Senior Software Engineer (PHP/Laravel)

Help Support the World’s Biggest Social Justice MovementsChuffed.org is a global crowdfunding platform powering the world’s biggest social justice movements. We’ve helped raise over $250M across 50,000 campaigns in 23 countries and we’re just getting started.In the last year we’ve grown 3x and become the go-to platform for activists and organisations in two of the biggest social justice movements of our times: Palestine and climate justice.We’re now hiring a Mid-Senior Software Engineer to expand our team and help us build and scale a platform that powers thousands of purpose-driven campaigns, while shaping the technical foundations that will support our next phase of growth.What You’ll DoWe are a small, high-trust engineering team. This role is backend-leaning and central to the stability, scalability, and long-term health of our platform. You’ll take responsibility for improving and maintaining our Laravel/MySQL backend systems, with particular focus on hardening and optimising what already exists while delivering new backend functionality.Here’s what that looks like day-to-day:Deliver backend support for product features, working pragmatically across the stack when neededDesign and build scalable APIs and backend features within our existing architectural direction, with strong emphasis on performance, reliability, and maintainabilityDrive initiatives focused on security improvements, stability, and database/query optimisationIdentify bottlenecks, technical debt, and production risks and execute pragmatic fixesOptimise MySQL databases to ensure high performance and reliability, including , indexing strategies, migrations, and complex queriesWrite documentation of features and concepts, and ensure existing documentation is kept up-to-dateUse monitoring and logging tools to troubleshoot and resolve software issues, to ensure reliable application performanceCollaborate with the customer support team to ensure common bugs or feature requests are prioritised or fixedRequirementsWhat We’re Looking For4+ years experience as a Software Engineer, with strong knowledge of:PHP8 and Laravel 11+, including an understanding of modern PHP best practicesSolid experience designing and working with relational databases (MySQL), including schema design and query optimisationProven experience improving application security, reliability, and performance in production systemsExperience writing automated tests (e.g. PHPUnit, Jest), and contributing to regression suites such as CypressGood understanding of software design principles (SOLID, OOP, design patterns) and pragmatic tradeoffs in a fast-moving product teamComfortable with communicating technical concepts to non-technical stakeholdersA strong growth mindset - you’re not afraid to take risks, fail, and learnA passion for social justice and a strong desire to help Chuffed campaigners succeedAble to iterate quickly on product features, making pragmatic UX and UI decisions when design patterns aren’t fully definedComfortable operating independently within defined technical boundariesPragmatic decision-maker who understands when to escalate larger architectural concernsStrong executor who can take backend problems from identification through implementation without heavy oversightBonus points if you have:Experience working on systems handling financial transactions or sensitive user dataDemonstrated experience managing AWS servicesProven experience working with GraphQL, in a backend and/or frontend environmentStrong working knowledge of React and/or NextJS, and confidence building production-ready UIExperience working with IaC principles and tools, particularly TerraformBenefits$150,000 salary + superWe value work-life balance. We work autonomously from home and meet up with the team intermittently to collaborate in-person. We’re based in Sydney and Melbourne but open to remote employees within AustraliaWork alongside industry leading marketers and digital engineers in a small and agile team with deep industry connectionsSpend your days amplifying the work of campaigners pushing for progressive social change around the worldWe’re building a diverse and inclusive workplace. We encourage people from all backgrounds, ages and abilities to apply. We value all kinds of experiences, so even if you don’t meet all of the requirements outlined above, we encourage you to apply.

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