Tech Lead Engineer (PHP / Symfony & AWS)

We are looking for a Tech Lead (PHP/Symfony, AWS) for a project for our client from the EdTech industry. If you want to lead a team, drive a modernisation on AWS, and be at the forefront of AI-empowered, spec-driven development, this role is a perfect match, apply and let’s talk!, * Owning the technical delivery of the team’s sprint commitments - ensuring accurate estimation, surfacing dependencies early, and escalating blockers fast in partnership with the Scrum Master

• Working closely with the Product Owner to shape requirements, challenge scope, and translate the roadmap into a realistic technical plan
• Mentoring engineers, leading by example in code reviews, and spreading knowledge across the team to avoid single-owner components
• Designing, developing, and maintaining backend services and APIs with PHP and Symfony, staying hands-on (roughly half the time in the code)
• Driving the modernisation onto AWS - containerised workloads and, where it makes sense, serverless services such as Lambda, API Gateway, and DynamoDB
• Diagnosing and resolving production issues using dashboards and CloudWatch logs and metrics, and owning bug triage with Product
• Managing the data layer in RDS MySQL: designing schemas, analysing EXPLAIN plans, and optimising slow queries
• Delivering secure, high-performing REST APIs
• Championing AI Spec-Driven Development - writing specifications, orchestrating AI coding agents, and validating AI-generated code
• Working in an Agile process and keeping Jira and Confluence up to date

• Proven experience leading a team or workstream - driving delivery, mentoring engineers, making technical decisions, and collaborating with Product
• Proven, hands-on experience building production applications with PHP, MySQL, Symfony, and Doctrine
• Real-world experience building and running applications on AWS, including production debugging with CloudWatch logs, metrics, and alarms
• A track record of predictable delivery - realistic estimation, managing scope with Product, and closing out sprint commitments
• Solid REST API design skills (ideally also GraphQL), including security and performance
• Strong knowledge of MySQL on production workloads, including EXPLAIN plans, missing indexes, and query optimisation
• Experience with automated testing in PHP - phpspec and Behat
• Strong interest in AI-assisted development; hands-on experience with AI coding agents or spec-first workflows (e.g. GitHub Spec Kit) is a plus, but curiosity and willingness to lead adoption matter more

Nice To Have

• Hands-on experience with messaging and event-driven patterns - RabbitMQ, Redis, or AWS equivalents (SQS, SNS, EventBridge)
• Experience with serverless services - Lambda, DynamoDB, API Gateway, or Aurora Serverless
• Experience with Infrastructure as Code - AWS CDK or CloudFormation
• Experience integrating with Auth0 or similar identity platforms
• Understanding of GDPR and secure handling of sensitive data

• B2B contract
• 100% remote work
• A unique and engaging project in the EdTech space

ALGOTEQUE is an IT consultancy firm that helps startups, mid-sized and large corporations to create and deliver innovative technologies.

Our team has a successful track record in designing, developing, implementing, and integrating software solutions (AI, ML, BI, Web, Automation) for Telecom, Energy, Bank, Insurance, Pharma, Automotive, Industry, e-commerce. We deliver our services both in fixed-price and time-and-materials models, helping our customers achieve their business and IT strategies.