Mid-Level Backend PHP Developer

About the role

Our client is seeking a proactive Mid-Level Backend PHP Developer to join their engineering team in Johannesburg. You will work across the full development lifecycle, collaborating with frontend developers, product owners, and QA to deliver high‑quality web applications.

Key responsibilities

• Design, develop, and maintain scalable backend services and RESTful APIs using modern PHP frameworks such as Laravel.
• Collaborate with frontend teams to ensure seamless integration across the full stack.
• Write clean, maintainable, and well‑tested code following best practices and coding standards.
• Design, manage, and optimise MySQL databases, including schema design, migrations, and query performance tuning.
• Troubleshoot, debug, and resolve application and system issues across environments.
• Integrate third‑party APIs and external data services.
• Participate in code reviews and contribute to continuous improvement within the engineering team.
• Support CI/CD processes and work closely with DevOps to ensure smooth deployments.
• Identify performance bottlenecks and implement scalable, efficient solutions.

Required profile

• 3+ years of professional experience in PHP development.
• Strong understanding of object‑oriented programming (OOP) and MVC architecture.
• Proven experience with Laravel or a comparable modern PHP framework.
• Solid MySQL skills, including query optimisation and database design.
• Experience with Git and collaborative version‑control workflows.
• Ability to build and consume RESTful APIs (JSON/XML).
• Familiarity with unit and feature testing in PHP.
• Strong communication skills and the ability to work both independently and within a team.

Required skills

• PHP
• Laravel (or similar framework)
• MySQL
• Git
• RESTful API development
• JSON & XML
• Unit testing & feature testing
• Redis (caching)
• RabbitMQ (messaging)
• Docker (containerisation)
• Vue.js or React (basic frontend knowledge)
• CI/CD pipelines
• Secure data handling & financial integrations (advantageous)