100% Remote || Senior PHP Developer with NodeJS || Contract Position || USC, GC & EADs
Job Title: Senior PHP Developer with NodeJS Location: Remote (USA) Time Zone: EST Experience: 10+ Years Type: Contract Work Authorization: USC, GC, GC-EAD, H4-EAD Must Have:
- Expert-level PHP (Laravel) experience (non-negotiable)
- Strong backend experience with Node.js
- Experience with Microservices
- Experience refactoring or decomposing monolithic architectures
- Experience with AWS
Responsibilities:
- Develop a deep understanding of an existing PHP monolithic codebase and progressively extract modular services
- Design and implement scalable, testable, and reusable backend services
- Write clean, maintainable PHP and Node.js server-side code
- Design and maintain robust RESTful and GraphQL APIs
- Lead refactoring efforts to improve performance, readability, and long-term maintainability
- Build, deploy, and operate services on AWS (Lambda, API Gateway, and related services)
- Write and maintain unit and integration tests
- Review, validate, and improve code generated with AI tools-never blindly accept AI output
- Identify technical risks, bottlenecks, and opportunities for improvement
- Clearly communicate technical decisions, trade-offs, and solutions in written and spoken English
- Create short video walkthroughs or demos explaining architecture changes or completed work
- Collaborate effectively in a remote, async-first cross-timezone team with flexible working hours
Skills/Requirements:
- Expert-level PHP (Laravel) experience (non-negotiable)
- Strong backend experience with Node.js
- Proven experience working on enterprise-grade, production systems
- Hands-on experience refactoring or decomposing monolithic architectures
- Strong background in API design and backend architecture
- Experience with AWS, especially Lambda and serverless patterns
- Solid understanding of software design principles, patterns, and clean code practices
- Experience writing testable code and maintaining automated test suites
- Fluency in English (written and spoken)
- Excellent problem-solving, debugging, and communication skills
- Highly proactive and self-directed; able to unblock yourself without waiting for instructions
AI & Developer Tooling Expectations
- You are expected to use AI as a productivity multiplier, not a replacement for engineering judgment.
- Experience with AI coding tools (e.g., GitHub Copilot, ChatGPT, Claude Code, Cursor)
- Using AI within IDEs such as VS Code or PhpStorm
- Critically reviewing, testing, and refining AI-generated code
- Understanding risks, edge cases, and limitations of AI-assisted development
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