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Senior PHP Backend Engineer (Remote, Full-Time) [AR025]

Smart Working· Engineering
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Hybrid (India (Remote))Full-Time | RemotePosted 2w ago

About the role

Senior Backend Engineer responsible for end-to-end ownership of mature, large-scale production backend systems, focusing on PHP, data ingestion, APIs, and platform migrations within a 100% backend role. Remote, full-time with start around November 2026, working in a small, senior team on a platform that handles GPS/telematics data, video, and location data for largely public sector customers.

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.

Qualifications

  • 8+ years of commercial PHP backend development at Expert level.
  • 5+ years of experience with large-scale SaaS or complex production systems at Expert level.
  • 3+ years of PostgreSQL experience at Advanced level.
  • 5+ years of API design and third-party integration experience at Advanced level.
  • 3+ years of high-volume data processing experience at Advanced level (IoT/device data ingestion, event-driven systems, or similar).
  • 3+ years of Laravel and/or Yii2 experience at Advanced level.
  • 3+ years of PHPUnit experience at Advanced level (or Pest/Codeception as substitute).
  • 2+ years of microservices or monolith-decomposition experience at Intermediate level.
  • 2+ years of AWS experience at Intermediate level (Azure/GCP may substitute).
  • Experience in telematics, fleet or logistics domain at Intermediate level; IoT/GPS/location tech experience acceptable.
  • Experience with video, CCTV or large media file handling at Intermediate level; large-file storage, retrieval and retention at scale may substitute.

Skills

Required:PHPPostgreSQLLaravelYii2API designMicroservicesAWS

Benefits

  • Not specified in the description
Last updated Oct 21, 2026. Interested? Apply on the company site.

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