Senior PHP Engineer

FloSports is the leading digital platform for underserved sports, combining live and on-demand streaming, original programming, data, and technology to help sports grow their audiences and build sustainable businesses, from youth to professional levels. By bringing thousands of events and communities onto one platform, Flo creates scale where none previously existed, connecting passionate fans with the sports they love while giving athletes, organizers, and rights holders the tools to reach and engage a global audience.

Flo streams more than 50,000 live events annually across sports, including motorsports, wrestling, hockey, track & field, cheer, jiu-jitsu, NCAA Division II and III athletics, and more. We’re looking for people who are passionate about sports, embody accountability, collaboration, curiosity, positivity, grit, and excellence, and are motivated to help grow and elevate the communities we serve.

THE ROLE:

FloSports, an industry leader in digital sports streaming and original content for underserved sports communities, is seeking a Senior PHP Engineer to help modernize and scale our backend systems. This role is ideal for an experienced developer who thrives in complex, high-throughput environments and values pragmatic, maintainable solutions. You’ll contribute to the evolution of our core platform that powers live and on-demand experiences for millions of fans, balancing stability and performance with ongoing innovation.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Support high-throughput legacy systems undergoing gradual modernization while delivering new features. Performance, stability, and reliability are top priorities.

• Participate in task refinement and discovery, including technical spikes and exploratory work.

• Participate actively in code reviews, ensuring high standards for code quality, maintainability, and performance, while mentoring peers through constructive feedback.

• Contribute to system design and architecture discussions, helping evolve legacy systems toward modern, modular solutions.

• Work effectively within mature, legacy codebases: identifying and implementing improvements while maintaining a pragmatic focus on delivery.

• Maintain an estimated workload split of ~90% backend / 10% frontend.

• Participation in the on-call rotation will become a required part of the role once sufficient system familiarity is developed.

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND ABILITIES:

• 5+ years of professional PHP development experience

• Minimum of a Bachelor’s Degree or foreign equivalent in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Software Engineering, Information Systems, Data Science or a related field

• Strong understanding of Doctrine ORM's

• Hands-on experience profiling and optimizing PHP applications for query performance, caching, and request throughput

• Experience designing, building, and operating distributed systems using microservices architecture

• Strong understanding of scalability, fault tolerance, performance, and observability best practices

• Experience with CI/CD pipelines and automated deployment workflows

• Proven ability to write high-quality, maintainable code across multiple services and team boundaries

• Demonstrated ability to diagnose and resolve complex production issues in distributed environments

• Strong knowledge of ORMs, particularly Doctrine, and solid relational database fundamentals (joins, indexing, query performance)

• Bonus: working knowledge of TypeScript/Node.js

• Bonus: experience integrating AI tools into SDLC workflows

• Excellent communication, problem-solving, and collaboration skills

• Adaptable in a fast-paced, evolving environment with shifting priorities

• Demonstrated ability to take ownership of complex projects and drive them to completion with minimal supervision

• Curious, open-minded, and motivated to continuously improve

TECH STACK:

• Experience with the following technologies is strongly preferred:

• Backend: PHP 7.2 with Symfony 5.x (heavy use of dependency injection, custom bundles, and event dispatchers) Familiarity with PHP 8+ is a bonus

• Data Stores: MySQL and Redis

• Frontend: jQuery and SASS

• Testing: PHPUnit (with Mockery for mocks/stubs)

• Tooling & CI/CD: Swagger, Docker, DataDog, GitHub Actions

• Cloud: Deploying workloads on AWS

OUR COMMITMENT TO DIVERSITY:

FloSports exists to elevate the communities, athletes, and sports that have too often been overlooked. That mission starts with our own team. We believe that a diverse, inclusive workplace—one where different perspectives are sought out, heard, and valued—is essential to building a company that can truly serve the full spectrum of sports fans.

We are committed to creating a fair and equitable environment where people from all backgrounds can thrive. To help mitigate bias and expand opportunity, FloSports uses a blind recruiting process that supports more objective, inclusive hiring decisions. We’re intentional in our practices because we believe the best ideas and innovations come from teams that reflect the diversity of the world around us.

OUR BENEFITS:

• Recognized three years in a row as a Top Workplace by the Austin-American Statesman

• Flexibility at work - you can take control of your profession and personal schedule

• All-hands events hosted annually in beautiful Austin, Texas

• Annual equity awards for all top performers

• Competitive and comprehensive medical, dental and vision plans

• Peace of mind through company-paid short-term disability, long-term disability and life insurance

• Generous 401(K) company match vested immediately

• Progressive parental leave policies

• Flexible paid time off

• Hack-a-thons and a full calendar of team-building and social events

• Company donation to youth teams and leagues that our employees coach

• Stocked snack bar, catered lunch and breakfast tacos every week