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Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Backend PHP Developer

💰 $70,000 - $130,000

Backend DevelopmentPHPSoftware EngineeringAPI DevelopmentCloud

🎯 Role Definition

The Backend PHP Developer is responsible for designing, developing, testing, and maintaining server-side application logic using PHP and modern frameworks (for example Laravel, Symfony, Zend). This role delivers robust, scalable, and secure APIs and backend services, collaborates with frontend engineers, product owners, and DevOps to ship high-quality features, and continuously improves application performance, code quality, and operational reliability. The ideal candidate combines deep PHP expertise, database design skills, and practical experience with cloud and containerized environments.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

  • Junior Backend Developer (PHP)
  • Full-Stack Developer with strong PHP experience
  • Backend Engineer (other languages) transitioning to PHP stacks

Advancement To:

  • Senior Backend PHP Developer
  • Tech Lead / Lead Engineer
  • Engineering Manager
  • Backend Architect / Solutions Architect

Lateral Moves:

  • Full-Stack Engineer
  • DevOps / Platform Engineer
  • API/Integration Engineer

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

  • Design, develop, and maintain backend services, RESTful APIs, and web applications using PHP and modern frameworks (Laravel, Symfony, Lumen, Zend) with a strong emphasis on scalability, maintainability, and security.
  • Architect and implement microservices and modular backend components using PHP, ensuring clear service boundaries, versioning, and backward-compatible API design.
  • Lead and participate in the full software development lifecycle from requirements gathering and technical design to implementation, testing, deployment, and production support.
  • Write clean, testable, and performant PHP code using SOLID principles, object-oriented programming (OOP), and design patterns to reduce technical debt and improve long-term maintainability.
  • Develop, maintain, and optimize relational database schemas and queries (MySQL, PostgreSQL) including indexing strategies, query profiling, and schema migrations.
  • Implement caching strategies using Redis or Memcached to reduce latency and database load while maintaining data consistency.
  • Integrate third-party services and APIs (OAuth providers, payment gateways, analytics, message brokers) while handling authentication, retries, and error flows robustly.
  • Build and maintain asynchronous processing pipelines (queues, workers) with tools such as RabbitMQ, Beanstalkd, or Amazon SQS to handle background jobs and long-running tasks.
  • Design and implement secure authentication and authorization mechanisms (JWT, OAuth2, ACL/Role-based access control) and ensure sensitive data is protected in transit and at rest.
  • Implement automated unit, integration, and functional tests using PHPUnit, Mockery, or similar frameworks; maintain a high level of test coverage and CI integration.
  • Collaborate with frontend engineers to define API contracts, consume API specifications (OpenAPI/Swagger), and iterate on request/response formats for optimal performance and developer experience.
  • Conduct code reviews, enforce coding standards, and mentor junior developers to raise the overall quality and consistency of the backend codebase.
  • Troubleshoot, analyze, and resolve production incidents, perform post-mortems, and implement preventative measures to improve reliability and uptime.
  • Optimize application performance via profiling, database query optimization, caching, and load testing, and plan capacity for traffic growth and peak loads.
  • Configure, maintain, and improve CI/CD pipelines (GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, Jenkins) to automate testing, builds, and deployments to staging/production environments.
  • Containerize applications and services using Docker, define container orchestration strategies, and collaborate with platform teams on Kubernetes or ECS deployments.
  • Implement logging, metrics, and distributed tracing (Prometheus, Grafana, ELK/EFK, Jaeger) to monitor application health and accelerate root cause analysis.
  • Participate in architectural discussions and help define technical roadmaps, trade-offs, and technology selection for backend systems.
  • Ensure compliance with security best practices, conduct threat modeling, address OWASP Top 10 risks, and apply secure coding practices across the backend stack.
  • Maintain and improve developer tooling (Composer configuration, build scripts, code generation templates) to streamline development workflows and dependency management.
  • Perform database migrations and version-controlled schema changes safely in production environments with rollback plans and automated checks.
  • Collaborate with product managers and stakeholders to estimate work, prioritize technical debt, and translate business requirements into scalable backend solutions.
  • Write clear technical documentation, API docs, runbooks, and onboarding guides for other developers and operations teams.
  • Drive performance and cost optimization in cloud environments (AWS, GCP, Azure) by right-sizing resources, using managed services appropriately, and automating infrastructure management where applicable.
  • Champion continuous improvement across development processes, participate in retrospectives, and propose measurable improvements to delivery cadence and quality.
  • Research and evaluate new PHP libraries, frameworks, and backend technologies; propose prototypes and pilot initiatives to validate adoption risks and benefits.

