Back-End Developer - PHP/Laravel & WordPress Specialist

Crowd Favorite, a leading enterprise Open Source agency, is looking for an experienced back-end developer to join our team, specializing in PHP/Laravel applications, WordPress plugin architecture, and complex system integrations. We are looking for someone who excels at writing clean code, understands the structure behind technical decisions, is well-versed at debugging complex systems, and can clearly communicate in both technical and non-technical language. As a member of Crowd Favorite, you'll leverage these skills to both build new features and maintain high-performing content management platforms for enterprise clients, with a focus on stability and performance while growing your technical capabilities. In this role, you'll be building scalable APIs, designing and developing custom performant code, and architecting database migrations that move content between different CMS platforms and databases.

This is a fully remote position available worldwide, requiring availability during US Pacific Time business hours (9 AM - 6 PM PST/PDT). We're looking for a creative problem-solving developer who excels at building robust back-end solutions.

What You'll Be Working On

• Working with senior developers on custom Laravel applications with complex business logic and integrations
• Building performant WordPress plugins that extend core functionality and integrate with external systems
• Following PSR-4 autoloading standards to ensure maintainable, professional plugin and application architecture
• Creating RESTful APIs that serve multiple front-end applications and third-party integrations
• Implementing database migrations from legacy systems to modern platforms
• Integrating with 3rd-party CRMs, payment processors, and marketing automation platforms
• Optimizing database performance and implementing caching strategies for high-traffic sites
• Troubleshooting and solving issues with existing websites and applications
• Building queue-based background processing systems for data-heavy operations
• Writing effective automated tests (unit, integration, and functional) to ensure code reliability and enable deployments
• Producing clear written and verbal communications for both internal and client-facing needs

Requirements

Code Portfolio Requirements

Applications without these will not be reviewed. This is a development position, requiring solid evidence of your ability to build effective code and you should be ready to discuss your code, implementation decisions, and testing approaches.

• GitHub/GitLab/Bitbucket link showing a WordPress plugin or significant feature you've built (minimum 300+ lines of your code)
• Be ready to show and discuss Laravel project examples demonstrating API development and database work
• Be ready to show and discuss database migration or data transformation scripts you've created

Required Experience

• 2-3+ years of Laravel development including Eloquent ORM, queues, and basic package development
• 2-3+ years of WordPress plugin development following established coding standards, including content architecture, custom post types, meta boxes, and hooks/filters
• 2+ years of MySQL database design, optimization, and query development
• 2+ years building and consuming RESTful APIs and working with JSON data structures
• Solid experience with database migrations and content transformations between different CMS platforms
• Strong understanding of object-oriented programming principles and design patterns
• Experience with PSR-4 autoloading and PHP namespace conventions for organized, maintainable WordPress and Laravel codebases
• Testing experience including PHPUnit and WordPress testing frameworks
• Proficiency with Git workflows and deployment pipelines
• Working knowledge of web server configuration (Nginx/Apache), SSL, and hosting environments

Integration & Technical Skills

• Experience extracting data from Drupal, Joomla, or other CMS platforms into WordPress
• Integration with CRM systems (Salesforce, HubSpot, etc.) and marketing platforms (Mailchimp, Constant Contact)
• Payment gateway integrations (Stripe, PayPal, etc.) and subscription management
• Database performance tuning and query optimization
• Experience with data validation and sanitization for secure migrations
• Understanding of Docker containerization and virtual development environments
• Knowledge of caching strategies (Redis, Memcached) and CDN implementation

Communication & Collaboration

• B2 level of spoken and written English language proficiency
• Comfortable working productively with a distributed team
• Able to explain technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders
• Experience breaking down projects into clear development phases and realistic estimates
• Strong documentation skills for code and system architecture

We know great developers come from various backgrounds. If you're comfortable with most of what we've described but don't check every box, we encourage you to apply. We value potential and eagerness to learn as much as existing expertise.

Benefits

Crowd Favorite has a package of benefits that demonstrates our commitment to our team. Our time off policy is permissive, and covers holidays specific to your location, illness and professional development. We believe that a truly quality work-life balance requires a flexible and thoughtful approach to time away from work.

We respect the life our team leads, and even though we are not subject to FMLA or other requirements, we provide a family leave policy that is quite generous.

For our full-time US based employees we provide a 3 tier insurance option with United Healthcare and we provide a contribution to the cost of your monthly premium, which increases after a year if you are covering a family member (spouse or child). We also cover the cost completely for dental, vision and a small life insurance policy through Guardian Insurance. Finally, we also cover the cost for a telemedicine option through Healthiest You, which has the benefit of no copays for visits.

For US based team members, we have a competitive 401(k) retirement plan with Human Interest, and we match your contribution up to 4%. We offer a profit sharing type bonus program (as a discretionary benefit.)

We support you with provision of company hardware if needed, additional work space items upon request, all tools and subscriptions at company cost, educational accounts for training, and even travel and other costs related to professional development.

Crowd Favorite is committed to building an inclusive experience for all our employees. Regardless of race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, age, disability, or if you’re parenting those future problem solvers, we firmly believe our work is at its best when everyone feels free to be who they are.

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