PHP Developer

Build the future of e-commerce with Hygi.de GmbH & Co. KG as a Senior Backend Developer PHP/Symfony – AI & E-Commerce (m/f/d), based in Telgte near Münster, Germany. You will help advance a high-traffic online shop serving more than 3.2 million customers and offering over 140,000 products. This is an opportunity to shape backend architecture, deliver valuable customer-facing features, and help integrate AI into modern software engineering.

About The Company Hygi.de GmbH & Co. KG is a leading German online retailer for medical products, hygiene supplies, and cleaning products. Since 2003, the company has continued to expand its range and digital capabilities.

Around 300 employees contribute to its growth, supported by modern digital infrastructure, short decision-making paths, and a culture that encourages innovation, responsibility, and teamwork. Hygi.de values the different perspectives and experiences of its people and aims to create an environment where everyone can contribute.

About The Role You will join a backend team of four developers and work closely with the Shop Team Lead. As a senior engineer, you will contribute beyond feature delivery by influencing architecture, technical standards, and code quality. You will combine strong PHP and Symfony engineering with a thoughtful approach to AI: using development assistants effectively, assessing potential applications for the shop, and helping turn promising ideas into reliable, commercially valuable solutions.

Qualifications You bring at least five years of backend development experience with modern PHP and Symfony. You have a strong understanding of software architecture, such as domain-driven design, modular monoliths, microservices, or event-driven systems.

You are confident working with MySQL and understand performance optimization, caching, and queueing. Practical experience with AI coding assistants or coding agents is required, along with the judgment to review generated code and assess whether a solution is technically and economically appropriate.

You communicate effectively in German and English and can collaborate with developers, product owners, and business teams. Experience mentoring or supporting other developers is welcome. Knowledge of LLM APIs, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), embeddings, vector databases, agentic workflows, e-commerce platforms, or integrations with ERP, payment, and logistics systems is an advantage, but not essential.

Responsibilities Develop and evolve the backend architecture using PHP 8.x and Symfony, making sound decisions that support scalability, maintainability, and performance. Design and implement complex e-commerce capabilities across checkout, pricing, product assortment, search, and fulfillment. Promote clean code and dependable delivery through automated testing, code reviews, and CI/CD practices.

Use AI coding assistants and agents, such as Claude Code, Cursor, or GitHub Copilot, to support development, refactoring, testing, and documentation. Help establish effective AI-assisted workflows and critically assess AI-generated code. Identify practical AI use cases for the shop, including intelligent search, product data enrichment, recommendations, and process automation.

Translate business goals into technical solutions, considering KPIs such as conversion, average basket value, margin, and process costs. Share knowledge and act as a technical partner across the team and business functions.

Benefits Hygi.de offers a secure position at a growing e-commerce company, competitive compensation, and a contribution toward occupational pension provision.

Benefits include 30 days of annual leave, flexible working hours with flexitime, and individual training and development opportunities. Employees also receive discounts across the product range, modern workspaces and digital tools, bike leasing, regular team events, and complimentary drinks, fruit, and snacks. The technology environment includes PHP 8.x, Symfony, MySQL, Redis, RabbitMQ, Git, CI/CD, and on-premise hosting, with Jira and Confluence supporting collaboration.

Equal Opportunity

Hygi.de GmbH & Co. KG welcomes applicants of all backgrounds and is committed to an inclusive workplace. The company values diversity across origin, skin color, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, religion, disability, and personal beliefs. Different perspectives are valued as an important part of building strong teams and creating excellent outcomes.