Lead PHP Developer

We are seeking a highly accountable, hands-on Lead PHP Developer to join the Platform Feed Management team. This position involves owning end-to-end projects that demand the deepest technical judgment and carry the highest release risk on the team. You will also act as the team's release manager and designated technical escalation path. Collaborate closely with Product and Engineering leadership to convert business objectives into scalable, well-architected solutions, setting patterns and technical direction for your owned projects.

This role offers real ownership and accountability, blending hands-on engineering with technical leadership, while fostering the technical capability of the team around you.

Responsibilities

• Act as the named Project Owner for projects demanding the deepest technical judgment and highest release risk on the team.
• Define and evolve architectural direction and technical patterns for owned projects, setting standards for other engineers.
• Review and approve solution descriptions and sizing for owned projects.
• Validate the technical approach for owned projects, either personally or by bringing in another Lead or Staff Engineer when required.
• Collaborate with Product on refinement, decomposition, and keeping owned projects current in Jira.
• Design and develop scalable PHP APIs, services, and solutions from concept to production as a hands-on contributor on owned work.
• Own the release process and CI pipeline health for the team, act as the point of escalation during releases, and coordinate rollbacks when needed.
• Lead planned improvements to the release pipeline itself, and help build a bench of additional releasers to prevent single points of failure in release execution.
• Mentor other engineers on the team, with visible growth over time, not just ad hoc help when asked.
• Provide a pull-based escalation path for other Project Owners on the team when needed.
• Incorporate AI-powered capabilities, built and maintained by the FDX AI team, into merchant-facing feed features where a project calls for it.
• Exemplify the team's technical and cultural practices, and set the standard for engaging in healthy technical disagreement.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or a related technical field, or equivalent practical experience.
• 5+ years of professional software engineering experience.
• At least 1 year of relevant leadership experience.
• Expertise in PHP, building scalable, production-grade APIs and services.
• Familiarity with MySQL or similar relational data stores.
• Capability to own delivery for medium to large, ambiguous technical problems, not just well-defined tasks or stories.
• Demonstrated experience mentoring engineers with visible, named growth over time.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, comfortable representing the team in cross-functional conversations.

Nice to have

• Familiarity with modern JS/TS frameworks (Angular, React).
• Knowledge of caching technologies (e.g., Redis).
• Background in e-commerce, product catalogs, or sales channel/marketplace data models.
• Proficiency in integrating with AI or LLM-powered services in a production application (not building the underlying AI infrastructure).

We offer

• International projects with top brands.
• Work with global teams of highly skilled, diverse peers.
• Healthcare benefits.
• Employee financial programs.
• Paid time off and sick leave.
• Upskilling, reskilling, and certification courses.
• Unlimited access to the LinkedIn Learning library and 22,000+ courses.
• Global career opportunities.
• Volunteer and community involvement opportunities.
• EPAM Employee Groups.
• Award-winning culture recognized by Glassdoor, Newsweek, and LinkedIn.

EPAM is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, disability, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.