Senior Backend Developer

About the role

• We are looking for a highly skilled Senior PHP Backend Developer to join our engineering team. In this role, you will design, build, and optimize backend services that power our core business systems. You’ll collaborate with product managers, architects, and cross-functional teams to deliver scalable, reliable, and high-performance solutions.

What you'll do

• Design, develop, and maintain backend systems using PHP (Laravel preferred).
• Lead architecture discussions and provide guidance on best practices.
• Write clean, maintainable, and testable code.
• Optimize application performance and scalability.
• Review code and mentor junior developers.
• Collaborate with front-end developers and product teams to deliver end-to-end features.
• Integrate with internal and external APIs and services.
• Participate in incident analysis and continuous improvement of system reliability.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
• 5+ years of experience in PHP backend development
• Strong expertise in Laravel or other PHP frameworks
• Solid understanding of MySQL or PostgreSQL, query optimization, indexing
• Experience with RESTful APIs, microservices, and distributed systems
• Familiarity with CI/CD pipelines, Docker, Linux environments
• Good understanding of Redis and message queues
• Strong debugging and problem-solving skills
• Experience in high-concurrency or high-availability systems is a major plus
• Good communication skills and ability to work with cross-functional teams
• Work onsite in Richmond office(1 day WFH/week)

Nice-to-Have

• Experience with Elasticsearch or other NoSQL tools
• Knowledge of cloud platforms (AWS / GCP / AliCloud)
• Familiarity with front-end stacks is a plus
• Preferred: Proficiency in Chinese (spoken and/or written).