Lead Backend Developer

We're looking for a Backend Developer Lead to take technical ownership of the core platform at Ultimate Guitar — the world's largest destination for musicians, with over 14 million monthly active users. This is a hands-on leadership role: you'll drive architecture decisions, mentor engineers, and own the technical direction of the platform — while staying close to the code. We are actively integrating AI automation into relevant areas of the business and expect candidates with mindset focused on improving efficiency and deliver a better user experience. What is in it for you? Real impact at scale. Your work will reach 14M+ musicians every month — across the platform that defines how the world learns and plays guitar. Ownership from day one. You'll shape the technical direction of the platform, not just execute tickets. We trust our leads to drive decisions. A team that values craft. We allocate dedicated capacity to technical debt, run regular architecture discussions, and take engineering quality seriously — not just velocity. Room to grow. Direct path to broader engineering leadership as the company scales, with full support for learning new tools and practices. Technical 5–7+ years of commercial PHP development experience Strong knowledge of modern PHP (8.0+) and backend engineering best practices Solid hands-on experience with Yii2 Experience designing scalable backend systems with a strong grasp of software architecture and system design principles Strong MySQL experience: schema design, indexing, query optimization, performance tuning Experience with high-load production systems and application performance optimization Experience designing APIs and service integrations Solid Git workflows, code review practices, and CI/CD experience Strong debugging, troubleshooting, and root-cause analysis skills Leadership & Ownership Proven experience leading development teams or major technical initiatives Ability to independently drive projects from design to production Experience working with large legacy codebases and driving incremental modernisation without disrupting business operations Strong estimation, planning, prioritisation, and risk management skills Experience mentoring engineers and supporting their professional growth Soft skills Strong analytical and problem-solving mindset Effective communication and collaboration in cross-functional teams High autonomy, accountability, and product ownership Product-oriented thinking with a focus on business impact Nice to have Interest in music and willingness to go deep on the product domain Experience building large-scale consumer products Hands-on experience with AI-assisted development tools (Claude Code, Cursor, Copilot, etc.)