PHP Engineer

🏆 Senior Engineer - PHP | Citation Group | Background Screening - uCheck

Work Innovation, Build Robust Systems, Shape the Future of Background Checking

🚀 What You'll Do:

• Design, guide, and validate high-performance, scalable PHP applications - increasingly through AI-assisted development where your judgment on what gets built matters as much as the building itself
• Critically assess AI-generated code and plans before they reach production - distinguishing between output that works and output that's right
• Modernize and maintain legacy PHP codebases with continuous refactoring approaches
• Maintain architectural integrity across the codebase, identifying when local changes create systemic problems
• Deploy production code with confidence using Terraform and GitHub Actions
• Collaborate cross-functionally with engineers, UX designers, and our product team

💻 Your Expertise:

• Strong software engineer with proven architectural thinking - you see systems and interactions, not just components
• Already using AI coding tools (GitHub Copilot, Claude, Cursor) and have formed opinions about what works and what doesn't - you can articulate why, and you're open to having those opinions challenged
• Experience building and maintaining RESTful APIs and production systems at scale
• Quality focused for both human and AI-generated output: you question, challenge, and you won't ship something that "mostly works"
• Exposure to Symfony and an understanding of modern PHP practices; comfortable working with both modern frameworks and legacy codebases
• Solid understanding of software architecture, design patterns, and secure coding practices
• Hands-on experience with AWS, cloud services, and modern deployment practices
• Comfortable with ambiguity - you can make sound judgment calls when there's no clear right answer
• Disciplined under delivery pressure: you follow process (plan review, documentation, quality gates) even when it's tempting to skip steps

🌟 Why Citation?

• Hybird work with excellent work-life balance. We meet every week at our Exeter offices
• Continuous learning and growth opportunities
• Competitive salary + comprehensive benefits
• 25 days holiday + birthday off
• Healthcare and gym membership discounts
• Opportunity to purchase extra leave
• Pension contributions