Who Are We?
Smartbox Group is Europe’s leading provider of experience gifts, selling over 3.5 million gift sets annually across travel, food, wellness, and adventure. Available online and in 17,500+ retail locations across Europe, the company focuses on offering high-quality, curated digital and in-store experiences.
.
About the Role
We are looking for a Senior Software Engineer (PHP Backend) to join our growing Engineering team, working in the Domain, which powers the Search and Catalog systems behind Smartbox’s core shopping and product discovery experience.
You will play a key role in designing, building, and maintaining backend services that are central to our customer experience. This role offers the opportunity to work on high-impact features, collaborate closely with cross-functional teams, and contribute to the long-term technical direction of one of our most important domains.
As a senior engineer, you will bring strong backend experience, technical leadership, and a mindset of continuous improvement to your work and the broader team.
What You’ll Do
- Design, develop, and maintain backend services using PHP (7/8) and Symfony.
- Collaborate with managers and other engineers to shape technical solutions that meet user and business needs.
- Contribute to the improvement of search algorithms, product catalog architecture, and overall system performance.
- Participate in solution design and architecture discussions within the team.
- Review code, provide technical guidance, and support knowledge sharing among peers.
- Ensure high test coverage and participate in continuous integration and delivery practices.
- Work with distributed teams, including offshore engineers, to maintain consistency and quality.
- Participate in ongoing improvements to development workflows, code quality, and system reliability.
What We’re Looking For
- 5+ years of experience in backend software development, ideally with a focus on PHP and Symfony.
- Strong understanding of software development lifecycle (SDLC) and modern engineering practices.
- Experience with RESTful API design and backend integrations.
- Solid knowledge of relational databases (MySQL) and data modelling.
- Comfortable working with containerised services and cloud-native development environments.
- Strong understanding of clean code, SOLID principles, and design patterns.
- Experience with automated testing, continuous integration, and version control (Git).
- Good communication skills and a collaborative approach to problem solving.
- Ability to work independently, take ownership of tasks, and deliver high-quality work.
Even Better If You Have
- Experience in search systems, catalog architecture, or product recommendation engines.
- Familiarity with Elasticsearch, Redis, or RabbitMQ.
- Exposure to Domain-Driven Design (DDD).
- Previous experience working in high-traffic, customer-facing platforms.
- Interest in mentoring and supporting junior developers.
