Product Engineer, Backend

kinship group; Greater London; On-site; GBP 60,000 - 90,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Central London office

Autonomy in product decisions

Work-life balance

Great coffee

Job summary

Kinship in London is seeking a backend-focused engineer to build and maintain APIs and services that power our architecture tools. You’ll work with PHP 8+, Docker, and AWS, collaborating with product, design, and other engineers to ship features with speed and reliability.

You’ll join a small, fast-moving team that values autonomy, code quality, and thoughtful collaboration. This role is based in central London with a focus on scalable backend systems.

Qualifications

• Proven experience building backend services in PHP 8+.
• Experience designing APIs used by frontend/desktop apps.
• Familiarity with Docker-based workflows and CI/CD.

Responsibilities

• Build and maintain backend services in modern PHP.
• Design and implement APIs consumed by frontend and desktop apps.
• Use Docker to standardize development and deployments.
• Work with AWS services to keep systems fast and reliable.
• Collaborate with product, design, and engineers to ship features.
• Write tests and monitor performance for scale.

Skills

PHP 8+

Docker

Laravel or Symfony

API design

CI/CD

AWS basics

Communication

Tools

AWS (basic)

Git

Job description

Crafting the kind of backend that makes frontend work feel like cheating

Hey there — we’re Kinship

We’re building the Revit tools you wish existed. Our platform helps architects and engineers manage content, track usage, and make smarter decisions with less hassle.

We’re looking for a backend-focused engineer who enjoys building clean APIs, designing resilient systems, and keeping things fast, simple, and secure. Someone who’s comfortable working in PHP, knows their way around Docker, and can help us make the most of AWS to ship reliable software at speed.

What You’ll Do

• Build and maintain backend services in modern PHP

• Design and implement APIs consumed by our frontend and desktop apps

• Use Docker to standardize development and streamline deployments

• Work with AWS services (e.g. ECS, S3, RDS, CloudWatch) to keep our systems fast and reliable

• Collaborate with product, design, and other engineers to ship features

• Write tests and monitor performance so we can trust our stack at scale

What We’re Looking For

You don’t need to tick every box, but here’s what would help you succeed:

• Strong experience with PHP (we use PHP 8+)

• Familiarity with containerized environments using Docker

• Product mindset — you think in terms of user value, not just technical correctness

• Clear communicator and thoughtful collaborator

• Someone who’s excited to work in a small, fast-moving team

• Knowledge of Laravel or Symfony

• Comfortable with AWS basics — think deploying apps, storing files, managing databases

• Experience designing or evolving APIs in production

• Familiarity with CI/CD pipelines

• Interest in DevOps, observability, or developer tooling

What We Offer

• Competitive salary

• A beautiful, plant-filled office in central London (by Southwark tube station) and good coffee (obviously)

• A no-BS team of people who love building great software together

• Real autonomy and influence over product and tech decisions

• A company that believes in work-life balance