# Senior PHP Developer

> Alongside · Lisbon, Portugal · Full-time · Posted 2026-10-14

**Workplace:** on_site

**Department:** Alongside

## Description

**Alongside** partners with organizations to **drive digital transformation** and **build high-performing tech teams**.

We are looking for a **PHP Developer** to join our client’s team, an organization operating in the **higher education sector**, based in Lisbon.

This professional will play a key role in maintaining, optimizing, and modernizing a complex, business-critical platform that supports multiple operational areas and integrates with several internal and external systems.

The project involves working with **native PHP and MySQL**, contributing to the modernization of legacy applications, improving system performance, and supporting the migration to more recent technology versions.

### **Responsibilities**

-   Maintain, develop, and optimize business-critical applications using **native PHP and MySQL**.
-   Contribute to the modernization of legacy systems, including migration from PHP 5 to PHP 8 and MySQL 5 to MySQL 8.
-   Analyze existing codebases, understand complex business logic, and identify opportunities for architectural improvements.
-   Develop, maintain, and troubleshoot integrations with multiple internal and external systems, including ERP platforms.
-   Ensure application stability, security, scalability, and performance.
-   Optimize database queries, connections, and processes to support high volumes of data and concurrent users.
-   Investigate and resolve performance bottlenecks and technical issues in legacy applications.
-   Support the maintenance and improvement of backend services, web applications, and internal management platforms.
-   Document existing functionalities, integrations, and technical processes.
-   Collaborate with internal stakeholders to define technical solutions and modernization strategies.
-   Ensure business continuity throughout migration and modernization activities.

## Requirements

-   **At least 5 years of professional experience in PHP development**, ideally in complex enterprise environments.
-   **Strong hands-on experience with native PHP**, without relying exclusively on frameworks such as Laravel or Symfony.
-   Solid experience with **MySQL**, including database optimization, query performance, and connection management.
-   Proven experience maintaining, troubleshooting, and modernizing legacy applications.
-   Experience working with complex integrations between different systems, APIs, and databases.
-   Strong understanding of software architecture, object-oriented programming, and backend development principles.
-   Ability to understand and maintain large, complex, and poorly documented codebases.
-   Experience identifying and resolving performance and scalability issues.
-   Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
-   High level of autonomy, ownership, and technical decision-making capabilities.

**Nice to have**

-   Previous experience migrating applications from PHP 5 to PHP 8.
-   Experience upgrading MySQL databases from older versions to MySQL 8.
-   Experience integrating applications with SAP or other ERP systems.
-   Knowledge of Linux environments and server administration.
-   Experience with high-volume data processing, synchronization, and scheduled background jobs.
-   Knowledge of database connection pooling and performance optimization.
-   Experience working with systems involving multiple interconnected business modules.
-   Familiarity with technical documentation and legacy code refactoring.

## Benefits

-   **On-site: Lisbon**
-   Opportunity to work on a long-term project within the **higher education sector.**
-   Direct involvement in the modernization of a complex and business-critical platform.
-   Opportunity to contribute to technical and architectural decisions.
-   Challenging technical environment with significant impact on daily operations.
-   **Stable project with long-term collaboration opportunities.**

## Apply

[Apply at Alongside](https://apply.workable.com/alongside-team/j/7D26E80F32/apply)

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