Senior PHP Engineer

Summary

Join Help Scout as a Senior PHP Engineer and drive critical backend systems for our web application, collaborating with a team of senior engineers, designers, and product specialists. Develop new features, enhance backend systems, and support third-party integrations using modern PHP frameworks and AWS services. Improve performance, reliability, and maintainability across various systems. Triage and resolve engineering support requests, turning pain points into product improvements. Write well-tested, maintainable code and contribute to automated testing pipelines. Maintain a customer-centric approach in all work, ensuring performance, security, and a positive user experience. Work cross-functionally in a collaborative team environment, sharing knowledge and fostering a culture of technical growth.

Requirements

• You’ve built and scaled modern PHP-based applications using frameworks like Laravel, Symfony, or similar, and you follow current best practices (even if you occasionally challenge them)
• You understand database design, caching, messaging queues, and architecture for high-scale SaaS
• You’re not a UI specialist, but you’re comfortable integrating with frontend technologies (React, Redux, Next.js)
• Your work is clean, consistent, and approachable by others—your future self included
• You practice TDD or similar strategies, and think critically about what tests to write and how to validate your work
• You think beyond the code, caring deeply about the “why” behind the work and how it helps customers
• You communicate clearly and proactively, whether writing up technical decisions or discussing roadblocks

Responsibilities

• Develop new functionality, enhance backend systems, and support third-party integrations using modern PHP frameworks and AWS services
• Collaborate with frontend engineers on Javascript features, Backend and platform teams working on Java and Kotlin, and ensure seamless API design and integration
• Improve performance, reliability, and maintainability across systems using Redis, RabbitMQ, Kafka, MySQL/PostgreSQL, and MongoDB
• Triage and resolve engineering support requests, learning directly from real-world usage and turning pain points into product improvements
• Write well-tested, maintainable code and contribute to our automated testing pipelines; you understand when and how to supplement with thoughtful manual testing
• Keep the customer in focus for all your work. Every decision reflects a commitment to performance, security, and the experience of end users
• Work cross-functionally in a tight-knit, senior team that values psychological safety and mutual respect
• Share what you know, learn from your peers, and help foster a culture of technical growth and curiosity

Benefits

• Healthcare coverage
• Wellness resources