Role overview
About the role
This role focuses on dependable server-side work in core PHP: websites, admin panels, forms, integrations, and custom business workflows. You will add new capabilities while improving existing code carefully, with close attention to data integrity, security, performance, and the people who will maintain the system after you. It is a practical role for someone who can understand an established codebase before deciding how to change it.
Responsibilities
What you will own
- Build and maintain core PHP websites, admin features, forms, and workflow tools using readable, reusable server-side code.
- Translate functional requirements into small, testable changes and clarify edge cases before they become production problems.
- Design and work with MySQL tables and queries, keeping data relationships, validation, indexing, and query efficiency in view.
- Implement secure input handling, authentication, sessions, permissions, file handling, and output escaping where each feature requires them.
- Connect systems through documented APIs, webhooks, or data exchanges and handle failed or incomplete responses safely.
- Investigate bugs from symptoms and logs, reproduce them reliably, and fix the underlying cause without masking related issues.
- Improve slow pages and processes by examining application logic, database work, and avoidable server-side overhead.
- Refactor fragile or duplicated code in controlled steps while preserving current behaviour and reducing regression risk.
- Coordinate with frontend, design, and project teammates on implementation details, testing notes, dependencies, and release readiness.
Requirements
What you bring
- Strong practical knowledge of core PHP, including functions, classes, error handling, reusable modules, and server-side request processing.
- Confident MySQL and SQL skills, with the ability to read schemas, write joins, update data safely, and diagnose inefficient queries.
- A clear understanding of HTTP requests, forms, cookies, sessions, uploads, redirects, and the browser-server lifecycle.
- Working knowledge of common web security risks and secure patterns for validation, authentication, permissions, database access, and output.
- Methodical debugging skills and the patience to trace behaviour across unfamiliar code, data, configuration, and integrations.
- Experience improving an existing codebase without depending on a framework rewrite or introducing unnecessary complexity.
- Enough HTML, CSS, and JavaScript knowledge to connect server-side work cleanly with the interface and troubleshoot end-to-end behaviour.
- Clear written and verbal communication, including concise change notes and early escalation when a requirement or risk is unclear.
Added advantage
Nice to have
- Experience configuring or troubleshooting PHP applications on Apache or Nginx environments.
- Experience integrating third-party APIs, webhooks, email services, or other external systems.
- Familiarity with application profiling, caching approaches, and database performance tuning.
- Comfort with version-control workflows, deployment handoffs, and maintaining technical documentation.
Impact
What success looks like
- New features work through their main path and edge cases without weakening existing functionality.
- Database changes and server-side logic remain secure, understandable, and maintainable by another developer.
- Defects are traced to their root cause, fixed with appropriate checks, and less likely to return in a nearby workflow.
- Work reaches review with the requirement understood, important risks called out, and release notes that make verification straightforward.