Staff Engineer

Sr. PHP/MySQL Developer 

This Position is for CANADA

Founded in June 1996, VS Media is an industry leader specializing in highly interactive, high-traffic, live video chat websites. Spanning the globe with over 200 million visitors per month and 80 million ads per day, we provide a platform for adults to discover new kinds of interactive content through live video and chat services. Our size and scale stretches across every continent, delivering powerful technology to enhance our clients’ online presence. From streaming live video to billing solutions to gamification development, we leverage the latest technology to power high-capacity systems at scale and deliver the best digital experience possible.

Note: Some of our properties are adult-oriented (see our website flirt 4 free). Given that our focus is on highly interactive technology-based products, these are not necessarily your typical adult websites. We pride ourselves on being an extremely professional company, but candidates must be comfortable with the nature of these properties.

We have a new position open on our existing web development team for a Staff Engineer. While our primary backend is PHP, we value engineers with strong full-stack skills and the ability to work across the stack - including modern JavaScript/TypeScript (SvelteKit, Node.js) and DevOps tooling. You’ll join a creative, hardworking, and diverse team that takes pride in a strong culture of teamwork and mutual support. We are committed to setting our people up for success through structured onboarding and ongoing training, in a team environment where collaboration and knowledge sharing are part of how we work. In this role, you will help push the company forward by writing and maintaining efficient, scalable code while contributing across all layers of our platform.

This is a remote position.

About the role

The Staff Engineer is a senior technical contributor within the Web Development Department, working in close support of the Solutions Architect across projects of varying scope, complexity, and organizational visibility. This role demands deep technical expertise, exceptional judgment, and the ability to take full ownership of work within the company's established architectural framework. 

The Staff Engineer is expected to deeply understand and execute within defined systems and standards. When engaging with other technical teams, they do so in a collaborative and contributing capacity. You will work across the full stack, including modern JavaScript/TypeScript (SvelteKit, Node.js), and collaborate closely with DevOps and front-end teams.

This position demands a high degree of professionalism and discretion. In this role, you will perform technical analysis, product and website feature development, bug resolution, knowledge sharing, and contribute to documentation. You will also be part of business-hours support workflows and assist operations teams with the implementation, testing, and deployment of solutions.

Required Qualifications:

• 5+ years of professional development experience (PHP preferred, but strong full-stack engineers with other backend experience are encouraged to apply)
• Demonstrated experience designing and building complex systems from the ground up
• Senior-level full-stack development experience with a demonstrated ability to work on complex, production-grade systems
• Proficiency with modern JavaScript frameworks (e.g., React, Svelte), HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript/TypeScript
• PHP is the primary backend language for this role; additional backend experience is a plus but does not substitute for PHP proficiency
• Experience working across multiple PHP versions, including maintaining and improving legacy codebases while developing in modern PHP
• Experience with lightweight, middleware-driven PHP backends (PSR-7/PSR-15) or similar framework patterns
• Strong understanding of relational databases (MySQL), including query optimization and schema design
• Experience building and consuming RESTful APIs and third-party integrations
• Solid grasp of software architecture principles, including MVC, SOLID, common design patterns, and scalability considerations
• Proficiency with version control systems (Git, SVN) and collaborative development workflows
• Moderate experience with Unix systems and the command line
• Experience with automated testing practices, including unit, integration, and end-to-end testing
• Experience working within CI/CD pipelines
• Exceptional analytical and debugging skills with a strong attention to detail
• Demonstrated ability to take ownership of projects and execute with minimal supervision across varying levels of scope and complexity
• Exceptional verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to convey technical concepts clearly to both technical and non-technical audiences
• Exceptional judgment and discretion, particularly when working on sensitive systems or high-visibility projects
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Preferred Qualifications:

• Familiarity with CI/CD pipelines, containerization (Docker), and cloud infrastructure (AWS, GCP, or Azure)
• Experience in an Agile or Scrum development environment
• Experience with modern front-end technologies (JavaScript/TypeScript, SvelteKit, Vue, React) and how they integrate with PHP or Node.js back ends
• Experience with Node.js or other backend languages is a plus
• Experience mentoring or leading other engineers
• Experience influencing architectural decisions across teams

Principals ONLY!