Staff PHP Software Engineer

ByteHire Limited.; United States; Hybrid; USD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Remote-first culture

Job summary

ByteHire Limited. is seeking an senior backend engineer to own and evolve a Symfony-based platform in a data-heavy, scalable environment. You will lead architectural decisions, build internal APIs, and drive performance across PHP, MySQL, and data pipelines.

You will mentor engineers, implement automated tests, and collaborate with cross-functional teams to deliver reliable, high-performance infrastructure. Remote-first with strong engineering culture and equity options.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of backend engineering experience in production systems.
• Strong PHP and Symfony expertise.
• Experience building and maintaining internal APIs.
• Experience with distributed and event-driven architectures.
• Experience with data-heavy ingestion pipelines.
• Hands-on with cloud platforms, preferably GCP (Cloud SQL, Pub/Sub, Redis/Memorystore).
• Containerised environments with Docker and Kubernetes.
• Familiarity with testing tools PHPUnit, PHPStan, Psalm, GrumPHP.
• Experience with Elasticsearch indexing and search optimization.
• Exposure to frontend UI tooling like EasyAdmin or React.

Responsibilities

• Own and evolve platform architecture within a Symfony-based system.
• Provide technical leadership, mentorship, and code reviews.
• Define and uphold engineering standards and best practices.
• Collaborate cross-functionally to deliver scalable solutions.
• Take end-to-end ownership of systems, including production support.
• Design and build backend services and internal APIs.
• Design and optimise relational databases, including query tuning, indexing, and performance debugging.
• Build and scale data ingestion pipelines and event-driven workflows using GCP Pub/Sub.
• Diagnose and resolve performance bottlenecks across PHP, MySQL, and data pipelines using tools like Blackfire / XHProf.
• Work with Elasticsearch for data serving and fuzzy search, including indexing and data synchronisation.
• Contribute to frontend where possible, or collaborate with frontend developers, ensuring smooth backend integration.
• Experience implementing automated testing strategies.
• Experience mentoring engineers and contributing to technical direction.

Skills

PHP

Symfony

APIs

Distributed systems

Tools

Docker

Kubernetes

GCP Pub/Sub

Cloud SQL

Redis Memorystore

Elasticsearch

PHPUnit

PHPStan

Psalm

GrumPHP

XHProf

API Platform

EasyAdmin

React

Job description

Our client is an innovative HealthTech organisation building scalable, high-performance platforms within a complex, data-rich environment.

Their systems process large volumes of data, integrate across distributed services, and enable efficient, reliable decision-making across critical clinical and operational workflows.

With strong backing and an experienced leadership team, they are continuing to invest heavily in platform scalability, performance, and long-term evolution.

Responsibilities:

Own and evolve platform architecture within a Symfony-based system, making high-impact decisions across scalability, performance, and maintainability

Provide technical leadership, mentorship, and code reviews

Define and uphold engineering standards and best practices

Collaborate cross-functionally to deliver scalable solutions

Take end-to-end ownership of systems, including production support

Strong communication skills and ability to work cross-functionally.

Design and build backend services and internal APIs (service-to-service)

Design and optimise relational databases, including query tuning, indexing, and performance debugging

Build and scale data ingestion pipelines and event-driven workflows using GCP Pub/Sub

Diagnose and resolve performance bottlenecks across PHP, MySQL, and data pipelines using tools like Blackfire / XHProf

Work with Elasticsearch for data serving and fuzzy search, including indexing and data synchronisation

Contribute to frontend where possible, or collaborate with frontend developers, ensuring smooth backend integration

Experience implementing automated testing strategies

Experience mentoring engineers and contributing to technical direction

Key Experience:

10+ years backend engineering (production systems)

Strong PHP and mandatory Symfony expertise

Build and maintain internal APIs

Strong understanding of scalability, concurrency, and reliability

Experience with data-heavy systems and ingestion pipelines

Clear communication and cross-team collaboration

Experience working with distributed systems and scalable architectures

Experience with distributed and event-driven systems (Pub/Sub)

Hands-on GCP (Cloud SQL, Pub/Sub, Redis/Memorystore), or equivalent on other cloud platforms

Containerised environments (Docker, Kubernetes/GKE/EKS/AKS)

Testing + quality tooling (PHPUnit, PHPStan, Psalm, GrumPHP)

Performance tuning and profiling (e.g. Blackfire, XHProf)

Experience with Elasticsearch, including indexing strategies and search optimisation

Experience with PHP API Platform

Familiarity with event-driven systems and asynchronous processing patterns.

Experience with multi-tenant systems or rules-based configuration models.

Exposure to frontend UI tooling (EasyAdmin, React, Next.js)

Experience in improving or formalising load and performance testing practices.

Why Join?

Highly competitive salary + equity designed to rival top-tier (FAANG-level) compensation

High-impact Staff role with ownership of a core, data-intensive platform

Work on complex, large-scale systems (ingestion, performance, distributed architecture)

Strong engineering culture focused on quality, performance, and pragmatic decision-making

Remote-first environment with flexibility and autonomy

Generous Paid Time Off (PTO) to support work-life balance

Comprehensive health, vision, and dental insurance for you and your family

Life and disability insurance for financial security

Simple IRA matching to support long-term financial goals

Wellness programs supporting physical and mental health