Senior Software Engineer

Who we are

Ilkari is a privately-held start-up based in Dublin, Ireland. We deliver hyper-private scale innovation and technology to safeguard and secure data, enabling true data sovereignty even as the pace of change accelerates. Our best-in-breed sovereign technology delivers privacy and control over where companies’ data resides, where it flows, and how it’s accessed.

We’re here to rewrite the story of data sovereignty – empowering innovators, pioneers and visionaries to make their mark. We believe the sky is not the limit. We strive for the perfect balance of simplicity and excellence in everything we do, and we’re looking for people who are ready to join our journey and rewrite the story of data sovereignty.

Role overview

We're looking for a hands-on Senior Software Engineer with strong PHP/Laravel experience to support the continued growth of one of our core products.

The role focuses on designing, developing, and maintaining high-quality products and services that deliver commercial value, improve customer experience, and support revenue growth. Working as part of a cross-functional delivery squad, you'll collaborate closely with Product Managers, Product Owners, Software Engineers, DevOps, Customer Support, Architecture, and Sales to translate business requirements into secure, scalable, and operationally resilient software solutions.

The role offers the opportunity to influence engineering practices, contribute to product evolution, and work across the full software development lifecycle in a collaborative, customer-focused environment.

What you'll do

• Design, develop, and maintain high-quality product services using PHP/Laravel 10+ and Livewire 3+, delivering features that support product strategy, customer value, and commercial growth.

• Build responsive, accessible, and user-friendly interfaces using HTML, CSS, Bootstrap, and Blade templating.

• Develop and maintain background processes using Laravel Queues and Task Scheduler to ensure reliable and efficient execution of asynchronous and scheduled tasks.

• Design, develop, and maintain RESTful APIs using Laravel, following best practices for security, performance, validation, authentication, and documentation.

• Collaborate closely with Product Managers and Product Owners to understand business requirements, refine user stories, and translate product objectives into well-designed technical solutions.

• Produce clean, maintainable, well-tested code that follows modern software engineering principles, coding standards, and secure development practices.

• Conduct and participate in code reviews, pair programming, and technical design discussions to improve code quality, encourage knowledge sharing, and promote engineering consistency.

• Support automated testing through unit, integration, contract, and functional testing across API services to improve release confidence and reduce regression risk.

• Collaborate with DevOps to integrate CI/CD pipelines, version control, environment configuration, release management, and secure deployment practices.

• Embed security throughout the software development lifecycle by integrating and resolving findings from SAST, DAST, dependency scanning, and quality tools such as SonarQube.

• Participate in performance optimisation, scalability improvements, operational hardening, and production support activities, contributing to incident investigations and continuous improvement initiatives.

• Produce and maintain technical documentation, runbooks, and operational guidance to support deployment, support, and long-term maintainability.

• Contribute to engineering standards through technical guidance, collaborative software development, and knowledge sharing, helping improve engineering practices while supporting product growth, delivery quality, and commercial success.
  

What are we looking for

• 5+ years' experience developing commercial web applications using PHP.

• Strong experience with Laravel 10+ and Livewire 3+ .

• Experience with HTML, CSS, and Bootstrap to build user interfaces following the design template and style guide.

• Strong knowledge with Laravel Queue and Scheduler.

• Experience designing, developing, and integrating APIs and services, including RESTful APIs, webhooks, asynchronous messaging, and third-party platform integrations.

• Good understanding of software architecture, design patterns, SOLID principles, and clean code practices.

• Experience working with relational databases such as MySQL or PostgreSQL.

• Experience writing automated tests (PHPUnit, Pest, integration testing, contract testing) and E2E Testing (PlaywrightCypress

• Experience working within CI/CD pipelines and modern GitOps practices.

• Familiarity with Docker, Git, and cloud-native deployment environments.

• Experience integrating application security tooling including SonarQube, dependency scanning, SAST or DAST.

• Experience with monitoring and observability platforms such as Datadog, Prometheus, Grafana, or similar.

• Experience working within Agile product delivery teams alongside Product Managers, Product Owners, DevOps, and Support.

• Experience contributing to the development of technical standards and practices, design discussions, or and service design principals would be advantageous.

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or related discipline preferred.

• Equivalent commercial experience, open-source contributions, or relevant certifications will also be considered.

What's in it for you

• A friendly, inclusive and multicultural environment - We are made up of over 20 nationalities.

• Private life and health insurance for you and your family.

• Four weeks per year to work from anywhere for eligible employees.

• Gym reimbursement.

• Learning Pocket: annual budget for courses, tools, or certifications.

• Three paid volunteering days each year.

• Generous referral bonus programme.

• A hybrid working model with flexible hours.