PHP Developer

e-Merge IT Recruitment; Cape Town; On-site; ZAR 720,000 - 880,000; Full time

Job summary

e-Merge IT Recruitment seeks a PHP Developer to join a people-first technology company in Cape Town. You will work on clean PHP code, modern and legacy systems, and impactful projects with great teammates.

Ideal candidates have 5+ years of PHP, strong Laravel/Symfony, and solid MySQL/PostgreSQL with ORM experience, plus API design and secure practices. Reference MAT61506; salary up to R800k p.a.

Qualifications

• 5+ years’ commercial PHP development experience delivering scalable production systems.
• Experience with PHP frameworks Laravel/Symfony and legacy codebases.
• Solid knowledge of MySQL/PostgreSQL including schema design, queries, ORM.
• Experience building RESTful APIs with authentication methods OAuth2, API keys, JWT.
• Proficient with Git and CI/CD pipelines.
• Experience in Agile/Scrum environments and onboarding into existing systems.

Skills

PHP development

Relational databases

RESTful APIs

Git and CI/CD

Agile/Scrum

Education

Bachelor’s degree in CS/IT/SE or related

Tools

Laravel

Symfony

MySQL

PostgreSQL

Eloquent/Doctrine ORM

OAuth2

JWT

Job description

A people-first technology company with a big heart, a curious mind, and a passion for making a real difference is looking for a PHP Developer to join them. They have built a culture where people are encouraged to bring their ideas, ask questions, keep learning, support one another and have a little fun while doing it.

This role is for someone who enjoys good code, clever solutions, meaningful work and working with genuinely great people who believe that technology is at its best when it helps people and solves real-world problems.

Requirements

• 5+ years’ commercial PHP development experience, with a proven track record delivering and maintaining scalable production systems.
• Strong experience with PHP frameworks (Laravel/Symfony) and ability to work across both modern and legacy codebases.
• Solid knowledge of relational databases (MySQL/PostgreSQL), including schema design, query optimisation, and ORM usage (Eloquent/Doctrine).
• Experience building and integrating RESTful APIs, with understanding of authentication methods (OAuth2, API keys, JWT) and secure design practices.
• Proficiency with Git and modern development workflows, including pull requests and CI/CD pipelines.
• Comfortable working in Agile/Scrum environments, with the ability to quickly onboard into existing systems and navigate complex or non-standard codebases.
• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Software Engineering, or a related field (or equivalent practical experience with a strong portfolio of live systems).
• Proficiency in modern PHP (version 8.0 or later) is essential.

Reference number for this position is MAT61506 which is a permanent position based in Cape Town, offering a salary of up to R800k per annum, depending on your experience and ability.