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- Tasks: Lead and mentor a team in designing robust PHP systems for schools.
- Company: Join Arbor, a mission-driven tech company transforming education.
- Benefits: Enjoy 32 days holiday, wellness support, and flexible working options.
- Other info: Collaborative culture with opportunities for professional growth and community involvement.
- Why this job: Make a real impact on education while fostering a joyful work environment.
- Qualifications: Extensive PHP experience and strong leadership skills required.
The predicted salary is between 80000 - 90000 £ per year.
Location: Remote (UK)
Salary: £80,000 - £90,000
About us
At Arbor, we’re on a mission to transform the way schools work for the better. We believe in a future of work in schools where being challenged doesn’t mean being burnt out and overworked. Our MIS and school management tools are already making a difference in over 7,000 schools and trusts, giving time and power back to staff, turning data into clear, actionable insights, and supporting happier working days.
About the role
We are looking for an experienced and collaborative Technical Lead to join our Engineering team and take ownership of system and solution design to ensure our products are robust, scalable, and secure. The remit and focus of the role is to mentor and coach engineers, embed a culture of quality, and help the team make sound technical decisions that deliver real value to customers.
Core responsibilities
- Define and guide system architecture, balancing trade-offs between speed, scalability, maintainability, and security.
- Work actively with the architecture community to define processes, drive technology adoption, and share best practices across teams.
- Ensure non-functional requirements, performance, reliability, scalability, and security are addressed in all solution designs.
- Champion accountability from design through production by ensuring systems are observable and meet agreed Service Level Objectives (SLOs).
- Lead Root Cause Analysis when issues occur.
- Lead estimation and feasibility assessments, making sure plans are realistic and aligned with team skills and capacity.
- Contribute to structured release planning and communication, ensuring phased rollouts deliver value early (MVP-first).
- Support post-release reviews and retrospectives.
- Uphold coding standards and promote automated testing while embedding a quality-first culture.
- Identify and prioritise maintenance and technical debt, making its impact visible by translating it into customer and business outcomes.
- Mentor and coach engineers through feedback, knowledge sharing, and motivation.
- Foster alignment and help the team galvanise around technical solutions and goals.
- Collaborate with Product Managers, Engineering Managers, QA, Designers, and other Engineers and Tech Leads to align technical direction with product strategy.
- Communicate technical concepts clearly to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
About you
- Extensive experience with PHP.
- Extensive software engineering experience on complex, scalable systems.
- Strong grounding in engineering principles and design patterns (e.g. SOLID, DRY).
- Proficiency with relational databases and data modelling, including schema design, query tuning and data management.
- Proven ability to design and deliver solutions using service-oriented or microservice architectures, including well-structured APIs.
- Hands-on experience with automated testing, CI/CD pipelines and containerisation (Docker, Kubernetes).
- Working knowledge of a major cloud platform (AWS, Azure or GCP).
- Familiarity with observability practices - monitoring, metrics and alerting - plus incident/problem management and Root Cause Analysis.
- Understanding of secure coding and compliance requirements.
- Experience guiding teams through technical estimation and providing input into release planning.
- Demonstrated leadership in mentoring and supporting engineers’ growth.
- Excellent written and spoken English, and the ability to communicate clearly with both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
Bonus skills
- Experience with enterprise-scale or high-availability systems.
- Agile facilitation (Scrum/Kanban) and continuous improvement.
- Exposure to DevOps/SRE practices (infrastructure as code, performance tuning, capacity planning).
The chance to work alongside a team of hard-working, passionate people in a role where you’ll see the impact of your work every day. We also offer:
- A dedicated wellbeing team who champion initiatives such as mindfulness, lunch n learns, manager training, mental health first aid training and more!
- 32 days holiday (plus Bank Holidays).
- Life Assurance paid out at 3x annual salary.
- Comprehensive wellness benefit provided by AIG Smart Health, which provides a 24/7 virtual GP service, Mental health support, Counselling, and personalised Health Checks.
- Private Dental Insurance with Bupa.
- Salary sacrifice Pension provided by Scottish Widows.
- Enhanced maternity and adoption leave (20 weeks full pay) and paternity (6 weeks full pay) pay.
- 5 free return to work maternity coaching sessions, helping you adapt to this new exciting time of life!
- Access to services such as Calm and Bippit (financial wellbeing coaching).
- All of our roles champion flexible working and we are happy to discuss what this means to you.
- Social committees that plan team, office and company-wide events to bring people together and celebrate success.
- Dedicated professional development training budget (CPD courses, upskilling resources, professional memberships etc).
- Volunteer with a charity of your choice for a day each year.
- Dog friendly offices!
Arbor Education is an equal opportunities organisation. Our goal is for Arbor to be a workplace which represents, celebrates and supports people from all backgrounds, and which gives them the tools they need to thrive – whatever their ambitions may be so we support and promote diversity and equality, and actively encourage applications from people of all backgrounds.
Please note: We are unable to provide visa sponsorship at this time.
Technical Lead (PHP) employer: Arbor Education
Contact Detail:
Arbor Education Recruiting Team
StudySmarter Expert Advice 🤫
We think this is how you could land Technical Lead (PHP)
✨Tip Number 1
Network like a pro! Reach out to your connections in the tech world, especially those who work at Arbor or similar companies. A friendly chat can sometimes lead to job opportunities that aren’t even advertised yet.
✨Tip Number 2
Prepare for interviews by brushing up on your PHP skills and understanding the latest trends in software engineering. Practice explaining complex concepts in simple terms, as you’ll need to communicate effectively with both technical and non-technical folks.
✨Tip Number 3
Showcase your leadership skills! Be ready to discuss how you've mentored others and contributed to team success. Highlighting your experience in guiding engineers will make you stand out as a collaborative Technical Lead.
✨Tip Number 4
Don’t forget to apply through our website! It’s the best way to ensure your application gets seen by the right people. Plus, it shows you’re genuinely interested in being part of our mission to transform education.
We think you need these skills to ace Technical Lead (PHP)
Some tips for your application 🫡
Tailor Your CV: Make sure your CV is tailored to the Technical Lead role. Highlight your PHP experience and any relevant projects that showcase your skills in system architecture and mentoring. We want to see how you can bring value to our team!
Craft a Compelling Cover Letter: Your cover letter is your chance to shine! Use it to explain why you're passionate about transforming education and how your experience aligns with our mission at Arbor. Let us know what excites you about this role!
Showcase Your Communication Skills: Since you'll be working with both technical and non-technical folks, it's crucial to demonstrate your ability to communicate complex ideas clearly. Use examples in your application that show how you've done this in the past.
Apply Through Our Website: We encourage you to apply directly through our website. It’s the best way for us to receive your application and ensures you’re considered for the role. Plus, it shows you’re keen on joining our team!
How to prepare for a job interview at Arbor Education
✨Know Your PHP Inside Out
Make sure you brush up on your PHP skills before the interview. Be ready to discuss your experience with complex, scalable systems and how you've applied engineering principles like SOLID and DRY in your past projects.
✨Showcase Your Leadership Skills
As a Technical Lead, you'll need to demonstrate your ability to mentor and coach engineers. Prepare examples of how you've guided teams through technical challenges and fostered a culture of quality in your previous roles.
✨Communicate Clearly
You'll be working with both technical and non-technical stakeholders, so practice explaining complex concepts in simple terms. Think about how you can convey your ideas effectively to ensure everyone is on the same page.
✨Prepare for Scenario-Based Questions
Expect questions that assess your problem-solving skills, especially around system architecture and incident management. Be ready to discuss how you've handled root cause analysis and made decisions that balance speed, scalability, and security.