Lead PHP Developer

Join Net World Sports on our mission to become the world's leading sports equipment retailer. Nothing excites us more than finding hungry, talented individuals and unleashing them in a team capable of achieving incredible things.

Technical Leadership:

• Lead a Scrum-based development team, with a majority of your time dedicated to hands-on development.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to deliver high-quality software solutions.
• Design and implement scalable, maintainable software architecture, balancing monolithic and microservices approaches as needed.

Team Management:

• Provide line management to team members, including goal setting, performance reviews, and managing Personal Development Plans (PDPs).
• Mentor and support junior and mid-level developers, ensuring their professional growth and alignment with team goals.
• Establish and maintain team processes for code reviews, testing, and task breakdown.

Process Improvement:

• Advocate for and implement best practices in TDD, CI/CD, and Software Design Principles.
• Work closely with the Product Owner and stakeholders to define technical objectives and timelines.
• Ensure high code quality and maintainability through testing frameworks, code reviews, and documentation.

Agile Practices:

• Act as a key contributor in refining the Agile processes to improve team productivity and delivery outcomes.
• Collaborate with the team and Product Owner to define and manage the product backlog effectively.

Strategic Contributions:

• Drive innovation and continuous improvement within the development team.
• Work with the wider engineering and product teams to align technical efforts with business goals.
• Assist with resource planning and recruitment to support the growth of the team.

Additional Responsibilities:

• Act as a subject matter expert in software development, providing guidance to the team on complex technical challenges.
• Lead initiatives to improve the team's knowledge of modern development practices, including TDD and BDD.
• Occasionally assist in infrastructure-related tasks, such as collaborating with DevOps to create or optimise CI/CD pipelines.

Technical Expertise:

• Deep expertise in PHP and JS/TypeScript
• Expertise with Symfony, Laravel and NodeJS frameworks like Express
• Proven experience with monolithic and microservices architectures.
• Advanced knowledge of MySQL, including complex database design and reporting.
• Strong experience with Test-Driven Development (TDD), unit testing, functional testing, and integration testing.
• Proficiency in API creation and integrating with 3rd-party APIs.
• Hands-on experience with Docker and CI/CD pipelines.
• Practical knowledge of Software Design Patterns and Software Principles (e.g., SOLID).
• Expert-level proficiency in Git.

Nice-to-Have Technical Skills:

• Experience with AWS infrastructure.
• Exposure to Microsoft Dynamics NAV integrations.
• Familiarity with Behaviour-Driven Development (BDD).
• Expertise with NoSQL databases.
• Experience with e-commerce platforms.
• Knowledge of modern frontend frameworks such as ReactJS.
• Expertise with Tableau or Power BI

Soft Skills:

• Demonstrated experience in a Lead Developer or similar role.
• Well-versed in Agile methodologies, especially Scrum.
• Proficiency with Jira and Confluence for project and team management.
• Proven ability in line management, including setting and managing Personal Development Plans (PDPs).
• Excellent mentoring skills, with a strong focus on supporting and developing junior developers.
• Strong leadership and communication skills, capable of fostering collaboration across the team.

• Health & Wellbeing- Workouts, Run Club, Nature Trail, Wellness Allowances, Gym Memberships, On-Site Gym (Coming Soon!), Golf Memberships & Mental Health Support
• 29 Days Annual Leave (Including Bank Holidays)- Increases with Length of Service
• Flexible Working Hours
• Social Events- Busy Schedule of Parties, Sports Tournaments, Charity Events & Lots More!
• Table Tennis, Pool Tables & Sports Equipment in the Office
• Additional Benefits Available- Vitality Private Health Insurance, Help to Buy Scheme, Cycle to Work Scheme, Discounted Travel Schemes & Lots More!
• Product Discount on Net World Sports & Affiliate Partner Products
• Subsidised On-Site Bistro- Serving Freshly Prepared Food Every Day for Breakfast & Lunch
• Employee Recognition- Bonus & Commission Schemes and Performance, Length of Service & Life Event Rewards
• Employee Support- Saving Schemes, Legal & Financial Advice, Parental Guidance

• Go above and beyond: Get stuck in and show your passion!
• Ideas over hierarchy: If you have an idea, speak up! It doesn't matter what role you're in, we want everyone to shout about ways the business can develop and improve.
• Be bold, move fast: We value speed; we make fast decisions, trust our guts and get things done as efficiently as possible.
• Keep it simple: Don't over-complicate it!
• Results driven: We embrace results that drive positive change, even if it means occasional failure. Mistakes are valuable as long as we learn from them and avoid repeating them.
• Growth: We're a fast-growing business and we want our staff to grow with us.