Senior PHP Backend Engineer - Remote, Large-Scale Data

Logoslabs; San Francisco (CA); Remote; USD 150,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

Smart Working is seeking a Senior Backend Engineer to own large-scale production systems handling data, devices, video and location information. This is a full-time, long-term role with a target start date of November 2026.

You will join a small, experienced team of about 10 in-house developers, focusing on backend systems for DVR, event reconstruction, tracking, and telematics, with security and GDPR as priorities.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of commercial PHP backend development at expert level.
• 5+ years in large-scale SaaS or complex production systems.
• 3+ years of PostgreSQL experience at advanced level.
• 5+ years of API design and third-party integration experience.
• 3+ years of high-volume data processing, including IoT or event-driven systems.
• 3+ years of Laravel and/or Yii2 experience.
• 3+ years of PHPUnit experience at advanced level.
• 2+ years of microservices or monolith decomposition experience.
• 2+ years of AWS experience at intermediate level; other clouds may substitute.
• Experience in the telematics, fleet or logistics domain; IoT/location data.
• Experience with video or large media file handling; storage and retrieval.
• Ability to take end-to-end ownership of mature production systems with limited hand-holding.
• Strong complex-system exposure is essential.

Responsibilities

• Own and evolve the PHP backend that ingests GPS and telematics data, safety hardware events and DVR video, and sends real-time alerts.
• Build and maintain APIs used by the web platform, mobile application and integration partners.
• Deliver the ongoing Yii2-to-Laravel migration, with Yii2 at end of life and approximately a year remaining to complete the migration.
• Deliver the ongoing MariaDB-to-PostgreSQL migration.
• Support the decomposition of the existing monolith into microservices.
• Take over systems from a retiring contractor and become productive quickly despite limited documentation.
• Support the backend for the AI product line, working alongside the developer currently leading computer vision work; the exact scope is still to be confirmed.
• Take end-to-end ownership of production systems rather than requiring prior people-management or project-lead experience.
• Work independently within a small senior team while collaborating closely on AI-related work.
• Apply architectural judgement to microservices and database migrations, with particular attention to data integrity during migration.
• Work flexibly within established practices, including Bitbucket Pipelines and PHPUnit, in a small team with light process.
• Contribute as a problem-solver, applying senior technical judgement to production engineering decisions.
• Work thoroughly on production systems used by local authorities while ramping up quickly for the required start date.

Skills

PHP backend

SaaS / production systems

PostgreSQL

API design

Data processing

Laravel / Yii2

PHPUnit

Microservices

AWS

Telematics / IoT

Video / media

Ownership

Complex systems

Job description

Smart Working is seeking a Senior Backend Engineer to own large-scale production systems handling data, devices, video and location information. This is a full-time, long-term role with a target start date of November 2026.

You will join a small, experienced team of about 10 in-house developers, focusing on backend systems for DVR, event reconstruction, tracking, and telematics, with security and GDPR as priorities.