Senior PHP Engineer
About Foxbox Digital
Foxbox Digital is an award-winning digital product agency headquartered in Chicago. We partner with clients ranging from startups to mid-sized businesses to design, develop, modernize, and deliver successful digital products.
We are a remote-first team working across the United States and LATAM. Our engineers work directly with clients and cross-functional teams to solve complex technical and business problems across a variety of industries.
Summary
We are looking for an experienced Senior PHP Engineer who combines strong software engineering skills with the ability to work effectively in a consulting environment.
In this role, you will design, develop, modernize, and support web applications using PHP and related technologies. Some projects may include Drupal-based platforms, while others may involve Laravel, APIs, integrations, modern JavaScript frameworks, and cloud-native architectures.
You will work directly with client stakeholders, product managers, designers, and engineers to understand business challenges, recommend technical approaches, and deliver scalable, maintainable solutions.
Successful candidates are comfortable entering existing systems, learning unfamiliar codebases, navigating ambiguous requirements, and taking ownership of solutions from discovery through delivery.
Responsibilities
- Design, develop, maintain, and modernize web applications using PHP and related technologies.
- Work within existing platforms, including Drupal applications, while identifying opportunities to improve architecture, maintainability, performance, and security.
- Collaborate directly with clients to understand business requirements, clarify technical constraints, and recommend practical solutions.
- Translate business needs into technical designs, estimates, and implementation plans.
- Develop and maintain backend services, APIs, integrations, modules, and application functionality.
- Troubleshoot complex production and application issues across backend, frontend, database, and infrastructure layers.
- Participate in technical discovery, architecture discussions, project planning, and estimation.
- Communicate technical tradeoffs and recommendations clearly to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
- Perform code reviews and provide constructive feedback to other engineers.
- Mentor teammates and contribute to shared engineering standards and practices.
- Work collaboratively across engineering, product, design, and client teams.
- Accurately track project work and billable hours.
- Continuously evaluate new development tools and practices that can improve engineering quality and delivery speed.
Who You Are
- You have 5+ years of professional software development experience, with significant experience developing backend applications using PHP.
- You have experience working with modern PHP frameworks or platforms such as Laravel, Symfony, or Drupal.
- You have experience working with and extending existing applications and complex codebases.
- You understand object-oriented programming, software design principles, application architecture, and common design patterns.
- You have experience designing and consuming RESTful APIs and integrating third-party systems.
- You have experience working with relational databases such as MySQL or PostgreSQL.
- You are comfortable with JavaScript, HTML, and CSS and understand how backend systems interact with modern frontend applications.
- You have experience using Git and working with CI/CD development practices.
- You understand testing practices and have experience with tools such as PHPUnit.
- You have strong debugging, analytical, and problem-solving skills.
- You can independently investigate problems and recommend solutions rather than waiting for detailed implementation instructions.
- You communicate clearly with both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
- You are comfortable working directly with clients in a consulting or professional services environment.
- You can manage competing priorities and work effectively across multiple projects or workstreams.
- You are comfortable working collaboratively in a distributed, remote-first team.
- Fluency in English is required.
Consulting Experience
Because Foxbox engineers work closely with our clients, we value engineers who are comfortable operating beyond implementation alone.
You should be able to:
- Build trusted relationships with client stakeholders.
- Ask effective questions to uncover the underlying business problem, not simply implement the initial request.
- Navigate incomplete or changing requirements.
- Explain technical concepts and tradeoffs in clear business terms.
- Push back constructively when a requested approach introduces unnecessary risk or complexity.
- Offer alternative solutions rather than simply identifying problems.
- Take ownership of commitments, blockers, communication, and delivery.
- Adapt quickly to different client environments, teams, technologies, and ways of working.
Previous consulting, professional services, digital agency, or client-facing engineering experience is strongly preferred.
Nice to Have
- Hands-on experience developing or maintaining Drupal applications.
- Experience developing custom Drupal modules or integrations.
- Experience with Laravel or Symfony.
- Experience with React.js, Vue.js, or React Native.
- Experience modernizing legacy applications or incrementally replacing legacy architecture.
- Experience designing microservices or service-oriented architectures.
- Experience with Docker and containerized development environments.
- Familiarity with AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud Platform.
- Experience with automated testing and CI/CD pipelines.
- Experience working in Agile delivery environments.
- Experience leading technical discovery or architecture discussions with clients.
- Previous experience working for a consulting firm, digital agency, or professional services organization.
AI-Assisted Development
We are actively adopting AI-assisted software development practices across our engineering teams.
Experience with tools such as Claude Code, Gemini CLI, OpenAI Codex, or GitHub Copilot is a plus.
We value engineers who use AI development tools thoughtfully for activities such as:
- Understanding unfamiliar codebases.
- Accelerating implementation and prototyping.
- Generating and improving automated tests.
- Refactoring existing code.
- Debugging and troubleshooting.
- Reviewing code and identifying potential issues.
- Creating technical documentation.
- Automating repetitive engineering tasks.
Engineers are expected to apply their own judgment, validate AI-generated work, and remain accountable for the quality of the software they deliver.
Technologies We Use
Backend: PHP, Laravel, Drupal, MySQL, PostgreSQL, RESTful APIs, Microservices
Frontend: JavaScript, TypeScript, React.js, Vue.js, React Native, HTML, CSS
Cloud & DevOps: Docker, AWS, Azure, Google Cloud Platform, CI/CD pipelines, GitHub Actions
Testing: PHPUnit and automated testing practices
Development: Git, GitHub, Agile methodologies
AI Development: Claude Code, Gemini CLI, OpenAI Codex, GitHub Copilot
Collaboration: Slack, Jira, Notion, Figma
Remote Work Requirements
Because Foxbox is a remote-first organization, team members should have:
- Reliable high-speed internet access.
- A reliable computer suitable for professional software development.
- A webcam and headset or microphone suitable for client and team video meetings.
- A professional environment that supports regular collaboration with distributed teams and clients.
— Sarah J.
·
Marketing Manager
★★★★★
Verified
