Job Description

About Smart Working

At Smart Working, we believe your job should not only look right on paper but also feel right every day. This isn't just another remote opportunity - it's about finding where you truly belong, no matter where you are. From day one, you're welcomed into a genuine community that values your growth and well-being.

Our mission is simple: to break down geographic barriers and connect skilled professionals with outstanding global teams and products for full-time, long-term roles. We help you discover meaningful work with teams that invest in your success, where you're empowered to grow personally and professionally.

Join one of the highest-rated workplaces on Glassdoor and experience what it means to thrive in a truly remote-first world.

About the Role

We are seeking an experienced Senior PHP Engineer to join our agile development team and play a critical role in delivering robust, scalable web applications. You will work with modern PHP frameworks like Symfony or Laravel, contribute to API development, and help evolve our architecture across both monolithic and microservice environments.

You'll collaborate with cross-functional Scrum teams to build and maintain high-quality software, drive best practices in test-driven development and CI/CD, and support the growth of junior engineers through mentorship and technical leadership. We value engineers who take proactive ownership, write clean and testable code, and bring a strong understanding of architecture, DevOps, and software design principles.

If you're passionate about building well-structured backend systems and want to make a tangible impact on product quality and engineering culture, this is the role for you.

What You'll Be Doing

Collaborate with cross-functional teams

to design, develop, and deploy backend features using PHP (Symfony or Laravel), MySQL, and REST APIs.

Lead architectural improvements

across monolithic and microservices-based systems, ensuring codebase scalability and modularity.

Mentor junior and mid-level developers

, guiding them through code reviews, architectural decisions, and engineering best practices.

Design and implement CI/CD pipelines

using Docker, GitLab/GitHub Actions, and TDD frameworks to ensure rapid and reliable delivery.

Write unit and integration tests

using PHPUnit, Mockery, or Prophecy to support test-driven development.

Implement design patterns and SOLID principles

to build maintainable and loosely coupled services.

Contribute to code quality and consistency

by owning Git workflows, reviewing pull requests, and participating in sprint planning.

Must-Have Skills

PHP (7+)

: 5+ years of professional experience with strong understanding of modern PHP features including strict typing, unions, and type declarations.

Symfony or Laravel

: 3+ years of hands-on experience working with either framework, including service containers, routing, middleware, and service providers.

API Development

: Proficiency in building and securing RESTful APIs and integrating third-party services.

Architecture

: Experience designing monolithic and microservice-based systems, with a focus on inter-service communication and modular design.

MySQL

: Strong command of relational schema design, performance tuning, and EXPLAIN-driven query optimization.

CI/CD & Docker

: Hands-on experience with containerized development and Git-based CI/CD pipelines (e.g., GitLab CI, GitHub Actions).

Testing

: Practical experience with test-driven development using PHPUnit and mocking frameworks such as Mockery or Prophecy.

Software Design

: Solid understanding of SOLID principles and commonly used design patterns (e.g., repositories, factories, dependency inversion).

Version Control

: Expertise in Git workflows, including branching strategies and code review practices.

At Smart Working, you'll never be just another remote hire.

Be a Smart Worker - valued, empowered, and part of a culture that celebrates integrity, excellence, and ambition.

If that sounds like your kind of place, we'd love to hear your story.