Backend PHP Developer

Salary: £35,000 - 40,000 per year

Requirements:

• We require 4+ years of commercial PHP development experience.
• We require experience maintaining custom-built PHP applications and legacy codebases.
• We require experience working with large datasets and complex business logic.
• We require a strong understanding of software architecture and maintainable code design.
• We require strong object-oriented PHP skills, including interfaces, inheritance, traits and abstract classes.
• We require knowledge of SOLID principles and dependency injection.
• We require experience with exception handling, error management, advanced array manipulation and data transformation.
• We require experience with recursive data processing and working with DateTime, PDO and related core PHP classes.
• We require the ability to write clean, testable and maintainable code.
• We require advanced SQL query writing, query optimisation and performance tuning.
• We require understanding of execution plans, indexes, composite indexes and key design.
• We require experience with stored procedures, database normalisation and data modelling.
• We require knowledge of transactions, locking concepts and handling large datasets efficiently.
• We require the ability to identify and resolve database bottlenecks.
• We require experience designing configurable business rule systems and extensible calculation engines.
• We require the ability to translate business requirements into technical rating logic and maintain business rules.
• We require experience processing complex nested data structures and building performance-focused calculation designs.
• We require the ability to troubleshoot and validate premium calculations.
• Insurance industry experience is desirable.
• Experience with quoting or underwriting systems is desirable.
• Experience with financial calculations is desirable.
• Experience with REST APIs is desirable.
• Git and CI/CD pipeline experience is desirable.
• We require the ability to design and implement a configurable rating engine using PHP and MariaDB as part of the technical assessment.
• The assessment should demonstrate architecture, database design, rule implementation, performance considerations and testing approach.

Responsibilities:

• We will develop, maintain and enhance a custom PHP/MariaDB rating engine.
• We will calculate premiums and apply business rules.
• We will process rating data and support high-volume quote generation.
• We will design configurable business rule systems and extensible calculation engines.
• We will translate business requirements into technical rating logic.
• We will version and maintain business rules.
• We will process complex nested data structures and optimise calculations for performance.
• We will troubleshoot and validate premium calculations.
• We will design and implement a configurable rating engine using PHP and MariaDB for the technical assessment.

Technologies:

• CI/CD
• Git
• Support
• MariaDB
• PHP
• REST
• SQL
• Backend
• OOP

More:

We are Niche Cover, a wholesale insurance agency providing a range of motor and non-motor products to our brokers through a panel of carefully chosen insurance partners. Our state-of-the-art system is continually evolving and integrating with multiple applications to deliver an unrivalled user experience and support our ambitious growth plans. We offer hybrid working after initial onboarding in our Halesowen office, 28 days holiday including bank holidays increasing to 33 days with service, a day off on your birthday, auto-enrolment pension, continuous training and development, casual dress, on-site parking and sick pay. The role is based on a 37.5-hour week, Monday to Friday, 09:00 to 17:30, with occasional flexibility required for delivery purposes. Hybrid working is available, with possible travel to other office locations, and applicants in or around Halesowen and the surrounding area are desirable. The salary is £35,000 to £40,000 per year.

last updated 32 week of 2026