Senior PHP Engineer - Developer Tooling & Web Platform Engineering (m/f/d)

About this team

The Web Platform Engineering team operates at the intersection of a Symfony (PHP) backend, a GraphQL API and a React frontend (with SSR) within a mature codebase. We’re experts in providing tools, libraries or workflow improvements to make the engineers in product teams more productive and remove distractions so they can ship features that make a real difference for our users.

Our mission is to enable every product engineer to efficiently build reliable, performant, user-friendly features that can be tested and monitored easily.

Where your expertise is needed

  • Integrate new solutions and tools into a large codebase
  • Utilize modern features and tools within the PHP/Composer ecosystem to write robust, performant, and maintainable software
  • Support migrations  (e.g. upgrades of PHP) across several teams’ codebases
  • Monitor, maintain and improve complex project build configurations - we are using Jenkins, webpack, and Gradle
  • Being curious about new technologies, continuous improvement and investigating mysterious bugs

What we’re looking for

  • A great team player with an agile mindset
  • Writing well-structured and tested code that easily scales to enterprise level
  • Fullstack experience in maintaining large scale web applications with a PHP (7+) backend (dependency management, performance, build management, etc.)
  • Ability to communicate complex technical topics to technical & non-technical stakeholders
  • Practical knowledge of GraphQL at scale or Kubernetes/Helm is a plus.
What you can expect from us

Work with impact At ResearchGate your input can help over 20 million scientists and researchers to solve global challenges. Whether studying the first moments of our universe or tracking global warming, our users are making a real difference.

Building at scale This means creating solutions that facilitate engineers in multiple product teams to continuously ship reliable features and great user experiences.

Grow at work At ResearchGate we put people first. You’ll join an environment where your personal development is very important to us. In regular one on ones & quarterly feedback talks, you and your manager will identify possible paths for you to grow, plan the actionable steps forward and agree on the right amount of guidance needed to reach your goals.

Have ownership As a member of the Platform Engineering team, you’ll be given the opportunity to own medium to long-term initiatives and drive the continuous improvement of tools & integrations. Your thinking, your feedback on processes, and your execution will be key to the success of new ideas. 

Our story

ResearchGate was founded in 2008 by three friends who believed it was possible to connect all of the world’s scientists. 

By 2015, four complete rounds of financing had fueled ResearchGate’s growth and investors included Benchmark Capital, Founders Fund, Bill Gates, Tenaya Capital, Goldman Sachs, Wellcome Trust, and Four Rivers Group. 

Today, 20 million members connect on the network, collaborate, and share their research. They report on their research as it happens and get feedback to make progress faster, post questions and answers, and find new jobs that fit their interest and research profiles. 

At ResearchGate we are a bunch of pragmatic optimists from all around the world and many different backgrounds. Together, we focus on taking the web back to its original mission and changing the way scientists communicate for the better, created by scientists, to foster scientific collaboration and drive progress for a better world.

Our goal is to connect the world of science and make research open to all.

We're located in the heart of Berlin, the German capital, renowned for its exceptional variety of attractions, its flourishing cultural scene, and a way of life that's both fast-paced and relaxed - choose your own adventure!

Hiring Process

Our hiring process is transparent and uncomplicated. We are very aware that interview processes are a taxing phase in your life and respect your time and effort. We aim to have “just enough” process to ensure that we all can make an informed decision if it’s a mutual fit for both of us.

If you feel at any time we could do better or require accommodations for a better candidate experience, please let us know and we will fix it. Your feedback is welcomed and appreciated.