaces on Glassdoor and excel within a truly remote-first culture.

Key Responsibilities
Take full ownership of backend development on a mature Symfony platform managing marketing and revenue data for enterprise clients. Deliver backend features independently within the first 2–3 months. Critically assess code contributions from team members and AI tools to ensure robust, well-considered solutions. Lead the upgrade of the application from Symfony 6.1 to Symfony 7, addressing versioning and legacy system challenges. Improve application performance, scalability, and maintainability to enable safer and easier feature development. Collaborate closely with teams working on the Angular front end, TypeScript and Python AI microservices, and DevOps when backend changes affect these areas. Gain a working understanding of the Angular/TypeScript codebase despite the backend focus. Analyze how technical decisions impact the entire system—including Symfony, Angular, and AI services—and identify gaps in code and AI outputs. Challenge existing solutions by identifying root causes and enhancing development practices beyond task completion. Deliver maintainable solutions within a legacy codebase while maintaining consistent delivery velocity. Operate with high autonomy and accountability in a remote, cross-functional product squad. Strictly adhere to SOC 2, PII, and security controls without exception.

Required Qualifications
Over 8 years of commercial software engineering experience, with at least 5 years focused on PHP. Expert-level PHP skills with 7+ years of hands-on experience. Advanced Symfony expertise (3+ years) working with versions 6.x and 7; strong senior Laravel experience may be considered if you understand the differences between Laravel and Symfony. Proven backend system design and scalability experience spanning 4+ years. At least 2 years of advanced experience critically using AI tools, reviewing, and challenging AI-generated outputs. Advanced MySQL knowledge for 5+ years, including schema design and query optimization; equivalent experience with PostgreSQL or other relational databases is acceptable. Minimum 1 year of Angular/TypeScript familiarity; experience with React or Vue combined with TypeScript may also be considered, though lack of front-end exposure is not disqualifying. Advanced automated testing experience using PHPUnit for 3+ years; Pest or similar PHP testing frameworks are acceptable. Intermediate experience (1+ year) in framework upgrades and legacy code modernization, including major version upgrades or refactoring in large PHP codebases. Intermediate AWS experience for 2+ years; experience with Azure or GCP is also relevant. Fluent English communication skills, both written and spoken. Demonstrated ability to work effectively in remote environments with strong communication. Availability to work UK hours. Ability to pass strict background checks and comply with PII policies. Strong self-sufficiency with the ability to work independently after onboarding while maintaining collaboration. A hands-on technical approach combined with an architect mindset, understanding system design and rationale beyond just coding.

Preferred Qualifications and Benefits
Intermediate CI/CD experience (2+ years) with GitHub Actions; alternatives such as GitLab CI, Jenkins, or Azure DevOps are also suitable. Basic knowledge of Amazon Redshift or data warehousing solutions like Snowflake or BigQuery. Additional exposure to Azure cloud services alongside AWS. Prior project leadership experience. Experience mentoring and providing technical leadership to other engineers.

Smart Working may use AI tools to assist in parts of the hiring process, including application review and resume analysis. These tools support but do not replace human judgment, with final hiring decisions made by people. Candidates are encouraged to inquire directly for more information on data processing.