PHP Senior Full Stack Engineer (AI-Driven Development)

Sonata Software; Bengaluru Urban; On-site; INR 1,200,000 - 1,800,000; Full time

Job summary

Sonata Software in Bengaluru Urban seeks a Senior Full Stack Engineer who leverages AI to modernize and develop web applications. The ideal candidate has over 5 years of experience, strong expertise in backend frameworks like PHP/Laravel or Node.js/Express, and proficiency in modern frontend technologies such as Vue.js. Responsibilities include using AI for code optimization, RESTful API development, and maintaining automated tests. This role emphasizes enhancing development speed and quality through AI-driven methodologies.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience building production web applications.
• Strong experience with at least one backend stack: PHP / Laravel or Node.js / Express.
• Strong experience with modern frontend frameworks, particularly Vue.js.

Responsibilities

• Use AI-assisted workflows to develop and maintain full stack applications.
• Modernize legacy systems using AI to analyze codebases and accelerate migrations.
• Design and implement RESTful APIs and service-based components.

Skills

AI-assisted software development

Backend development (PHP / Laravel, Node.js / Express)

Frontend development (Vue.js)

Building RESTful APIs

Automated testing

Debugging and system analysis

Tools

GitHub Copilot

ChatGPT

Job description

Senior Full Stack Engineer (AI-Driven Development)

About The Role

We are seeking a Senior Full Stack Engineer who uses AI as a core part of their development workflow to build, modernize, and deliver software efficiently.

You will work across a portfolio of web applications built with Vue / Nuxt, PHP / Laravel, Node.js / Express, MySQL, MongoDB, and React Native—improving legacy systems, increasing test coverage, and building API-driven components—while leveraging AI to accelerate development, reduce manual effort, and improve code quality.

This is not a role where AI is optional. It is an expected part of how you design, build, test, and deliver software every day.

Key Responsibilities

• Use AI-assisted workflows to develop and maintain full stack applications across Vue / Nuxt, PHP / Laravel, Node.js / Express, and related technologies
• Modernize legacy systems (e.g., Vue 2, Nuxt 2, PHP 7, Node 14) by leveraging AI to analyze codebases, plan upgrades, refactor safely, and accelerate migrations
• Design and implement RESTful APIs and service-based components, using AI to accelerate development and enforce consistency
• Use AI to safely evolve systems, ensuring changes do not introduce regressions or break existing functionality
• Build and maintain unit, integration, and automated tests, using AI to rapidly expand coverage and reduce reliance on manual QA
• Apply AI tools in daily development to:
  • generate, refactor, and optimize frontend and backend code
  • rapidly increase test coverage in low-coverage systems
  • analyze and understand large, distributed, or unfamiliar codebases
  • assist in debugging, root cause analysis, and production issue resolution
  • accelerate documentation, onboarding materials, and knowledge sharing
• Use AI to identify architectural weaknesses and recommend improvements, including breaking down monolithic components into cleaner API-driven or service-oriented designs
• Improve development workflows by leveraging AI in CI/CD pipelines, code review processes, and deployment automation
• Continuously evaluate how AI can reduce engineering toil, improve velocity, and increase delivery predictability
• Collaborate across teams to deliver reliable, high-quality software, using AI to enhance communication clarity and execution speed

Required Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience building production web applications
• Strong experience with at least one backend stack:
  • PHP / Laravel, and/or
  • Node.js / Express
• Strong experience with modern frontend frameworks, particularly Vue.js / SPA architectures
• Experience working in and improving legacy systems
• Strong experience building RESTful APIs and backend services
• Experience writing and maintaining automated tests (unit and/or integration)
• Demonstrated, hands‑on use of AI tools in software development workflows
• Strong problem‑solving, debugging, and system analysis skills
• Experience with MySQL or similar relational databases

AI-Driven Development Expectations

You are expected to actively use AI tools (e.g., GitHub Copilot, ChatGPT, or similar) to increase speed, improve output quality, and reduce manual effort across the development lifecycle.

This includes:

• Generating and refining full stack code across frontend, backend, and API layers
• Producing unit and integration tests from existing codebases with limited coverage
• Using AI to quickly understand and navigate legacy and multi-repo systems
• Accelerating framework upgrades and dependency modernization
• Assisting with bug investigation, debugging, and root cause analysis
• Improving documentation, architecture understanding, and onboarding speed
• Iterating rapidly by combining engineering judgment with AI-generated output

Success in this role means you are able to deliver more, faster, with fewer defects by effectively leveraging AI—not just using it occasionally.