PHP Developer

Searchability®; South Benfleet; Hybrid; GBP 41,000 - 50,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Pension

On-site parking

Casual dress

Job summary

Searchability is hiring a PHP / Laravel Developer in Benfleet, Essex. This hybrid role offers up to £45,000 with a two-days-per-week office presence and three days from home. You will join a small, in-house dev team focused on secure development and AI-driven workflow improvements using Claude Code.

You will design, build and maintain Laravel applications, develop RESTful APIs, write secure code, and collaborate across the business to translate requirements into robust technical solutions.

Qualifications

• Strong commercial PHP and Laravel experience.
• RESTful API design, building and consuming.
• MySQL experience and Linux command line proficiency.
• Git and GitHub version control.
• Solid understanding of secure coding practices.

Responsibilities

• Design, build and maintain full stack web applications, predominantly in Laravel.
• Build and optimise RESTful APIs between front end and back end services.
• Write clean, secure, well tested code.
• Work with the wider business to turn requirements into technical solutions.
• Help develop AI driven workflow improvements across the team.

Skills

PHP

Laravel

RESTful APIs

MySQL

Linux

Git

GitHub

Secure coding

Claude Code

Tools

Claude Code

Job description

PHP / Laravel Developer, Benfleet, Essex (Hybrid), up to £45,000

KEY POINTS

• Laravel developer joining a small, established in house dev team
• Security conscious development is a genuine priority
• Claude Code used day to day across the team
• Two days a week in the office near Benfleet, three from home
• Up to £45,000 plus pension and free on site parking

ABOUT THE CLIENT

An established, growing online business based in Essex, running its own customer facing web platform.

Everything is built and run in house. The platform handles real customer transactions every day, and the business has grown year on year, with more growth planned into next year.

The dev team is small, settled and long standing. It works closely with a technical director who is hands on and well connected to the code.

THE ROLE, PHP / LARAVEL DEVELOPER

This hire adds capacity to a team that is running at its limit as the business grows. You will pick up real development work from day one across the platform that runs the core customer journeys.

The team is also going through a real shift in how it uses AI. Claude Code is the go to tool, and the business wants developers who will help shape how AI is built into its workflows and systems.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Design, build and maintain full stack web applications, predominantly in Laravel
• Build and optimise RESTful APIs between the front end and back end services
• Write clean, secure, well tested code
• Work with the wider business to turn requirements into technical solutions
• Help develop AI driven workflow improvements across the team

ESSENTIAL EXPERIENCE

• Strong commercial PHP and Laravel
• RESTful API design, building and consuming
• MySQL
• Linux environments and the command line
• Git and GitHub
• A solid understanding of secure coding practices

DESIRABLE, NOT ESSENTIAL

• Claude Code or similar AI coding tools in a working environment
• Experience with regulated or transactional web platforms
• Automated testing, such as PHPUnit
• Experience modernising or extending established codebases

WHAT'S ON OFFER

• Up to £45,000
• Hybrid, two days a week in the office near Benfleet, three from home
• Company pension
• Free on site parking and casual dress
• A settled, friendly team inside a business that grows every year