Middle Backend Developer (PHP · AWS Lambda · AI)

Bear Claw; Evanston (IL); On-site; USD 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

Bear Claw, an AI-powered recruiting platform, is hiring a Middle Backend Developer to help build and scale services powering the product. You'll work primarily in PHP on a serverless AWS Lambda stack backed by MySQL, with AI features written in Python using PostgreSQL.

This hands-on role offers ownership over features, opportunities to grow into more senior technical work, and collaboration with product, frontend, and other engineers to deliver end-to-end solutions.

Qualifications

• 2–4 years of backend development experience.
• Proficient PHP in production.
• Experience with AWS Lambda/serverless architectures.
• Strong MySQL data modeling and query performance.
• Working knowledge of Python and PostgreSQL.
• Experience designing REST APIs and using Git, automated tests.
• Interest in AI/LLM features.

Responsibilities

• Design, build, and maintain PHP backend services on AWS Lambda.
• Model, query, and optimize data in MySQL with proper indexing.
• Support AI Agent code in Python with PostgreSQL backing.
• Build scalable AI-enabled features from prototype to production.
• Write high-quality, tested code following best practices.
• Participate in code reviews and provide/receive feedback.
• Integrate third-party APIs and internal services securely.
• Monitor performance, reliability, and cost of serverless functions.
• Contribute to documentation and process improvements.
• Collaborate with product, frontend, and engineers to ship features end-to-end.

Skills

PHP

AWS Lambda

MySQL

PostgreSQL

Python

REST APIs

Git

Automated Testing

Serverless Architecture

Tools

Docker

CloudFormation

API Gateway

S3

Job description

Bear Claw is an AI-powered recruiting and applicant tracking platform built to help recruiters work smarter and place top talent faster. Our platform brings the entire recruiting workflow into one system — from candidate and job management to team collaboration, sourcing, and outreach. At the center is Cora, our conversational AI assistant, which uses vector search and LLM-powered technology to identify candidate-job matches, surface opportunities, and help recruiters take action faster. Bear Claw combines powerful recruiting technology with practical AI to make the hiring process more efficient, intelligent, and scalable.

About the Role

We're looking for a Middle Backend Developer to join our engineering team and help build and scale the services that power our product. You'll spend most of your time working in PHP on a serverless architecture built with AWS Lambda, backed by MySQL. Alongside our core backend, we're investing heavily in AI-driven features — so you'll also support and extend our AI Agent functionality, which is written in Python and backed by PostgreSQL.

This is a hands‑on role for someone who writes clean, reliable, well‑tested code, cares about doing things the right way, and is excited to build scalable solutions that make use of AI. You'll have real ownership over the features you ship and room to grow toward more senior technical work.

What You'll Do

• Design, build, and maintain backend services in PHP running on AWS Lambda (serverless).
• Model, query, and optimize data in MySQL — including schema design, indexing, and query performance.
• Support, maintain, and extend our AI Agent functionality written in Python and backed by PostgreSQL.
• Build scalable solutions that leverage AI/LLM capabilities, turning new AI features from prototype into production‑grade services.
• Write high‑quality, maintainable code that follows engineering best practices — clear structure, tests, and sensible patterns.
• Participate actively in code reviews, both giving and receiving constructive feedback.
• Integrate third‑party APIs and internal services reliably and securely.
• Monitor, debug, and optimize the performance, reliability, and cost of serverless functions.
• Contribute to technical discussions, documentation, and continuous improvement of our codebase and processes.
• Collaborate closely with product, frontend, and other engineers to deliver features end to end.

What We're Looking For

• Roughly 2–4 years of professional backend development experience.
• Strong, practical experience with PHP in a production environment.
• Hands‑on experience with AWS Lambda or serverless architecture (and comfort with the AWS ecosystem generally).
• Solid MySQL skills: relational data modeling, writing efficient queries, and troubleshooting performance.
• Working knowledge of Python — enough to confidently read, support, and extend the AI agent codebase.
• Familiarity with PostgreSQL.
• Good understanding of REST APIs, version control (Git), automated testing, and general software best practices.
• Genuine interest in AI/LLM-based features and a willingness to grow your skills in that area.
• Strong problem‑solving skills, attention to detail, and the ability to work independently on well‑scoped tasks.

Nice to Have

• Prior experience building or integrating AI agents / LLM-powered features (e.g. LangChain, LlamaIndex, or similar frameworks, and prompt/tooling design).
• Experience with additional AWS services: API Gateway, SQS, S3, AuroraDB, CloudWatch, Lambda, SNS.
• Familiarity with event‑driven / message‑queue architectures.
• Experience with Docker, CI/CD pipelines, and Infrastructure as Code (CloudFormation).
• Exposure to vector databases or retrieval‑augmented generation (RAG).
• Comfort working across two language stacks (PHP + Python) without friction.

What You'll Bring as a Teammate

• Ownership — you take responsibility for what you ship, from first commit to production.
• Clear communication — you explain your thinking and collaborate well with others.
• A quality mindset — you care about clean, tested, maintainable code, not just "make it work."
• Curiosity — especially about AI and how to apply it in scalable, practical ways.
• Competitive base salary and comprehensive benefits package, including healthcare, vision, dental, and a 401(k).
• Work closely with like‑minded industry professionals dedicated to innovation and success.
• Strong company culture of high performance and quality customer care.

Multiple career advancement paths: ability to develop niche skills and move into management