PHP Application Support Engineer

Role Overview

We are seeking a highly motivated and hands-on PHP Application Support Engineer to support and maintain business-critical applications and integrations. This role is responsible for ensuring application stability, troubleshooting production issues, supporting external partner integrations, and driving continuous improvements across the application landscape.

The ideal candidate will have strong experience supporting PHP-based applications (CakePHP preferred) running on Linux environments, with solid understanding of APIs, integrations, database troubleshooting, and incident management.

The candidate must possess excellent communication skills and be comfortable working directly with internal stakeholders, customers, vendors, and external partners.

Key Responsibilities

1. Application Support & Operational Ownership

• Provide day-to-day support for production and non-production applications.

• Monitor application health, availability, and performance.

• Investigate, troubleshoot, and resolve application incidents within SLA targets.

• Perform root cause analysis (RCA) and implement permanent corrective actions.

• Escalate and coordinate issues with development, infrastructure, and vendor teams when required.

• Participate in incident response and production support activities.

• Maintain support documentation, runbooks, and knowledge articles.

2. PHP Application Support

• Support and troubleshoot applications developed in PHP.

• Experience with CakePHP framework is highly preferred.

• Analyze application logs and debug application issues.

• Work closely with development teams to resolve defects and deploy fixes.

• Understand application architecture and data flows.

• Support application releases, patching, and deployments.

3. API & Integration Support

• Support RESTful APIs and application integrations.

• Troubleshoot API connectivity, authentication, and data exchange issues.

• Monitor integration jobs and data synchronization processes.

• Investigate failures involving third-party systems and external service providers.

• Validate and test API requests and responses using tools such as Postman or similar.

• Ensure reliable end-to-end integration between internal systems and external platforms.

4. External Partner & Vendor Management

• Act as a technical point of contact for external partners and vendors.

• Investigate and coordinate issue resolution across organizational boundaries.

• Manage integration onboarding and support activities.

• Collaborate with external parties to diagnose and resolve production issues.

• Communicate incidents, updates, and resolutions clearly and professionally.

5. Linux Application Support

• Support Linux-based application environments.

• Review application, web server, and system logs.

• Execute operational tasks and troubleshooting activities through command-line tools.

• Work with infrastructure teams on application hosting, performance, and availability issues.

• Support web servers such as Apache or Nginx.

6. Database Troubleshooting & Support

• Perform SQL queries for troubleshooting and data validation.

• Investigate performance issues related to databases.

• Support backup validation and data integrity checks.

• Work with MySQL/MariaDB databases and related tools.

• Assist in identifying and resolving data-related incidents.

7. Continuous Improvement & Service Reliability

• Identify recurring issues and implement preventive measures.

• Recommend automation opportunities to improve operational efficiency.

• Participate in application upgrades, testing, and deployment activities.

• Improve monitoring, alerting, and support processes.

• Contribute to service reliability and operational excellence initiatives.

Required Skills & Experience

• 3+ years of experience in Application Support, Production Support, or Technical Support roles.

• Strong experience supporting PHP applications.

• Experience with CakePHP framework preferred.

• Strong Linux administration and troubleshooting skills.

• Experience supporting and troubleshooting REST APIs.

• Understanding of application integrations and middleware concepts.

• Experience working with MySQL or MariaDB databases.

• Ability to read and analyze application logs.

• Experience with Git and source control processes.

• Familiarity with web servers such as Apache and Nginx.

• Experience with ticketing systems such as Jira, ServiceNow, or similar.

• Strong problem-solving and analytical skills.

• Excellent verbal and written English communication skills.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience supporting SaaS platforms.

• Experience with cloud platforms such as AWS or Azure.

• Knowledge of Docker and containerized applications.

• Experience with monitoring tools such as Grafana, ELK, Datadog, New Relic, or Prometheus.

• Understanding of CI/CD pipelines and deployment processes.

• Experience supporting payment, banking, fintech, e-commerce, or integration- heavy environments.

• Familiarity with authentication mechanisms such as OAuth2, API Keys, JWT, and SSO.

• Exposure to ITIL processes and incident management practices.

What We're Looking For

• A hands-on support professional who enjoys troubleshooting complex technical issues.

• Strong ownership mindset with a proactive approach to problem-solving.

• Ability to remain calm and effective during production incidents.

• Excellent communication skills when interacting with technical and non-technical stakeholders.

• Strong customer-service orientation and attention to detail.

• Someone who can bridge the gap between business users, developers, infrastructure teams, and external partners.

Success in This Role Looks Like

• High application availability and stability.

• Fast incident response and resolution times.

• Reliable integrations with internal and external systems.

• Positive relationships with customers, vendors, and business stakeholders.

• Reduced recurring production incidents through continuous improvement.

• Well-documented support processes and operational procedures.

Nice-to-Have Technology Stack

• PHP 7/8

• CakePHP

• Linux (Ubuntu, Red Hat, CentOS)

• MySQL / MariaDB

• REST APIs

• JSON / XML

• Git

• Apache / Nginx

• AWS and/or Azure

• Docker

• Postman

• Jira

• Grafana / ELK / Datadog

• OAuth2 / JWT / SSO-