Senior Software Engineer (PHP)

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. 

About the Role

We are seeking a highly skilled Senior Software Engineer with deep experience in Laravel, API architecture, and microservices to join our growing engineering team. You will play a critical role in designing, developing, and maintaining scalable backend systems that power our next-generation applications.

This is not a cookie-cutter role: you will be expected to demonstrate architectural thinking, excellent coding standards, and an understanding of complex backend patterns including OOP, MVX paradigms, authentication flows, and rate-limiting strategies. You will be part of a highly collaborative team that values clean code, automation, and forward-thinking solutions.

Key Responsibilities 

• Architect, build, and maintain scalable and secure backend systems using PHP and Laravel.

• Design and develop RESTful APIs and microservices adhering to best practices in authentication, authorization, and rate limiting.

• Implement robust OOP and MVX design patterns to ensure code maintainability and scalability.

• Containerize applications using Docker for development, testing, and production deployments.

• Collaborate cross-functionally with frontend developers, DevOps engineers, product managers, and QA teams.

• Participate in code reviews, architecture discussions, and technical mentoring for junior developers.

• Optimize application performance and scalability, identifying bottlenecks and implementing long-term solutions.

• Stay updated with emerging backend technologies and propose improvements proactively.
  
  

Required Qualifications 

• 5+ years of professional experience with PHP development, with at least 3+ years using Laravel extensively.

• Strong experience in building and maintaining APIs (REST, OAuth2, JWT, token-based authentication).

• Solid understanding of OOP, design patterns (MVX, MVC, MVVM, etc.), and SOLID principles.

• Proven experience with microservices architecture in production environments.

• Hands-on experience with Docker for local development and deployment pipelines.

• Familiarity with rate-limiting techniques, caching strategies, and API throttling mechanisms.

• Strong database knowledge (MySQL, PostgreSQL, or equivalent).

• Familiarity with cloud services (AWS).

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

• Fluency in English

Nice to have

• 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 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 with a proactive and self-driven attitude

• 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

• Communication: Excellent teamwork and communication skills, both verbal and written, to guide technical discussions and document solutions
  
  

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

• Pension plan

• High-end new laptop

• Lunch and snacks provided

• After-work and monthly events

• Complimentary ClassPass subscription

• Awesome annual trip abroad with the entire company

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

This is a full-time job (40H/week) based in Amsterdam 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 company, 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!

No agencies please, we manage our recruitment processes internally.