Senior Full Stack Engineer (PHP / Laravel) | Contract, Outside IR35

hedgehog lab; Leeds; Hybrid; GBP 55,000 - 85,000; Full time

Job summary

hedgehog lab in the UK is seeking a Senior Full Stack Engineer to join a long-term client engagement. The role centers on end-to-end PHP/Laravel development, with a move toward a service-based architecture and AWS exploration.

You'll work in a fast-paced scale-up environment, delivering high-volume features, shaping technical decisions, and collaborating with cross-functional teams. Remote-friendly, with occasional visits to Manchester within 50 miles.

Qualifications

• Senior to principal level full-stack experience across front-end, APIs and data.
• Strong PHP and Laravel skills in a large, established codebase.
• Ability to onboard quickly to an existing platform and contribute to architectural decisions.
• Excellent English communication, written and spoken.

Responsibilities

• Deliver end-to-end features in a PHP/Laravel stack.
• Contribute to service-based architecture and AWS exploration.
• Advocate for technical decisions and communicate them clearly.
• Maintain productivity in a fast-paced, high-volume environment.

Skills

PHP

Laravel

Full-stack

English communication

Tools

AWS

Terraform

CDK

Job description

Senior Full Stack Engineer (PHP / Laravel)

Contract, Manchester based. Outside IR35, starting early October. Full location detail below.

What We're Recruiting For

We're hiring a Senior Full Stack PHP engineer to join a long-term team on a genuinely large-scale online marketplace. Very few platforms handle a product catalogue or transaction volume at this level.

The roadmap includes agentic AI workflows built into the platform, retail media integrated directly into the marketplace, and infrastructure work targeting cost and performance at high volume.

A lot of this is being attempted at volumes that have rarely been tested in a marketplace before, so the work leans research-led rather than routine.

It's a fast-paced scale-up environment on a complex platform. You'll do well here if you're comfortable with ambiguity and shifting ground, and confident enough to advocate for the technical decisions you make.

What You'll Be Doing

You'll join the team part-way through a major, multi-year technology transformation.

The current client-facing platform runs on PHP and Laravel, and that's where your day to day sits: fixing real issues and building new features within the existing stack.

The longer-term direction is a move towards a service-based architecture, with a move to AWS under active evaluation. As that world takes shape, you'll have room to grow into it.

This is genuinely end-to-end full-stack work: front-end, APIs, data, auth and the platform that ties it together.

This is a long-term role, part of the fabric of the team rather than a short engagement. No juniors. It's a demanding environment, and you'll need to be productive quickly without a long ramp.

Who You'll Be Working With

You'll be engaged by hedgehog lab, a UK digital product consultancy and certified B Corp with 20 years behind us and offices in Edinburgh, Newcastle, Leeds, Manchester and London.

We place engineers into long-term client teams on complex, high-stakes platforms. This is one of those engagements.

Location and remote working

Contract, engaged outside IR35 via your own limited company. Starting early October.

Flexible working, largely remote. We just ask that you're based within 50 miles of Manchester, as occasional visits to the office will be needed.

Applications from outside this area won't be considered.

What We Need

The essentials:

• Senior to principal full-stack experience, genuinely end-to-end across front-end, APIs and data
• Strong hands-on PHP and Laravel, working in a large, established codebase
• You can pick up and build within an existing platform quickly, rather than only working greenfield
• You can advocate for technical decisions and communicate them clearly
• Comfortable delivering at pace in a complex, high-volume environment
• Comfortable working in English, written and spoken

Nice to have:

• Hands-on AWS, ideally with infrastructure as code (Terraform or CDK)
• Retail or e-commerce background
• GenAI or agentic workflows in your engineering practice