Senior PHP Backend Developer

Ready to join the fastest-growing tech company in the Netherlands?

In 2023 we received the prestigious Oryx Award 2023 by the Dutch Financial Newspaper (FD), for the company with the most exceptional growth performance. We were awarded 1st place by the Deloitte Fast 50 award in 2019 for growth and innovation, 7th place in 2020. We’ve continued our strong growth during and after Covid times, and have ambitious plans for the future. Now, we are looking for a driven and skilled Senior PHP Backend Developer to join our  team to further conceptualize and execute our growth ambition.

About Experiencegift

Experiencegift is home to Hotelgift, Flightgift, Traingift and Activitygift. Our gift cards can be redeemed for over 750,000 hotels, 400 airlines, 50,000 activities worldwide and train journeys all across Europe. We believe in experiences over things. Our mission is to enable our customers to spread joy by giving the gift of experiences that can be redeemed whenever, wherever. As we sell in over 50 countries worldwide, we’ve built a diverse team of over 50 colleagues and more than 15 nationalities. We have subsidiaries in Amsterdam, London, Athens, and New York. 

What makes the role so great?

As a Senior PHP Backend Developer, you’ll be working very closely with our CTO  and the rest of our extraordinary tech team. You will take the lead in designing, developing, and maintaining complex PHP-based applications. Your expertise will help drive technical decisions and ensure that our products remain highly efficient, scalable and secure.

What will you do? 

• Develop, optimize, and maintain scalable PHP-based applications and APIs

• Design and implement secure, high-performance RESTful APIs

• Work with relational (MySQL, PostgreSQL) databases

• Write clean, modular, and testable code following SOLID principles

• Optimize application performance and troubleshoot complex backend issues

• Implement security best practices (encryption, authentication, and authorization)

• Collaborate with frontend developers, DevOps, and product teams to enhance system functionality

• Ensure CI/CD pipelines, testing, and deployment automation

• Conduct code unit and integration tests to ensure the software remains reliable and secure

• Stay updated with emerging backend technologies and PHP ecosystem trends

What will you bring? 

• Residency in Egypt

• 5+ years of experience in backend development using PHP

• Expertise in modern PHP frameworks (e.g., Laravel, Symfony, or similar)

• Strong understanding of OOP, MVC architecture, and SOLID principles

• Proficiency in database design and optimization (MySQL, PostgreSQL, Redis)

• Strong experience with RESTful APIs, and third-party integrations

• Strong knowledge of authentication & security (OAuth, JWT, CSRF, XSS)

• Knowledge of DevOps best practices, CI/CD, and Git version control

• Experience with unit testing (PHPUnit), TDD, and code quality tools

• Excellent teamwork and communication skills—both verbal and written—to guide technical discussions and document solutions

• Fluency in English

Nice to have

• Familiarity with microservices architecture and event-driven systems

• Experience with API Gateway and rate limiting strategies

• Understanding of WebSockets, real-time applications, and caching strategies

• Experience with Headless CMS, eCommerce platforms, or ERP integrations

• Knowledge of Python or Node.js for backend services.

Who are you?

• Passionate & curious: You love backend development, and you enjoy learning and experimenting

• Problem-solving: You are not afraid of challenges, and you are able to utilise the proper means to find solutions

• Collaborative: Ability to work effectively in a team and independently with minimal supervision

• Detail-oriented: You pay attention to the detail, ensuring every design implementation feels just right

What can you expect from us?

• Opportunity for significant and fast impact

• Freedom to come up with new ideas and initiatives

• Lots of learning and development opportunities

• Salary reflective of skills and experience and performance-based bonus potential 

• High-end new laptop

• Hybrid policy

• Awesome annual trip abroad with the entire company

• Flexibility of working from abroad 2 weeks per year

• Young, friendly, ambitious, international team in Amsterdam, Athens and London

This is a full-time job (40H/week) based in Cairo and is available as soon as possible. 

At Experiencegift we offer you the opportunity to work in a scale-up culture where everything you do matters. In our office in the center of Amsterdam, you will have the freedom to experiment and evolve your own projects. You will be part of an international, driven, award-winning team and will gain experience in a very fast-growing scale-up environment. By providing a creative, dynamic, and innovative environment, we empower our people for unlimited success.

Ready to make a real impact in a thriving company? Apply directly here or visit our career page for more details. We are looking forward to meeting you!

• Residency in Greece

• 5+ years of experience in backend development using PHP

• Expertise in modern PHP frameworks (e.g., Laravel, Symfony, or similar)

• Strong understanding of OOP, MVC architecture, and SOLID principles

• Proficiency in database design and optimization (MySQL, PostgreSQL, Redis)

• Strong experience with RESTful APIs, and third-party integrations

• Strong knowledge of authentication & security (OAuth, JWT, CSRF, XSS)

• Knowledge of DevOps best practices, CI/CD, and Git version control

• Experience with unit testing (PHPUnit), TDD, and code quality tools

• Excellent teamwork and communication skills—both verbal and written—to guide technical discussions and document solutions

• Fluency in English

No agencies please, we manage our recruitment processes internally.