Principal PHP Developer

Game development is our passion!

To enhance our great team we are looking for a Principal PHP Developer!

At Bytro Labs, we strive to develop high-quality strategy games and make them accessible for all players around the world. In our eyes, game development is a promise for fun and entertainment – that’s what we live and aim for!

As part of the Swedish Stillfront Group, we create grand strategy games which are played by over 9 million players in 150 countries and 13 languages all over the world. Our office is located in Hamburg’s world-famous St. Pauli district, with a stunning 360° view of the harbour and the Elbe river and easy access to public transport.

Our staff is multicultural and international. We have flat hierarchies, an open communication culture, and support the autonomous work of our agile working teams. We believe in efficient work where each of our employees contributes to the success of our games.

As a Principal PHP Developer, you would extend our PHP backend systems and APIs, building, enhancing, and extending our backend API according to current stability, performance, scalability, security, and maintainability standards. You will directly work with marketing and other stakeholders to integrate new partner APIs and tracking systems into our user backend. You can also contribute by implementing new features to our Javascript/HTML tools and services.

YOUR TASKS

• Lead architecture improvements and modernization of our core PHP API and backend systems powering our games
• Drive initiatives to enhance the stability, performance, and scalability of our PHP platform and live game systems
• Promote and implement security, testing, and development best practices
• Contribute high-quality, maintainable PHP code using a wide range of technologies like Composer, Sentry, Sonar, PHPUnit, Github, Docker, MySQL, Memcache, Redis, Jenkins, Grafana, Nexus, and Nginx
• Take ownership of important tech KPIs that ensure a smooth gameplay experience
• Shape the technical vision and roadmap for our PHP backend
• Partner with Marketing, Product, and Game Design to align technical work to business goals
• Lead integration of new APIs, payment systems, and data tracking
• Spearhead projects to modernize and professionalize our PHP architecture
• Mentor and guide developers on your team, instilling best practices

YOUR PROFILE

• 7+ years of professional experience in PHP development
• Deep expertise in PHP 7/8, unit testing, Composer, PSRs, and modern PHP frameworks
• You have worked on multi-server, high-load PHP applications and have experience with leading complex, high-traffic PHP applications and APIs
• Passion for writing clean, well-structured, maintainable code using design patterns appropriately
• Ability to implement and promote best practices for reliability, performance, scalability, and security
• Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills
• Strong leadership skills; able to influence and mentor teammates
• Ability to understand business needs and translate them into technical requirements
• Fluent in technical and business English; German language skills are a plus
• Experience with agile methodologies like Kanban, Scrum
• Enthusiastic about games and enjoy working in an interdisciplinary team
• Interested in learning outside of the box and also taking over full-stack development tasks