Lead PHP Engineer

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About the Role

We seek a highly experienced Lead PHP/AI Engineer to drive the technical vision and hands-on execution of our mission-critical product modernization initiative. You will serve as an architect, hands-on coder, and mentor, leading the transition of a legacy software ecosystem to a modern, high-growth SaaS future built on a PHP stack. Your leadership will be crucial in dissecting complex existing systems and architecting scalable, API-first solutions. A key part of this role involves architecting and implementing intelligent AI data ingestion pipelines to transform our content, enabling new, AI-powered product capabilities.

You’ll work closely with a small, agile team and directly with client stakeholders, acting as a trusted technical advisor to align business needs with innovative technical solutions.

Key Responsibilities

Lead System Modernization: Take a leading role in analyzing and understanding the functionality of a legacy application to ensure its core business logic is preserved and enhanced during modernization.
API-First Design & Development: Architect, build, and maintain a robust, scalable, and secure RESTful API in PHP that will serve as the backbone for future applications and client integrations.
AI Data Ingestion: Architect and implement a scalable AI content ingestion pipeline to process new and existing LMS content so that it can be remixed and tailored on the fly for different audiences.
Hands-On Coding: Write high-quality, maintainable, and well-tested PHP code as a senior member of a small, focused engineering team.
Client Collaboration: Work directly with client stakeholders to gather requirements, demonstrate progress, and act as a trusted technical advisor, translating their business needs into technical solutions.
Technical Mentorship: Mentor and guide other engineers on the team, promoting best practices in PHP development, code quality, architecture, and testing.
Scalable Architecture: Design and implement solutions that are built for scale, considering future performance, reliability, and deployment within a multi-tenant SaaS architecture.
Documentation: Create clear and comprehensive documentation for the API, ensuring it is easily understood and consumed by future UI developers and other stakeholders.

Requirements

7+ years of professional software development experience, with a proven track record of leading technical projects and acting as a hands-on technical leader.
Deep expertise in modern backend PHP development, with specific, hands-on experience using frameworks like Laravel.
Demonstrable experience working with or integrating into Moodle environments or similar LMS platforms.
Extensive, hands-on experience designing, building, and deploying RESTful APIs. Strong understanding of API design principles and standards (e.g., OpenAPI/Swagger).
Proven experience designing and building data pipelines that ingest and transform bulk data, potentially for consumption and indexing by AI.
A strong ability to perform System Deconstruction; digging into existing complex systems, understanding their inner workings, and reverse-engineering logic.
Solid experience with both relational (e.g., PostgreSQL, MySQL) and NoSQL databases.
Effective communicator with strong client-facing abilities to confidently engage with stakeholders and translate business needs.
Experience mentoring small teams and guiding junior developers, with a collaborative and proactive attitude.

Nice to Have

Experience with cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, or GCP) and designing cloud-native applications.
Knowledge of containerization and orchestration technologies (Docker, Kubernetes).
Previous experience on a legacy system modernization project.
Familiarity with building and deploying applications in a SaaS environment.
Experience with CI/CD pipelines and automated testing frameworks.
An interest in eventually contributing to the UI layer (e.g., with React, Angular, or Vue.js) is a plus.

#LI-Remote #LI-MP2

About Monks

Monks is the global, purely digital, unitary operating brand of S4Capital plc. With a legacy of innovation and specialized expertise, Monks combines an extraordinary range of global marketing and technology services to accelerate business possibilities and redefine how brands and businesses interact with the world. Its integration of systems and workflows delivers unfettered content production, scaled experiences, enterprise-grade technology and data science fueled by AI—managed by the industry’s best and most diverse digital talent—to help the world’s trailblazing companies outmaneuver and outpace their competition.

Monks was named a Contender in The Forrester Wave™: Global Marketing Services. It has remained a constant presence on Adweek’s Fastest Growing lists (2019-23), ranks among Cannes Lions' Top 10 Creative Companies (2022-23) and is the only partner to have been placed in AdExchanger’s Programmatic Power Players list every year (2020-24). In addition to being named Adweek’s first AI Agency of the Year (2023), Monks has been recognized by Business Intelligence in its 2024 Excellence in Artificial Intelligence Awards program in three categories: the Individual category, Organizational Winner in AI Strategic Planning and AI Product for its service Monks.Flow. Monks has also garnered the title of Webby Production Company of the Year (2021-24), won a record number of FWAs and has earned a spot on Newsweek’s Top 100 Global Most Loved Workplaces 2023.

We are an equal-opportunity employer committed to building a respectful and empowering work environment for all people to freely express themselves amongst colleagues who embrace diversity in all respects. Including fresh voices and unique points of view in all aspects of our business not only creates an environment where we can all grow and thrive but also increases our potential to produce work that better represents—and resonates with—the world around us.