Senior Software Engineer

Headshots.com; United States; Remote; PHP 1,994,209 - 2,393,051; Full time

Job summary

A creative technology firm is seeking a Senior Software Engineer to enhance their headshot transformation platform. This remote, full-time position requires expertise in PHP and strong backend development skills. The successful candidate will take ownership of new features, conduct code reviews, and collaborate directly with engineers. Compensation ranges from $25 to $30 per hour. Preferred candidates are from LATAM or Europe but all are welcome if they can maintain U.S. Eastern Time overlap.

Qualifications

• 4+ years of professional software engineering experience.
• Strong backend fundamentals with an understanding of data flows.
• Experience in scaling high-traffic applications.

Responsibilities

• Own the full lifecycle of building new features and integrations.
• Maintain and improve the existing codebase.
• Conduct code reviews and ensure quality standards.

Skills

Backend fundamentals

Modern PHP expertise

Self-directed

Problem-solving mindset

Tools

AWS

Stripe

Docker

MySQL

Job description

Headshots.com | Remote (LATAM/EU preferred) | Full-Time Contract

About Headshots.com

At Headshots.com, we're reimagining how professional headshots are created and delivered - from our core platform to a recently launched standalone AI product. Trusted by clients like Boeing, Capital One, and American Express, we transform smartphone selfies into polished, studio-quality portraits within three business days. Our work helps individuals and teams present themselves with consistency and confidence across digital platforms.

The Role

We're looking for a Senior Software Engineer who can take ownership of features end-to-end, contribute to architectural decisions, and execute with minimal hand-holding. You'll work directly with the Head of Engineering on a small team where your contributions will have immediate, visible impact.

You’ll work across our entire stack (PHP/React) but skew backend. You should be as comfortable designing a scalable queue system as you are debugging a React component, but your passion is in building robust server-side systems.

We run a headless architecture - React frontends powered by a WordPress API backend handling user management, payments, and integrations. The backend is real PHP engineering, not plugin configuration. We’re actively modernizing toward a clean architecture, so you’ll be building new systems the right way while improving what’s already there.

What You’ll Do

• Build new features and integrations - from initial architecture through deployment, you’ll own the full lifecycle
• Maintain and improve our existing codebase - squashing bugs, improving performance, and tackling technical debt alongside feature work
• Conduct code reviews - help maintain quality standards and share knowledge across the team
• Work on data and infrastructure - design and optimize MySQL databases, Redis caching, and background job systems
• Collaborate across the company - work with operations and customer success to understand real user problems; occasionally join customer calls to hear feedback firsthand

What We’re Looking For

Must-Haves

• 4+ years of professional software engineering experience
• Strong backend fundamentals - you think in systems, data flows, and edge cases before writing code
• Modern PHP expertise - with experience scaling high-traffic applications beyond standard CMS caching
• Self-directed - you figure things out, ask smart questions when stuck, and ship without needing to be managed closely
• 5+ hours of overlap with US Eastern Time

Nice-to-Haves

• Cloud infrastructure experience (AWS preferred)
• Payment system experience (Stripe)
• Background job/queue systems
• CI/CD pipelines and DevOps practices
• Third-party API integrations (CRMs, external services)
• Docker and containerization
• Database performance tuning and optimization

The Person

You're someone who:

• Asks "why are we building this?" before "how should I build this?"
• Takes ownership and follows through without being chased
• Communicates proactively - flags blockers early, shares context generously
• Cares about the product, not just the code

Logistics

• Contract: Full-time, long-term (40 hrs/week)
• Compensation: $25 - $30 USD/hour, depending on experience
• Location: Remote. LATAM/EU preferred; open to other regions if you can maintain 5-6 hours of overlap with US Eastern Time
• Schedule: Flexible within overlap hours

How to Apply

Interested? Send us:

• Your resume or LinkedIn
• A brief note on a system you've architected or significantly improved - what was the problem, what did you build, what were the tradeoffs?