PHP Developer

We are looking for a PHP Developer to support the maintenance, improvement, and stabilization of existing web applications. This is not a greenfield role — the primary focus is working with mature and legacy systems, resolving production issues, improving code quality, and delivering incremental enhancements.

You will contribute to extending system lifespan, reducing technical debt, and improving maintainability over time. This position is best suited for developers who are comfortable working with legacy code, understand real-world system constraints, and have experience gradually improving existing solutions rather than building from scratch.

This role is for developers who: 

• Have commercial experience working with PHP in production systems 

• Have worked with legacy or long-lived codebases 

• Are comfortable navigating large or complex applications 

• Understand the balance between refactoring and delivering business value 

• Prefer practical engineering over “perfect from scratch” solutions

•  Are detail-oriented and patient when improving existing systems
  
  

Your Responsibilities

• Maintain and enhance existing PHP-based applications

• Analyze and work with legacy codebases and system architecture

• Identify, troubleshoot, and fix bugs and performance issues

• Refactor legacy code to improve readability, stability, and maintainability

• Implement new features within existing system constraints

• Support gradual modernization of outdated components

• Write clean, structured code aligned with OOP and Clean Code practices

• Collaborate with QA, DevOps, and Product teams to ensure stable releases

• Write and maintain automated tests where feasible

• Contribute to technical documentation

• Participate in code reviews and technical discussions

• +3 years of commercial experience in PHP web development.

• Strong experience with PHP 8+, at least one of the popular MVC frameworks (Symfony/Laravel/Yii), DDD, Microservices Architecture, and REST API.

• Solid knowledge of OOP, SOLID, and Clean Code principles.

• Proven experience in refactoring and replatforming large-scale legacy systems.

• Hands-on experience with MySQL/MariaDB databases.

• Familiarity with CI/CD pipelines (GitLab CI preferred).

• Experience with Docker and Git.

• Strong understanding of software architecture and system design.

• Effective communication skills and ability to work in a team.

• Proactivity and a strong focus on continuous improvement.

• Languages: Fluent in English (B2) and Polish (B2).

• Experience with front-end technologies (HTML, CSS, JavaScript/TypeScript).

• Experience with Agile/Scrum and eXtreme Programming.

• Experience with queue systems

• Knowledge of German language.

• Languages/Frameworks: PHP 8+/Symfony 6+/Laravel 9+, JS/TypeScript, Go, PHPUnit, Codeception, Flutter/Dart

• Databases: MySQL, MariaDB

• Infrastructure: UNIX, Kubernetes, RabbitMQ

• Testing: Playwright, Python, Dart, Postman

• CI/CD: GitLab CI, Code Magic 

• Containerization: Docker

• AI Tools: Jetbrains AI, Cursor, Gemini for Google Workspace

• Tools: Jira, Requirements & Test Management for Jira, Confluence, Slack, IDE (freedom of choice),  G Suite, Sentry 

• Agile Scrum + XP elements

• OOP, TDD, DDD, SOLID, Clean Code

• Code reviews, pull requests, automation mindset

• QA as part of cross-functional team

• AI as the part of process 

• Private healthcare

• Cafeteria system & Sport Card

• Training budget €800 per year

• Integration meetings (internal training, hackathon, integration trips and meetings)

• Referral Bonus

• Startup atmosphere

• No dress code

• Flexible hours

• Flexible working format - remote or hybrid 

• Modern office, Chillout zone, Standing desk, parking for bicycles, and a cloakroom with showers

• Regular office lunches and integration meetings

• Some international travels included

We are blau direkt
Infrastructure service provider for brokerage companies in the insurance industry.
Our business is to provide infrastructure services to insurance brokers. We manage
data, documents, claims, and most importantly: communication! blau direkt facilitates
the work of over 1,400 insurance brokers and distributors.

As a technology market leader, we offer brokerage companies in the insurance industry
the most modern infrastructure services and a tried and tested touchpoint management
system, which fundamentally sets us apart from other broker pools in Germany.
We are just opening a new R&D center, where we build engineering teams to support the
most crucial blau direkt products.

Insurance and finance are dull? Not with blau direkt!
We have made it our task to digitize and simplify the originally very paper-heavy and
time-consuming work of our partners with the help of our solutions. Together as a team,
we are driving new standards in the industry.

Talk to us and be a part of this experience from the beginning, which gives you the
unique opportunity to really make an impact on how we do things.