Senior PHP Developer

Spectrum IT Recruitment is working with a client looking for an experienced Senior PHP Developer to join their team on a 12-month fixed term contract .

This is a hands-on opportunity for a developer with strong PHP and Symfony experience who can quickly understand an existing codebase and take ownership of development, maintenance and production support.

You’ll work on business-critical web applications, delivering new functionality, resolving complex technical issues and modernising legacy systems while maintaining reliable day-to-day operations.

The Role

• Develop, enhance and maintain existing web applications and supporting systems.
• Deliver work throughout the full software development lifecycle within an Agile team.
• Investigate and resolve production defects across application code, APIs, databases and infrastructure.
• Translate business requirements into secure, maintainable technical solutions.
• Build and integrate RESTful APIs, including authentication and authorisation.
• Modernise legacy applications and reduce technical debt.
• Write automated unit and integration tests and contribute to code reviews.
• Improve application and database performance.
• Maintain technical documentation and follow secure coding practices.

Skills & Experience

• At least five years’ commercial experience developing and supporting business-critical web applications.
• Extensive PHP 8+ development experience and strong Symfony knowledge.
• Strong understanding of object-oriented programming, SOLID principles and design patterns.
• Experience developing and integrating RESTful APIs , with knowledge of OAuth2, OpenID Connect and JWT.
• Good knowledge of HTML5, CSS3 and JavaScript ES6+ .
• Strong SQL skills, including relational database design, query optimisation and performance tuning using PostgreSQL, MySQL or equivalent.
• Experience with Linux, Git, Docker and containerised development.
• Experience with automated testing, secure coding and OWASP practices.
• A track record of maintaining and modernising legacy applications.
• Clear communication skills and the ability to work independently and directly with technical and non-technical stakeholders.

Desirable Experience

• AWS services, including RDS, S3 and CloudWatch.
• CI/CD pipelines using GitHub Actions, GitLab CI or similar.
• Nginx or Apache administration.
• Experience within eCommerce, financial or operational business environments.
• Leading technical projects or workstreams.

If you’re an experienced PHP Developer who enjoys solving complex problems and improving established systems, please apply with your latest CV .