Mid-Senior Backend Developer (PHP / Laravel) (#67)

Job Title: Mid–Senior Backend Engineer (PHP / Laravel) Location: Remote – Latin America (Working Spanish Hours) Type of Contract: Contractor | Remote Salary Range: $3,800 - $4,500 Language Requirements: Professional English and Native Spanish We are seeking a skilled Mid–Senior Backend Engineer with strong PHP and Laravel expertise to join our client's growing team. You will play a key role in building scalable backend architectures, developing high-performance APIs, and maintaining robust distributed systems. Your work will directly impact platform scalability, system reliability, and the delivery of high-quality digital products. Key Responsibilities Design, develop, and maintain scalable, secure, and high-performance backend architectures using modern PHP frameworks, primarily Laravel. Build and maintain RESTful APIs that connect frontend applications, databases, and third-party services. Implement clean, maintainable backend code following Clean Architecture, SOLID principles, and industry best practices. Develop and maintain data models, business logic, and integrations with external APIs and services. Collaborate with cross-functional teams including Product, Design, QA, Marketing, and DevOps to deliver end-to-end solutions. Perform code reviews, refactor legacy systems, and continuously optimize backend performance and scalability. Ensure high-quality deliverables through unit testing, integration testing, debugging, and CI/CD development workflows. Must-Have Qualifications 4+ years of experience working with Laravel in large-scale, high-traffic production environments. Advanced proficiency in modern PHP development, including experience with Twig or similar template engines. Strong experience with PHP tooling and dependency management using Composer, PHPStan, and PHPMD. Deep knowledge of relational databases such as MySQL or PostgreSQL. Experience building microservices and distributed systems using Docker. Strong understanding of Clean Architecture, Domain-Driven Design (DDD), SOLID principles, and best practices such as TDD and CQRS. Experience with Git-based version control and modern development workflows. Preferred Qualifications Experience with NoSQL databases such as Redis, MongoDB, or Elasticsearch. Experience working with message brokers such as RabbitMQ or Kafka. Strong background in unit testing and automated testing frameworks. Experience refactoring and modernizing legacy codebases. Familiarity with AI development tools such as Junie or Claude, including experience building AI skills or working with AI agents. Strong analytical thinking, problem-solving ability, and proactive ownership of technical challenges.