Argentina 
Brazil 
Mexico 
Colombia 
A PHP developer job description fails when it treats PHP as one job. A Laravel engineer building a SaaS product shares little with a WordPress specialist. Neither looks like the engineer rescuing a codebase written in 2014.
For a founder or business leader, a vague post costs time. You interview the wrong profiles, hire on gut feel, and learn three months later that your hire wanted different work.
This guide gives you three templates, one per scenario, and a table to choose between them. It closes with the skills every version shares and how to match seniority to risk.
Why One PHP Developer Job Description Rarely Fits
PHP still runs most of the web. W3Techs reports that PHP powers about 71% of websites whose server-side language it can detect.
That reach hides a split. Some of those sites are modern Laravel or Symfony apps on PHP 8.4. Others run versions that stopped receiving security fixes years ago.
The PHP project gives each version two years of active support and two years of security fixes. According to the official PHP supported versions page, PHP 8.2 gets its last security fixes on December 31, 2026.
The PHP version your business runs decides the developer you need. That’s why the first step is choosing a profile, not writing requirements.
Laravel Developer, WordPress Developer, or Legacy PHP Specialist: How They Compare
Read the table by row and mark the column that sounds like your situation.
| Laravel product developer | WordPress developer | Legacy PHP specialist | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Main work | New features in a SaaS or web app | Themes, plugins, speed, and integrations | Upgrades, refactoring, and security fixes |
| Typical stack | Laravel, MySQL or PostgreSQL, Redis, queues, Vue or React | WordPress, custom plugins, WooCommerce, headless setups | PHP 5.x to 7.x, custom frameworks, older MySQL |
| Success in 90 days | Ships tested features every week | Faster pages and fewer plugin conflicts | A supported PHP version and tests on critical flows |
| Profile to look for | Product-minded backend engineer | Web engineer with front-end and SEO awareness | Patient engineer who refactors in small, safe steps |
| Biggest hiring risk | Hiring a CMS builder for app work | Hiring an app engineer who dislikes content work | Hiring someone who wants to rewrite everything |
Pick one column. If two columns describe your needs, you likely need two roles or a staged plan.
PHP Developer Job Description for a Laravel SaaS Product
Use this version if PHP powers your product and customers pay for its features.
Job title: [Senior] PHP Developer (Laravel)
About the role
You’ll build and ship features in our Laravel application, used by [number] customers to [main job]. You’ll own features from spec to production with [team].
Responsibilities
- Build features in [current Laravel version] on PHP 8.3 or later.
- Design database schemas and write efficient queries in [MySQL / PostgreSQL].
- Build and document REST or GraphQL APIs.
- Use queues, caching, and scheduled jobs with [Redis / Horizon].
- Write tests with PHPUnit or Pest.
- Review pull requests and share ownership of production health.
Requirements
- [3+] years with Laravel in production.
- Modern PHP 8 features: typed properties, enums, and readonly classes.
- Testing habits and experience with CI pipelines.
- Professional English for specs and async reviews.
Nice to have: [Livewire / Vue / React], [AWS / Laravel Forge / Vapor], payment integrations such as Stripe.
A Laravel developer and a general PHP developer are not interchangeable. If Laravel is your main stack, look at the profiles US teams start with when they hire Laravel developers.
PHP Developer Job Description for a WordPress or Headless CMS Team
Use this version when PHP serves content: marketing sites, publishing, or stores on WooCommerce.
Job title: WordPress Developer (PHP)
About the role
You’ll own the speed, reliability, and custom features of our WordPress site, which drives [traffic / leads / revenue].
Responsibilities
- Build custom themes and plugins that follow WordPress coding standards.
- Improve Core Web Vitals and page speed on key templates.
- Maintain plugins and run safe updates through a staging environment.
- Connect the site with [CRM / analytics / forms].
- [Headless] Expose content through the REST API or WPGraphQL to a [Next.js] front end.
Requirements
- [3+] years of custom WordPress development in PHP.
- Strong HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.
- Experience with staging environments and version control.
- Working knowledge of web security basics.
Nice to have: WooCommerce, headless WordPress, technical SEO.
Security belongs in this version more than in the other two. Plugins and themes add most of the risk on a typical WordPress site. Ask every WordPress developer candidate about updates and code review.
Go one level deeper in the interview. Ask how the candidate would handle the most common web application security risks on a site with 30 plugins.
PHP Developer Job Description for Legacy Code Modernization
Use this version if your business runs on legacy PHP code older than its current team. The goal is a supported, tested codebase without a risky full rewrite.
Job title: Senior PHP Developer (Modernization)
About the role
Our core platform runs on PHP [7.x] and [custom framework]. You’ll lead the upgrade to PHP 8, add tests to critical flows, and set the path toward [Laravel / Symfony components].
Responsibilities
- Audit the codebase and its dependencies, then plan the upgrade in small steps.
- Add characterization and integration tests before changing behavior.
- Upgrade PHP versions and replace deprecated extensions.
- Introduce Composer, autoloading, and static analysis with PHPStan or Psalm.
- Fix security issues found during the audit.
- Document decisions for the developers who come next.
Requirements
- [5+] years of PHP, including at least one major version upgrade in production.
- Experience with automated refactoring tools such as Rector.
- Strong SQL and debugging skills.
- Clear communication about risk and trade-offs with non-technical leaders.
This is the hardest of the three roles to fill. The best candidates have upgraded a live system before, and they’ll ask about test coverage in the first call. Treat that question as a good sign.
Expect them to ask about history too. Legacy code is seldom bad by accident. A good candidate wants to know how the technical debt built up over time.
PHP Developer Skills Every Version Should Require
Some PHP developer skills apply no matter which template you choose. Put these in every post, adjusted to your stack:
- Modern PHP 8 syntax. Types, enums, attributes, and named arguments.
- Composer. Dependency management and semantic versioning.
- SQL performance. Indexes, query plans, and safe migrations.
- Security basics. Familiarity with the OWASP Top 10, above all injection and broken access control.
- Testing. PHPUnit or Pest, run on every pull request.
- Git and code review. Small pull requests and clear commit history.
The talent pool is smaller than PHP’s share of the web suggests. In the Stack Overflow 2025 Developer Survey, 18.9% of respondents reported extensive PHP work. Plan for a tighter search on senior roles, and test PHP developer skills early.
Which PHP Developer Seniority Does Your Business Need?
Match seniority to risk, not to budget alone.
- Mid-level (two to four years). Builds well-defined features in a healthy Laravel or WordPress codebase, with a senior reviewing the code.
- Senior (five or more years). Owns architecture, upgrades, and performance work without close supervision.
- Lead. Sets standards across several developers or runs a modernization roadmap.
Legacy PHP modernization almost always needs a senior. A mid-level developer can ship Laravel features fast, but a failed upgrade costs more than the salary gap.
Run the numbers before you decide. The full cost of hiring a software developer includes salary, overhead, and time-to-hire, and it changes by region.
Choosing the PHP Developer Job Description That Fits Your Business
The right PHP developer job description starts with the PHP version you run and the outcome you need in 90 days. Pick one of the three templates, fill the brackets, and cut anything that belongs to another scenario.
When you’re ready to hire, BEON.tech places senior PHP and Laravel engineers from Latin America who work in US hours. Each candidate is matched to the scenario you picked.