Secondary Functions

  • Support ad-hoc technical requests from cross-functional teams such as analytics, QA, or customer success regarding backend data, integrations, and logs.
  • Contribute to the organization's backend architecture strategy and roadmap, offering estimates, technical risk assessments, and migration plans.
  • Assist with performance benchmarking, load testing, and the creation of capacity planning artifacts for product launches and marketing campaigns.
  • Participate in sprint planning, grooming sessions, and agile ceremonies; provide reliable estimates and technical feedback to product owners.
  • Mentor junior and mid-level engineers through pair programming, technical workshops, and structured feedback sessions.
  • Help maintain and evolve CI/CD pipelines, testing harnesses, and staging environments to ensure reliable and repeatable releases.
  • Lead or participate in cross-team initiatives to improve security posture, privacy safeguards, and compliance with relevant regulations (GDPR, CCPA, PCI DSS where applicable).
  • Help prepare technical onboarding materials and conduct interviews or technical take-home assignments for hiring backend engineers.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

  • Advanced proficiency in PHP 7/8, including deep knowledge of language features, memory management, and performance trade-offs.
  • Hands-on experience with one or more PHP frameworks such as Laravel, Symfony, Lumen, or Zend/Laminas; ability to evaluate frameworks for new projects.
  • Strong RESTful API design skills and experience with OpenAPI/Swagger specifications, versioning, and backward-compatible schema evolution.
  • Expertise in relational databases (MySQL, PostgreSQL) including schema design, query optimization, stored procedures, and migrations.
  • Experience with caching systems and in-memory stores like Redis or Memcached to improve response times and throughput.
  • Familiarity with asynchronous processing and message queues (RabbitMQ, Amazon SQS, Kafka) and designing idempotent background workers.
  • Proficient with automated testing frameworks (PHPUnit, Pest), test-driven development (TDD), and continuous integration workflows.
  • Experience with containerization (Docker) and deployment to Kubernetes, ECS, or other container orchestration platforms.
  • Knowledge of cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, Azure) and managed services (RDS, SQS, ElastiCache, Cloud Storage) for backend hosting and scaling.
  • Practical experience with CI/CD tools (GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, CircleCI, Jenkins) and automated deployment strategies.
  • Strong debugging and profiling skills using Xdebug, Blackfire, New Relic, or similar tools for PHP performance tuning.
  • Experience in implementing authentication/authorization standards (OAuth2, JWT) and securing APIs and services.
  • Familiarity with message formats and serialization (JSON, XML, Protocol Buffers) and API gateway concepts.
  • Proficiency with composer for package management, semantic versioning, and dependency maintenance.
  • Experience with logging and monitoring tools (ELK/EFK stack, Prometheus, Grafana, Sentry) and establishing SLAs/SLIs.
  • Knowledge of CI/CD-driven database migration tooling and best practices for rolling schema changes.
  • Understanding of software design patterns, domain-driven design (DDD), and clean architecture approaches.
  • Experience with front-end integration considerations (CORS, CSRF, content negotiation) and working alongside frontend frameworks.
  • Familiarity with event-driven architecture, eventual consistency models, and designing for resilience and retries.
  • Practical knowledge of container security, secrets management, and secure credential handling.

Soft Skills

  • Strong problem-solving and analytical thinking; able to decompose complex backend problems and propose pragmatic solutions.
  • Excellent communication skills for collaborating with product managers, frontend engineers, QA, and operations.
  • Ownership mindset: takes responsibility for code quality, uptime, and successful delivery of features and fixes.
  • Mentorship and knowledge-sharing orientation; experienced in code reviews and elevating team capabilities.
  • Ability to work effectively in agile, asynchronous, and distributed team environments.
  • Prioritization and time-management skills; adept at balancing new feature development and technical debt reduction.
  • Adaptability and willingness to learn new technologies, frameworks, and cloud services as needs evolve.
  • Attention to detail in design, security considerations, and documentation.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

  • Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Systems, or equivalent practical experience.

Preferred Education:

  • Master's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or related technical field or equivalent industry certifications and demonstrable professional portfolio.

Relevant Fields of Study:

  • Computer Science
  • Software Engineering
  • Information Technology
  • Systems Engineering
  • Applied Mathematics

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range: 3 - 7+ years of professional backend development experience with PHP and associated ecosystems.

Preferred:

  • 5+ years building production-grade PHP applications, APIs, and services.
  • Demonstrable experience in one or more major PHP frameworks (Laravel, Symfony).
  • Experience operating code in cloud and containerized environments and working with CI/CD tooling.
  • Proven track record of improving system performance, reliability, and security in production systems.
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