Full Stack Engineer (PHP + Modern JS | Frontend/Backend) — Long-Term Role

Location: Remote. HQ in Sydney, Australia.
Hours: Full-time, with majority overlap to Sydney business hours (AEST/AEDT)

About Us

We're a small, tight-knit development team based in Sydney. We've been around for twenty years, and most of our staff have been with us for the long term: because we genuinely look after our people.

You'll work directly with our management team (no layers of middle management) and learn from a technical lead with 30+ years of hands-on development experience. We work across multiple projects and clients, so you'll get varied, interesting work rather than being stuck maintaining the same codebase forever.

We're looking for someone who wants to grow with us long-term and become an integral part of our engineering team.

What We're Looking For

A real engineer who uses AI as a tool, not a crutch.
We need someone who can actually code. If your workflow is "paste the problem into ChatGPT and copy the answer," this isn't the right fit. We want developers who understand why their code works, can debug without assistance, and use AI the way a good tradesperson uses power tools—to work faster, not to replace skill.

Technical Requirements

PHP (Essential)
Strong experience with vanilla PHP—not just Laravel/CodeIgniter/etc.
You should understand what's happening under the hood when frameworks abstract it away
WordPress theme and plugin development (custom, not just page builders)
MySQL or similar —proper database design, not just ORM queries

Modern JavaScript (Required)

Experience with at least some of: React, React Native, Node.js, Express, Next.js, or Nest.js
We're not expecting mastery of all of them, but you should be comfortable in modern JS ecosystems

General

7+ years of professional development experience
Solid understanding of REST APIs, version control, and deployment workflows
Ability to work independently and manage your own time

Working Arrangements

Let's be upfront about what this role involves:

Full-time hours with majority overlap to Sydney timezone (we understand this may mean some early mornings or adjusted schedules)
Screen capture time tracking (Screenshot Monitor)—this is how we log hours for client billing. It's not about micromanagement; it's about accountability and accurate invoicing.
Direct communication via Slack, with regular video calls throughout the day

If either of those are dealbreakers for you, no hard feelings—but please don't apply.

What You Get

Stability — We've been operating for nearly 20 years. This isn't a startup that might fold in six months.
Longevity — Our tea ---------- mbers stay. That tells you something about how we treat people.
Mentorship — Direct access to a technical lead who's been coding since before PHP existed. Genuine opportunity to level up.
Variety — Multiple projects across different industries and tech stacks. You won't get bored.
Respect — We treat our remote team as real tea ---------- mbers, not disposable contractors. Your input matters.


How to Apply

Send us:

Your CV with relevant experience highlighted
Links to work you've done — GitHub, live sites, portfolio. We want to see real code.

We'll review applications and reach out to schedule a short introductory chat.
There will be a practical coding exercise as part of the process—nothing unreasonable, just enough to confirm you can do what you say you can.

We're genuinely looking for someone to join our team long-term. If that sounds like what you're after, we'd love to hear from you.