Lead PHP Engineer

EPAM Systems Inc; United States; Remote; USD 140,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

EPAM Systems in the United States is seeking a Lead PHP Engineer to join the Platform Governance team. You will drive the design and delivery of a resilient indexing pipeline, write scalable PHP code for the search platform, and mentor teammates to adopt best practices.

This role emphasizes performance, data synchronization, Elasticsearch tuning, and on-call responsibilities, impacting thousands of merchants and millions of shoppers worldwide.

Qualifications

• 6+ years of professional software development experience.
• 1+ years of leadership experience.
• Proficient in PHP and a strongly typed backend language (Java/Scala/Go).
• Cloud experience across AWS/Azure/GCP.

Responsibilities

• Drive the technical design and implementation of a more resilient indexing pipeline.
• Write high-quality, scalable PHP code for the search platform and components.
• Provide technical guidance and share best practices with the team.

Skills

PHP

Backend languages(Java/Scala/Go)

Cloud platforms(AWS/Azure/GCP)

Elasticsearch

RabbitMQ / Kafka

Leadership

English (B2+)

Tools

Elasticsearch

RabbitMQ

Kafka

Job description

We're looking for a Lead PHP Engineer to become part of our team. This position involves joining the Platform Governance team, where the focus will be on preventive strategies, pinpointing bottlenecks, building tools, and establishing processes that ensure the infrastructure and applications remain reliable and scalable, creating a direct impact on thousands of merchants and millions of shoppers across the globe. Our client operates as a top Open SaaS e-commerce platform, giving merchants of every size the ability to build, innovation, and expand their online businesses, with a strong commitment to delivering a dependable, scalable, and high-performing platform for customers worldwide.

Responsibilities

• Drive the technical design and implementation of a more resilient indexing pipeline
• Write high-quality, scalable PHP code for the search platform and its components
• Offer technical guidance and share best practices with team members
• Own complex challenges tied to data synchronization and system load
• Establish and implement best practices for Elasticsearch mappings, queries, and monitoring
• Participate as a key member of the team's on-call rotation
• Explain complex technical concepts clearly to both technical and non-technical audiences
• Actively pursue challenges and solutions with strong drive and initiative
• Keep learning new technologies and adapting to changing challenges

Requirements

• 6+ years of professional software development experience
• 1+ years of relevant leadership experience
• Proficient in PHP along with a strongly typed backend language such as Java, Scala, or Go
• Proficiency in cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP)
• Skilled in resolving performance issues involving SQL queries, indexes, and schemas
• Solid grasp of search concepts with hands‑on Elasticsearch experience, including query optimization and index management
• Experience working with distributed messaging tools such as RabbitMQ or Kafka
• Proven history of leading the design and delivery of complex, resilient systems
• Experience in or genuine passion for the ecommerce industry, with an understanding of the unique performance requirements of online retail
• English proficiency at B2 level or above

Nice to have

• Knowledge of distributed systems and event-driven architectures
• Background in scalability and performance testing, including load generation, monitoring, and analysis
• Experience developing and maintaining automation for testing, data collection, and reporting
• Practical experience with load testing tools, particularly K6 and others (e.g., JMeter, BlazeMeter, etc.)