# Senior Outsourced PHP Developer

> Hire with Reef · Mumbai, India · Contract · Posted 2026-03-05

**Salary:** INR 1,000,000–2,000,000

**Workplace:** on_site

**Department:** Clipped Assist

## Description

### **Why this role exists**  

We’re building and evolving a custom PHP web application that powers real-world operations. No hand-holding frameworks here — just clean, object‑oriented PHP, RESTful services, and a stack that rewards engineers who love understanding _how things actually work_.  

If you enjoy getting close to the metal with Core/Vanilla PHP, care about performance, and can comfortably move between data layers, UI, and cloud infrastructure, you’ll feel right at home.  

### **What you’ll do (the work)**  

-   **Ship features** end‑to‑end in a **framework‑free, OOP PHP** codebase (namespaces, interfaces, traits, SOLID principles).  
    
-   Design and implement **RESTful endpoints** (JSON), including request validation, pagination, error handling, and versioning.  
    
-   Write robust **SQL** (DDL/DML), optimise queries and indexes, and integrate via **PDO** with prepared statements.  
    
-   Work with **MongoDB** for document‑oriented use cases; design efficient schemas and aggregation pipelines where relevant.  
    
-   Build and enhance **front‑end interactions** with **jQuery**, **HTML/CSS**, and **Tailwind CSS** for fast, clean UI work.  
    
-   Integrate **external APIs** (REST/Webhooks), handle oauth/token flows, retries, idempotency, and rate‑limit strategy.  
    
-   Operate in **AWS**: deploy apps on **Elastic Beanstalk**, manage assets in **S3**, use **DynamoDB** where appropriate, and keep environments healthy (logs, scaling, env vars).  
    
-   Handle **SSL/TLS certificate management** and **DNS** via **Cloudflare**; ensure zero‑downtime renewals and sane caching rules.  
    
-   Work with **WordPress CMS** where needed (content ingestion/integration, headless endpoints, custom fields/templates).  
    
-   Pair closely with another **Senior Developer** who knows the platform inside‑out; take part in code reviews and architecture discussions.  
    
-   Own quality: write pragmatic tests, instrument metrics, document decisions, and leave the codebase tidier than you found it.  
    

### **The environment (important context)**  

-   **No modern PHP frameworks.** We use **Core/Vanilla PHP** with strong OOP. If your superpower is Laravel or Symfony _only_, this role isn’t the right fit.  
    
-   We follow **OOP and RESTful** design practices, emphasising clarity, testability, and performance.  
    
-   We value **speed with discipline**: small PRs, sensible testing, continuous improvement.  
    

### **Must‑have skills & experience**  

-   **Core/Vanilla PHP** (7.x/8.x) with **OOP**: interfaces, traits, namespaces, dependency injection, SOLID.  
    
-   **RESTful API** design & implementation (JSON), auth patterns, and versioning.  
    
-   **SQL** mastery (query optimisation, indexing, transactions) and **PDO** best practices.  
    
-   **MongoDB** fundamentals (schema design, aggregations, performance basics).  
    
-   **Front‑end:** **jQuery**, semantic **HTML**, modern **CSS**, and **Tailwind CSS** utility workflows.  
    
-   **External API** integrations (OAuth, webhooks, retries, idempotency, error/bounce handling).  
    
-   **AWS:** Elastic Beanstalk deployments, S3 lifecycle, DynamoDB usage, environment configuration, logging/monitoring basics.  
    
-   **Security**: input validation, CSRF/XSS/SQL injection prevention, secrets management, and safe file handling.  
    
-   **SSL/TLS & DNS** via **Cloudflare** (including HSTS, redirects, caching/CDN rulesets, cert renewals).  
    
-   **WordPress CMS** experience (admin/config, theme/plugin interaction, or headless/REST usage).  
    
-   **Git** and collaborative workflows (feature branches, code reviews, CI basics).  
    
-   Comfortable with **Linux/CLI** for diagnostics and automation.  
    

### **Nice to have (bonus points)**  

-   Experience with **queues/workers** for background jobs.  
    
-   **Testing**: PHPUnit or similar; integration test mindset.  
    
-   Performance profiling (Xdebug/Blackfire) and caching strategies (OPcache/application‑level caching).  
    
-   Observability basics (structured logging, alerts, dashboards).  
    

### **What success looks like**  

**30 days**  

-   Onboarded, local/dev environments humming, shipping small improvements and fixes.  
    
-   Demonstrates understanding of domain models and core modules.  
    

**60 days**  

-   Independently delivering medium‑sized features end‑to‑end.  
    
-   Improving SQL queries and indexes, reducing response times and error rates.  
    

**90 days**  

-   Co‑owning a roadmap area; proposing architecture improvements.  
    
-   Raising overall code quality with patterns, guardrails, and clear documentation.  
    

**How we work**  

-   Remote first. Clear written communication is king.  
    
-   Ticketed workflow with lightweight specs and acceptance criteria.  
    
-   Code reviews for every PR; pair programming with the platform owner for complex changes.  
    
-   Pragmatic documentation (readmes/ADR notes) close to the code.

## Apply

[Apply at Hire with Reef](https://apply.workable.com/hire-with-reef/j/8242798E1F/apply)

---
Powered by [Workable](https://www.workable.com)