Senior Product Engineer (PHP)

Location: Remote. The headquarters is based in London. Visa sponsorship is not available.

Salary: £70,000–£80,000 per year.

Company

Arbor develops MIS and school management tools used by more than 12,000 schools and trusts to improve staff workflows and turn data into actionable insights.

What you will do

• Work with the Engineering Manager, Tech Lead, QA Engineer, and Product Manager to define and deliver feature solutions.
• Maintain software connecting internal systems and build functionality to centralize add-on purchases for the Arbor Platform.
• Document new feature developments with detailed explanations and diagrams.
• Design and implement advanced tests to improve feature reliability and test coverage.
• Produce well-architected, efficient, and scalable code using established design patterns and engineering principles.
• Lead code reviews, pair programming, technical talks, workshops, and knowledge-sharing initiatives.

Requirements

• Extensive experience with object-oriented programming and software development.
• Significant experience developing backend services with PHP.
• Experience integrating third-party systems and APIs.
• Strong knowledge of software engineering principles including SOLID and DRY, plus relational database technologies.
• Leadership, mentoring, collaboration, and proactive problem-solving skills.
• Good written and spoken English is required.

Nice to have

• Experience with enterprise solutions and large-scale systems.
• Experience with React, or Vue and willingness to learn React.
• Familiarity with Scrum or other agile development processes.
• Experience with cloud computing, Docker, and containerisation.
• Knowledge of refactoring, clean code, domain-driven design, and test-driven development.

Culture & Benefits

• Flexible working and a collaborative environment with team, office, and company-wide events.
• 32 days of holiday plus bank holidays.
• Wellbeing support, including a virtual GP service, mental health support, counselling, and health checks.
• Private dental insurance, pension, life assurance, and enhanced maternity, adoption, and paternity leave.
• Professional development training budget and one paid volunteering day each year.
• Dog-friendly offices and wellbeing resources including Calm and Bippit.

Hiring process

• Phone screen.
• First-stage interview.
• Second-stage interview.