PHP Lead Engineer

Job Description

Lead PHP Engineer – Rebuild the Brain of an Industry

Hybrid | Sydney | Full-time

Up to $200K + super + bonus

Are you a senior / staff / principal engineer looking for a chance to lead the reinvention of a platform that powers an entire industry.

As a lead engineer, you're likely looking for more than code tickets. You're after real architectural influence, the chance to untangle complex legacy, and a seat at the table as a technical leader.

Here, you'll get all that and the opportunity to build a long-term future as Tech Lead, helping shape the direction of both the product and the engineering culture.

This is a start-up environment embedded inside an enterprise business meaning you’ll move fast, own decisions, and innovate daily, all with the security and scale that comes from operating inside an established organisation. We’re scaling our engineering team from 35 to over 65 in the next phase, and you’ll be at the forefront of that growth.

You’ll join a team that’s responsible for the ERP/CRM system behind the majority of Australia’s strata industry. The product automates mission-critical processes and has over 1,000 APIs. It's the heart of the business and now it’s time to re-architect it for the future.

You’ll be joining one of Australia’s largest financial tech companies who have recently hired people from Google, Meta and Amazon.

We’ve just kicked off a major hiring phase growing the engineering team from 35 to over 65 in this area of the business. You’ll be joining at a critical moment, helping us untangle a vast legacy platform and reimagine it for the future.

This Is a Rare Opportunity To

• Step into a high-ownership role with autonomy over design and decision-making
• Guide the transition of a massive monolith into a modern, scalable system
• Coach senior engineers and help set up a true feature ownership model
• Work on a multi-year roadmap with both complexity and clarity
• Build a long-term leadership path — without stepping away from technical depth
  
  
  

Why This Role?

• Work in a fast-moving team within the safety of an established business
• Join a platform with genuine industry impact - not just another SaaS product
• Help drive a major transformation project, with real ownership and input
• Flexible hybrid environment with a high-performing team culture
  
  
  

Tech Stack

• Languages & Frameworks: PHP8 (custom frameworks), JavaScript, Knockout.js, React
• Databases: MySQL, performance tuning and indexing skills highly valued
• Cloud & Tools: AWS, profiling tools (e.g. DataTrace), Karate, cloud build tools
• Quality & Security: Secure coding, unit testing, cybersecurity principles (desirable)
  
  
  

What You'll Do

As our Lead PHP Engineer, you’ll:

• Lead efforts to modernise a complex, large-scale ERP/CRM system used across an entire sector
• Build and maintain PHP/MySQL-based systems in a high-traffic, high-visibility environment
• Apply secure coding practices and contribute to architectural decisions
• Contribute to front-end work using JavaScript — ideally with React exposure
• Help transition a massive monolith (1,000+ APIs) into modular components over a multi-year roadmap
  
  
  

If you're interested in hearing more, apply here or get in touch with Jon Holland or Indigo Munro on Linkedin!