Senior PHP Backend Developer (AI-First) - Laravel
Summary
Senior PHP backend developer builds and maintains scalable Laravel applications on GCP using AI tools like Gemini-CLI and Copilot, with a strong focus on TDD, performance, and security.
We're building an AI-first engineering team and need a Senior PHP Backend Developer who can ship like it. You'll own the backend end-to-end, code, tests, cloud, and use AI tooling to work at a level regular developers can't match.
What you'll do
Produce scalable Laravel backends with clean, high-concurrency code
Write Unit and Feature tests first (Pest/PHPUnit), bulletproof by default using TDD
Own deployment on GCP (Cloud Run, Cloud SQL, Cloud Build)
Use Gemini-CLI, Copilot, Codex, and Cursor daily to multiply your output
Monitor, catch bottlenecks early, refactor for the long term
What we need
5+ years professional PHP/Laravel experience
Strong TDD habits: tests before code
Hands-on GCP experience: Docker, Artifact Registry, serverless (important)
Proven AI-agent workflow that measurably speeds you up (2x+)
Expert Eloquent, indexing, query optimization at scale
Security fluency: OWASP, secure APIs, encryption
The bar
Deliver 5x the output of a typical developer, with code quality that's cleaner and more optimized, not less. AI-first workflow, but backed by real Laravel depth, not a substitute for it.
Nice to have
Laravel Pulse/Horizon
Github Actions
Open-source contributions (PHP or AI dev tools)
Why join
Zero-friction setup: latest AI subscriptions, GCP credits, and full ownership over your architecture decisions.