PHP Developer

Digital Gurus; Wilmslow; On-site; GBP 42,000 - 60,000; Full time

Job summary

Digital Gurus is seeking PHP Developers (mid and senior) to join a technology-driven team in the UK. You will focus on core PHP, OO design, and building secure, scalable services with RESTful APIs. Frameworks are used sparingly to keep dependencies to a minimum.

You will contribute to greenfield work and enhancements, participate in code reviews, and help maintain robust testing practices. This role offers progression as the technology team grows, with offices in Knutsford.

Qualifications

• Minimum 3 years' commercial PHP development experience.
• Strong understanding of core PHP principles and best practices.
• Comfortable working in vanilla PHP without heavy framework dependency.

Responsibilities

• Developing and maintaining business-critical applications using object-oriented PHP.
• Designing and developing RESTful APIs and integrations.
• Writing clean, well-tested code and collaborating with stakeholders.

Skills

PHP fundamentals

Object-oriented PHP

RESTful APIs

Git & CI/CD

Testing with PHPUnit

Tools

Git

CI/CD

REST API design

Job description

The Opportunity

I'm currently partnering with a growing technology-led business that is investing heavily in its internal systems, platforms and product development capability.

They are looking to add multiple PHP Developers to their engineering team, with opportunities available at both Mid-Level and Senior level.

This role will particularly appeal to developers who have strong core PHP fundamentals and enjoy understanding how applications work under the hood. Whilst frameworks and third-party packages are used where appropriate, this environment places a genuine emphasis on writing, maintaining and improving object-oriented PHP code rather than relying heavily on frameworks to do the heavy lifting.

If you're the type of developer who enjoys solving problems with PHP itself, rather than spending most of your time configuring frameworks, this could be an excellent fit.

What You'll Be Doing

• Developing and maintaining business-critical applications using object-oriented PHP
• Building secure, scalable services and integrations
• Designing and developing RESTful APIs
• Writing clean, maintainable and well-tested code
• Working across both greenfield development and enhancement of existing systems
• Troubleshooting and resolving complex technical issues
• Contributing to technical design and architectural discussions
• Participating in code reviews and sharing knowledge across the team
• Collaborating with stakeholders to understand requirements and deliver practical solutions
• Minimum 3 years' commercial PHP development experience
• Strong commercial experience writing and maintaining vanilla OOP PHP
• Excellent understanding of core PHP principles and best practices
• Comfortable working directly within PHP codebases without heavy framework dependency
• Experience building and maintaining RESTful APIs
• Experience with PHPUnit or similar testing frameworks
• Understanding of secure development practices and application security
• Experience using Git and modern development workflows
• Familiarity with CI/CD pipelines and automated testing
• Strong communication and problem-solving skills

Why Consider It?

• Salary up to £60,000 depending on experience
• Modern offices in Knutsford
• Complex technical challenges and large-scale systems
• Strong engineering culture with a focus on code quality
• Opportunity to work in an environment where core PHP expertise is genuinely valued
• Clear progression opportunities as the technology team continues to grow

This is a rare opportunity to join a business where strong PHP fundamentals remain at the heart of the development process. If you're passionate about clean, object-oriented PHP and enjoy working beyond the confines of a framework, I'd be keen to speak with you.