Senior/Lead PHP Engineer

N-iX is a global software development service company that helps businesses across the globe create next-generation software products. Founded in 2002, we unite 2,400+ tech-savvy professionals across 40+ countries, working on impactful projects for industry leaders and Fortune 500 companies. Our expertise spans cloud, data, AI/ML, embedded software, IoT, and more, driving digital transformation across finance, manufacturing, telecom, healthcare, and other industries. Join N-iX and become part of a team where your ideas make a real impact.
About the Role

We are looking for a Senior/Lead PHP Engineer to join a project at its discovery phase. The primary goal of this role is to perform a comprehensive technical assessment of an existing PHP-based system, helping the team gain a clear understanding of its architecture, business logic, and technical landscape.

You will work closely with stakeholders to analyze the current solution, identify technical risks, document findings, and provide recommendations that will shape future development. This is an excellent opportunity for an experienced engineer who enjoys solving complex technical challenges, investigating legacy systems, and making architectural decisions.

Responsibilities:

• Analyze and assess an existing PHP application and its architecture.
• Investigate business logic, system components, integrations, and dependencies.
• Reverse engineer legacy code to understand system behavior and identify potential improvements.
• Evaluate the current architecture, scalability, maintainability, and technical debt.
• Review database structure, relationships, stored procedures, and performance bottlenecks.
• Collaborate with stakeholders to gather missing technical and business information.
• Produce technical documentation, architecture diagrams, and discovery findings.
• Identify technical risks and provide recommendations for future development and modernization.
• Support the team in defining the implementation roadmap following the discovery phase.

Requirements:

• 5+ years of commercial experience with PHP development.
• Strong experience working with complex backend systems (beyond CMS platforms or simple websites). Experience with ERP systems is a significant advantage.
• Solid understanding of distributed and microservices-based architectures.
• Strong expertise with relational databases (MySQL, PostgreSQL, or similar), including schema design, query optimization, and performance analysis.
• Experience working with stored procedures, database functions, and complex SQL is highly desirable.
• Experience analyzing large legacy codebases and understanding complex business logic.
• Hands-on experience with reverse engineering existing systems is a strong plus.
• Experience participating in system design, architecture discussions, and technical decision-making.
• Strong analytical mindset and excellent problem-solving skills.
• Ability to work independently with limited project documentation.
• Upper-Intermediate or higher English level.

Nice to Have:

• Experience with ERP platforms or enterprise business applications.
• Experience leading technical discovery or system assessment activities.
• Familiarity with cloud platforms and containerized environments.
• Experience creating technical documentation and architecture diagrams.
• Knowledge of software modernization and migration strategies.

What You'll Deliver:

• A clear understanding of the existing system architecture.
• Documentation of key business flows and technical components.
• Assessment of technical debt and architectural risks.
• Recommendations for future development and modernization.
• Technical insights that will enable the team to successfully move from discovery into implementation.