Senior PHP Backend Engineer (Symfony) - AI-Driven

Shiftbase; Zoetermeer; On-site; EUR 70,000 - 95,000; Full time

Job summary

Shiftbase is a Netherlands-based workforce software company seeking a backend engineer to join a seven-person backend group. You will work on a platform serving hundreds of thousands of users daily, currently modernizing with Symfony, hexagonal architecture, DDD, and OpenAPI.

You will help shape the system, mentor peers, and leverage AI tooling to push for high-quality, scalable engineering. You’ll collaborate with senior engineers, write clean code, and own meaningful features end-to-end while

Qualifications

• 3–5 years of professional backend experience.
• Proficient in PHP and comfortable with Symfony or a similar framework.
• Solid experience with relational databases and RESTful APIs.
• Familiar with SOLID, clean architecture, or domain-driven design.

Responsibilities

• Build and ship backend features that directly impact users.
• Improve performance, reliability, and scalability of existing systems.
• Break down complex problems into well-structured, testable solutions.
• Drive modernization: refactoring legacy code safely and pragmatically.
• Design and optimize relational database queries and data models.
• Participate in code reviews, architecture discussions, and technical decision-making.
• Use AI development tools as part of daily workflow.
• Mentor junior developers and share knowledge within the team.

Skills

PHP

Symfony

REST APIs

Relational DBs

GIT

CI/CD

Automated tests

OOP SOLID

DDD

Tools

OpenAPI

Claude Code

Job description

Shiftbase is a Netherlands-based workforce software company seeking a backend engineer to join a seven-person backend group. You will work on a platform serving hundreds of thousands of users daily, currently modernizing with Symfony, hexagonal architecture, DDD, and OpenAPI.

You will help shape the system, mentor peers, and leverage AI tooling to push for high-quality, scalable engineering. You’ll collaborate with senior engineers, write clean code, and own meaningful features end-to-end while