Senior PHP Developer

Job Title: Senior PHP Developer

Location: Wakefield

Salary: £55,000 – £65,000

We're looking for an experienced Senior PHP Developer who lives and breathes backend development and enjoys building robust, scalable web applications. This is a hands-on engineering role with a strong PHP focus, ideal for someone who wants to stay close to the code while helping shape technical direction through experience and example — not people management.

You'll work on exciting client projects, designing and delivering high-quality solutions, collaborating closely with other developers, and contributing to technical excellence across the team.

Role Overview

Development & Technical Leadership

• Design, build, and maintain high-quality web applications with a strong emphasis on PHP.
• Take ownership of backend architecture, performance, security, and maintainability.
• Lead by example through clean, well-tested, and well-documented code.
• Contribute to technical decisions and architectural direction across projects.
• Perform code reviews and share best practices to raise engineering standards.

Hands-On Engineering

• Develop backend systems primarily using modern PHP (e.g. Laravel, Symfony, or similar frameworks).
• Build and integrate APIs, services, and data layers.
• Work alongside frontend developers using JavaScript and React where needed, while remaining backend-focused.
• Debug complex issues and solve challenging technical problems across the stack.
• Continuously improve codebases through refactoring and optimisation.

Client & Project Collaboration

• Collaborate with clients to understand technical requirements and translate them into effective solutions.
• Provide technical input that balances quality, performance, and commercial considerations.
• Support project delivery by estimating work and contributing to technical planning.

Collaboration & Ways of Working

• Work closely with other developers, designers, and stakeholders in a collaborative environment.
• Contribute to Agile and Waterfall projects, adapting to client needs.
• Share knowledge and help less experienced developers through guidance and peer support (no direct line management).

Skills & Experience

Essential

• Strong commercial experience as a PHP Developer, with a clear backend focus.
• Experience with modern PHP frameworks (Laravel, Symfony, or similar).
• Solid understanding of object-oriented design, SOLID principles, and design patterns.
• Strong experience with Git and collaborative development workflows.
• Experience working with RESTful APIs and databases (MySQL/PostgreSQL).
• Confident problem-solver with excellent debugging skills.
• Comfortable working across multiple projects and clients.

Desirable

• Experience with JavaScript and React (integration rather than focus).
• Exposure to cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, or similar).
• Consultancy or agency background.
• Experience improving legacy PHP systems or modernising cod