What we deliver
Services
Three focused areas of senior-level backend work. If your project touches all three, that's common — and that's exactly where senior experience pays off.
01
Backend Development
Laravel and Symfony are the right tools for serious PHP applications. We work natively within each framework — using its conventions, not fighting them — to produce code that your team can own long after the engagement ends.
Every application is built with a testing strategy agreed upfront, clear service boundaries, and documentation that explains the why, not just the what.
Deliverables
- ✓ Layered application architecture (services, repositories, DTOs)
- ✓ Feature and unit test suite with clear coverage targets
- ✓ Queue-based background processing for time-sensitive operations
- ✓ Scheduled task management and monitoring hooks
- ✓ Environment-aware configuration and secrets management
Typical engagements
- → Greenfield Laravel or Symfony application
- → Legacy PHP codebase modernisation
- → Extending or stabilising an existing application
- → Architecture review and refactoring
What you get
- Code your team can read, test, and extend without senior PHP knowledge being a prerequisite.
- Security considerations addressed as architecture decisions, not as an afterthought.
- A handover package: updated documentation, a walkthrough session, and no knowledge lock-in.
02
API Development
An API is a contract. Breaking it has downstream consequences across teams, partners, and systems. I design and implement APIs that are versioned from day one and documented using OpenAPI so that consumers can integrate with confidence.
Authentication, rate-limiting, pagination, and error handling are not add-ons — they are part of the initial design.
Deliverables
- ✓ RESTful API with consistent resource structure and HTTP semantics
- ✓ Token-based authentication (Laravel Sanctum / Passport or JWT)
- ✓ API versioning strategy (URI or header-based)
- ✓ Rate-limiting and throttle policies
- ✓ Full OpenAPI 3 specification
- ✓ Integration test suite covering contract compliance
Typical engagements
- → Public or partner-facing API platform
- → Internal service-to-service API
- → Mobile or SPA backend
- → Third-party integration layer
What you get
- An API your partners and internal teams can consume without requiring constant support from the original developer.
- Versioning designed so that future changes do not break existing consumers.
- A complete OpenAPI spec that serves as living documentation.
03
Database Engineering
Most backend performance problems are database problems. Poor schema design, missing indexes, N+1 queries, and unbounded result sets surface as application slowness — but the root cause is in the database layer.
We work with MySQL and PostgreSQL at the query level, the schema level, and the operational level: replication, backups, and recovery procedures included.
Deliverables
- ✓ Normalised schema design with referential integrity enforced at the DB layer
- ✓ Versioned migrations with safe rollback paths
- ✓ Index strategy: covering indexes, composite indexes, partial indexes
- ✓ EXPLAIN/EXPLAIN ANALYSE based query tuning
- ✓ Backup strategy design and recovery testing
- ✓ Read-replica configuration guidance
Typical engagements
- → Performance audit and remediation
- → Schema design for new product features
- → Data migration planning for major version upgrades
- → Backup and recovery review
What you get
- Queries that stay fast as data volumes grow, not just on a development dataset.
- Schema decisions documented with the reasoning behind each constraint and index.
- A database your team can confidently operate, monitor, and recover.
Need one or all three?
Most engagements touch backend, API, and database work simultaneously. That's where having a single senior developer across all three layers pays for itself.