Fullstack PHP Developer

A well-known UK retailer is hiring a mid-level PHP Developer to join their London tech function. This is a genuine full-stack seat across PHP and JavaScript, with a healthy mix of legacy maintenance, tech debt work, and a major greenfield rebuild on the horizon.

The role

You will be working across the backend, front-end, CMS, and CRM, with plenty of stakeholder interfaces where your team owns the conversation. There is a lot of custom, bespoke code rather than off-the-shelf modules bolted together, so you will need to be comfortable reading and reasoning about code that has not been written with you in mind.

The team is currently shaping a new platform and deciding the tech direction for a sizeable greenfield rebuild. If you enjoy being in the room when those decisions get made, rather than inheriting them, this is a strong moment to join.

What you will be doing

• Building and maintaining full-stack features across PHP and JavaScript
• Working through legacy code and tech debt alongside new greenfield development
• Contributing to platform decisions for an upcoming rebuild
• Owning interfaces with internal stakeholders across the business
• Working alongside a Product Manager and Lead Developer (who acts as Product Owner for the domain)

What we are looking for

• 2 to 5 years of commercial full-stack experience
• Strong PHP (any experience with Symfony or Laravel would be a plus)
• JavaScript with React (Next.js experience is a plus, but React is the priority)
• Comfortable reading and working with bespoke, custom-written code
• Able to work through problems independently, with reasonable baseline code quality
• Open and curious about AI tooling in the development workflow

The team and culture

Three full-stack teams sit within the wider engineering function. You would report into the Engineering Manager and work day to day with a PM and a Lead Developer. There is scope for additional seats on the team beyond this hire, so growth is on the table.

On AI: the team is genuinely enthusiastic. They are exploring agentic models for code generation, review, and testing, and the philosophy is pro-AI and pro-human. You will not be expected to defend your job from a model, but you will be expected to use the tools well.

Why this one is different

This is not a pure digital product business. Code is not the primary product, which means the work has a different texture: you are having conversations with people about real, tangible problems rather than optimising a funnel or shipping a feature for its own sake. If you have ever wanted your work to land somewhere visible in the real world, this role does that.

The details

• Salary: £40,000
• Location: London, 2 days per week on-site
• Type: Permanent, full-time