Senior PHP Developer

Full-Stack Senior PHP Developer – Role Specification (Lead) Work Model: Hybrid (2 Days Home, 3 Days Office) Start Date: 5 January 2026 CTC: R60,000 per month Core Technical Requirements (Backend) 7+ years PHP experience with strong OOP, interfaces, traits, abstract classes. Solid grasp of advanced architecture patterns: Repository, Service Layer, Strategy, Adapter, Factory, Event-Driven Design. Ability to design and maintain large, multi-module systems with configuration-based logic. Strong debugging skills using logs, exceptions, profiling, and structured error handling. Laravel Ecosystem The candidate will be working extensively on Symfony- and Laravel-style backend systems that support: API orchestration, message routing, and multi-channel intake pipelines. AI-driven workflows (classification, augmentation, orchestration). Queue workers (Redis), scheduled tasks, job pipelines. Eloquent optimization (avoid N+1, eager loading, pagination strategies). Building modular domain-driven components (Feedback, Chat, Knowledge Base, Operational Insights, Lifecycle Management). WordPress Engineering (Advanced) Must support the company’s internal multisite ecosystem: Advanced custom plugin development. ACF-driven templates. Custom tables, schema migrations, WP-CLI commands. Integration of modern PHP into WordPress while maintaining performance. Working with high-performance ingestion pipelines (e.g., lead ingestion, media ingestion). Full-Stack Frontend Requirements The developer will work on systems such as dashboards, operational insights, ticketing boards, client portals, etc. Required skills: Strong HTML5, SCSS, responsive design. ES6+ JavaScript proficiency. Experience with: Vue / React / Alpine (any modern reactive framework). Vite / Webpack build systems. Ability to build dynamic UI components such as: Kanban boards (Tickets & Cases). Real-time chat interfaces. Knowledge Base editors. Operational analytics dashboards. Data Processing & Integrations REST API design & consumption. Webhook design & idempotent processing. OAuth / API Keys / HMAC signing. High-volume ingestion, parsing, and validation. Multi-system syncing (CRM integrations, ticketing pipelines, customer records). Data Normalisation Ability to merge inconsistent input formats into structured models. Experience with fuzzy matching, deduplication, hashing, and content classification. Understanding of structured feedback models (NPS, sentiment, intent). Databases & Storage SQL / Database Architecture Proficient in MySQL/MariaDB index strategy, query optimization, schema design. Experience building analytics-friendly schemas (for NPS trends, operational metrics, lifecycle data). Experience with sharded, multi-tenant, or brand-based partitioning an advantage. File & Media Storage Familiarity with S3-style buckets. Secure storage of logs, transcripts, attachments. Experience building media normalization pipelines (WebP conversion, hashing, EXIF stripping). DevOps & Infrastructure Awareness The platform includes multiple infrastructure components (hosting, AI compute, API gateways). The developer must not be a DevOps engineer, but must be comfortable with: Docker-based local development. Linux CLI. NGINX/PHP-FPM configuration basics. Queue workers & supervisors. Basic observability (logs, slow queries, storage, errors). Platform-Specific Functional Domains The candidate must be comfortable building or maintaining modules such as: Feedback & NPS engine with sentiment classification. Ticketing system with workflows, statuses, and escalations. Chat logs and conversation history search. Knowledge Base & FAQ manager with AI suggestions. Operational performance & reporting dashboards. Lifecycle management flows: campaigns, churn prediction, next-best-action logic. Admin controls for users, roles, permissions, automations, and integrations. Soft Skills & Working Style Technical Leadership: Ability to drive architectural decisions, mentor team members, and manage the technical delivery roadmap as the project's Lead Developer. Ability to work in a multi-project, multi-brand environment. Comfortable collaborating with design, product, and leadership teams. Able to document workflows, modules, API endpoints, and architecture. Proactive in identifying risks, edge cases, and scalability challenges. Strong sense of ownership — able to take a feature from spec → architecture → implementation → QA → release. Highly Advantageous Experience Experience with AI-assisted or AI-augmented systems. Experience with customer experience platforms or CRM workflows. Real-time systems (live chat, async pipelines). Multi-tenant / multi-brand SaaS systems. Ideal Candidate Profile Summary A strong Full-Stack Lead PHP Developer who can build and maintain a large-scale CX platform with AI augmentation, ticketing, orchestration, and analytics. Complex backend workflows with multiple integration points. Interactive dashboards and portals used by internal teams and customers. High-volume ingestion and normalization pipelines. Multi-brand, multi-tenant architecture powering large organizations. Referrals increase your chances of interviewing at SydSen Digital by 2x Get notified about new Senior PHP Developer jobs in Centurion, Gauteng, South Africa . #J-18808-Ljbffr