Backend Engineer

Substrakt; United Kingdom; Remote; GBP 40,000 - 50,000; Full time

Job summary

A digital services provider in the UK seeks a Backend Engineer to develop high-quality backend solutions for their clients. This remote role requires strong experience in technologies like PHP, Python, and AWS, emphasizing collaborative teamwork and quality coding practices. The ideal candidate will partake in meaningful projects within the arts and cultural sectors. Competitive salary range is £40,000 - £50,000, with additional benefits.

Benefits

Flexible working model

25 vacation days plus bank holidays

Health cashback scheme

Wellbeing allowance of £50 monthly

Professional development days and budget

Bi-annual team gatherings

Qualifications

• Strong experience in backend development using modern frameworks.
• Understanding of performance optimisation and secure coding practices.
• A friendly approach to communicating directly with clients.

Responsibilities

• Create exceptional backend solutions across various projects.
• Ensure quality and performance through clean and efficient code.
• Collaborate closely with frontend engineers and clients.
• Own the technical quality of your solutions and contribute to best practices.

Skills

Backend development

PHP

Python

WordPress

MySQL

AWS

Wagtail

Security best practices

Education

Experience with modern frameworks

Familiarity with relational databases

Tools

Heroku

Cloudflare

Job description

6 days ago Be among the first 25 applicants

This range is provided by Substrakt. Your actual pay will be based on your skills and experience — talk with your recruiter to learn more.

Base pay range

Salary: £40,000 - £50,000

Location: We're looking for someone based in the UK to help us better support our clients and collaborate closely with our wider team. This is a remote role, so you can work from wherever you feel most comfortable.

At Substrakt, a UK based company with Global impact, we help arts and cultural organisations create exceptional digital experiences and we're looking for a Backend Engineer to help us do just that.

As part of our Engineering team, you'll build robust, high-quality backend solutions that power our clients' websites and digital products. From new website builds and custom integrations to performance optimisations and security enhancements, you'll play a vital role in delivering outstanding products and services.

Substrakt is an equal opportunities employer. We believe that diversity of thought and experience makes us stronger, and we actively encourage applications from people of all backgrounds, identities, and abilities. Read more about our approach to inclusive recruitment.

Requirements

What you'll do:

• Create exceptional backend solutions: Work on a range of projects across our client base including new builds, updates to existing websites, API integrations, infrastructure configurations, and other server-side tasks. You'll work with modern technologies such as PHP, WordPress, MySQL, SQL, Python, Wagtail, Heroku and AWS (S3, CloudFront, RDS) - always with performance, security, and scalability in mind
• Ensure quality and performance: Write clean, efficient, and secure code following best practices. You'll test thoroughly, debug issues, and optimise performance to ensure reliable and seamless user experiences. You'll also contribute to code reviews and help maintain our high technical standards
• Collaborate and contribute: Work closely with frontend engineers, designers, and client-facing roles to ensure smooth delivery. You'll communicate directly with clients when needed to explain technical decisions, and support Producers and Support & Solutions Managers in scoping and technical planning.
• Own your work: Take responsibility for the technical quality of your solutions, contribute to internal best practices, and help shape the future of our backend engineering processes. You'll participate in solution reviews, submit and conduct code reviews, maintain technical documentation, and support continuous improvement
  
  

What you'll bring:

• Strong experience in backend development using modern frameworks and tools (e.g., PHP, Python, WordPress, Wagtail, Django)
• Familiarity with relational databases (MySQL) and cloud infrastructure (Heroku, AWS, Cloudflare)
• Understanding of performance optimisation, secure coding practices, and scalable system design
• Enthusiasm for working collaboratively within a multidisciplinary team
• A friendly and helpful approach to communicating directly with clients
• Initiative, problem-solving mindset, and a drive to deliver high-quality work
• Openness to learn, share knowledge, and support others
  
  

Benefits

Why Substrakt?

We're a purpose-driven team, who are B-corp accredited, that values creativity, openness, and continual improvement. We believe in creating work we're proud of and supporting each other to grow along the way. You'll have the chance to work with some of the most inspiring arts and cultural organisations, contributing to meaningful projects that make a real impact.

• We operate a flexible, hybrid working model that supports autonomy and work-life balance.
• We have enhanced time off policies too with a focus on parents and carers, vacation days (you'll get 25 days, plus bank holidays and you'll never work a birthday again - because we give you that off)
• We offer NHS cashback scheme to support healthcare costs and a monthly wellbeing allowance of £50 to spend on whatever makes you feel good (whether that be a gym membership, a meal out, or a treatment of some kind)
• Everyone gets 6 days per year to focus on their own professional development, and a £500 budget to go along with that too.
• We invest heavily in communication and connection through weekly mailers, an intentional meeting cadence and internal awards. We also organise and cover the cost of bi-annual team gatherings to museums, art galleries and theatres
• Not all benefits come in the form of traditional ‘perks'. At Substrakt, we place a strong emphasis on building the right team structure and workflows, so everyone knows what they're accountable for and can focus on doing their best work
• All team members have the opportunity to participate in our steering groups which aren't just ‘nice to haves' - they help everyone stay curious and influence the way Substrakt approaches things like Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, Internal Culture, Accessibility, AI, and Sustainability
  
  

If this sounds like you, and you like the sound of us, we'd love to hear from you.

Seniority level

• Seniority level

  Mid-Senior level

Employment type

• Employment type

  Full-time

Job function

• Job function

  Other

• Industries

  IT Services and IT Consulting

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