07/27/2026 updated
100 % available
Senior PHP/Symfony Engineer | Tech Lead
Valencia, Spain
Only remote
MSc, Applied Computer ScienceAbout me
Senior PHP/Symfony engineer & tech lead, 10+ years in high-load SaaS. PHP 5.4 to 8.2 migration with near-zero downtime: -98% critical errors, 2x performance. Payments (Stripe), AWS, CI/CD, AI-assisted SDLC (Claude Code). Remote from Spain (CET), English C1, part-time or full-time contracts.
AI AgentsJavaScriptPHPApplication Programming Interfaces (APIs)Software as a ServiceCode ReviewPostgreSQLRabbitMQRedisSymfonyTypeScriptWooCommerceWordPressOpenapiPHPUnit
PHP & Symfony Development
Expertise in PHP 8.2+ and Symfony 6.4+ for building and modernizing high-load SaaS platforms, including a near-zero-downtime migration from PHP 5.4/Symfony 3.4 to PHP 8.2/Symfony 6.4, cutting critical production errors by 98% and doubling performance.
Payment Integration
Deep expertise in integrating payment providers such as Stripe, Pay.nl, and MultiSafepay, enabling expansion into new markets and significantly increasing revenue.
AI & LLM Engineering
Early adoption of AI in the SDLC: LLM API integration with Anthropic Claude, prompt design, AI-assisted refactoring, automated PHPUnit test generation, and agent-ready API design using OpenAPI and JSON Schema.
Cloud & DevOps (AWS)
Hands-on experience with AWS services including EC2, ECS/Fargate, Elastic Beanstalk, RDS, S3, Lambda, SQS, SES, ElastiCache, CloudFront, VPC, and Secrets Manager, as well as Docker and GitLab CI/CD pipelines.
Database Management
Proficiency in PostgreSQL, Redis, DynamoDB, and Oracle (PL/SQL), including profiling and optimizing slow database queries to measurably improve customer-perceived performance.
Code Quality & Monitoring
Establishment of strict code review processes and automated quality gates using PHPStan, php-cs-fixer, SonarQube, Sentry, and Grafana, with unit and end-to-end testing.
Real-Time & Messaging
Architecture and implementation of real-time communication systems using RabbitMQ, WebSocket, WebRTC, Twilio, and LiveSwitch, including re-architecting a core platform to cut infrastructure costs by 43%.
REST API Design
Design and delivery of RESTful APIs with full OpenAPI/Swagger coverage and JSON Schemas adapted for consumption by AI agents and automated integrations.
Tech Leadership & Mentoring
Leadership of cross-functional engineering teams of up to 12 engineers, defining coding standards, architectural guidelines, and driving full product redesigns and launches.
Expertise in PHP 8.2+ and Symfony 6.4+ for building and modernizing high-load SaaS platforms, including a near-zero-downtime migration from PHP 5.4/Symfony 3.4 to PHP 8.2/Symfony 6.4, cutting critical production errors by 98% and doubling performance.
Payment Integration
Deep expertise in integrating payment providers such as Stripe, Pay.nl, and MultiSafepay, enabling expansion into new markets and significantly increasing revenue.
AI & LLM Engineering
Early adoption of AI in the SDLC: LLM API integration with Anthropic Claude, prompt design, AI-assisted refactoring, automated PHPUnit test generation, and agent-ready API design using OpenAPI and JSON Schema.
Cloud & DevOps (AWS)
Hands-on experience with AWS services including EC2, ECS/Fargate, Elastic Beanstalk, RDS, S3, Lambda, SQS, SES, ElastiCache, CloudFront, VPC, and Secrets Manager, as well as Docker and GitLab CI/CD pipelines.
Database Management
Proficiency in PostgreSQL, Redis, DynamoDB, and Oracle (PL/SQL), including profiling and optimizing slow database queries to measurably improve customer-perceived performance.
Code Quality & Monitoring
Establishment of strict code review processes and automated quality gates using PHPStan, php-cs-fixer, SonarQube, Sentry, and Grafana, with unit and end-to-end testing.
Real-Time & Messaging
Architecture and implementation of real-time communication systems using RabbitMQ, WebSocket, WebRTC, Twilio, and LiveSwitch, including re-architecting a core platform to cut infrastructure costs by 43%.
REST API Design
Design and delivery of RESTful APIs with full OpenAPI/Swagger coverage and JSON Schemas adapted for consumption by AI agents and automated integrations.
Tech Leadership & Mentoring
Leadership of cross-functional engineering teams of up to 12 engineers, defining coding standards, architectural guidelines, and driving full product redesigns and launches.
Experience
Professional experience10+ years
Freelancer since2015
Languages
EnglishFluentRussianNative speakerSpanishBasic knowledge
Project history
Led migration and modernization of an all-in-one SaaS platform for gyms and martial arts schools from PHP 5.4/Symfony 3.4 to PHP 8.2/Symfony 6.4 with near-zero downtime. Designed and delivered integrations with three payment providers (Stripe, Pay.nl, MultiSafepay). Established CI/CD pipelines, strict code review, and automated quality gates. Introduced AI-assisted engineering with Claude Code, cutting delivery time for large features by ~3x. Designed agent-ready APIs with full OpenAPI/Swagger coverage.
Delivered and maintained web projects for 30+ SMB clients across Europe, leading a distributed team of 7 developers. Handled scoping, architecture, client communication, and delivery using PHP/Symfony, WordPress/WooCommerce. Designed the architecture and unit economics of an AI-driven SEO analytics and content generation SaaS (Symfony 7, AWS ECS/Fargate, Anthropic Claude API, DataForSEO).
Led a cross-functional team of 12 engineers on a high-load video communication platform project. Drove a full redesign of the main application and launch of a new product. Designed and delivered seven major system components increasing annual revenue by an estimated 23%. Re-architected the core platform around WebSocket-based real-time communication, cutting infrastructure costs by 43%. Also stabilized the Premium Concierge Service project after handover, streamlining deployment environments and refactoring key modules.