Headquarters: Los Angeles, CA + Other Locations 
URL: https://www.collegeplannerpro.com

CollegePlannerPro is the market-leading SaaS platform in the United States for independent educational consultants (IECs) – private counselors who work with high school students and their families to navigate the college admissions process. Our robust CRM toolkit helps IECs stay organized and grow their businesses, with tools like records management, messaging, calendar with appointment booking, invoicing, file sharing, and an extensive directory of college data. The new hire will replace an outgoing engineer. There are 6 other employees, 2 of whom are engineers.

 

We are seeking an engineer well-versed in developing and maintaining SQL-backed PHP web SaaS applications, to help us maintain the current version of our platform while gradually modernizing our stack. This person needs to be self-directed, accustomed and content to work with legacy codebases, and familiar with the PHP ecosystem.

 

The application was originally developed in the early 2010s on the LAMP stack using PHP5 and jQuery, with a minimalist homegrown web framework. It currently runs on Amazon Elastic Beanstalk with a MySQL database on Amazon RDS. We are in the midst of a long-term project to bring the codebase to PHP7+, migrate to Laravel or Lumen, and re-evaluate our choice of PaaS.

 

The ideal candidate is available for a long-term engagement (2+ years), contributing 15-20 hours per week. Our team is fully remote! Employees are currently based in US/Pacific Time, US/Eastern Time, and Central European Time.

 

You will interface primarily with our Head of Engineering, and will be responsible for:

• Maintaining a complex PHP CRM SaaS application, making bug fixes and enhancements
• Shared production support during waking hours
• Developing an end-to-end understanding of the product
• Opportunistically and safely carrying out incremental improvements in application design, performance, security, and reliability
• Working within a Scrum-like framework to reliably deliver on projects

This role might be a good fit if:

• You are used to communicating clearly and proactively in writing, through chat, work tracking systems, and documentation
• You prefer to work autonomously with stakeholders to understand next steps on a ticket, rather than having spec’ed work handed to you
• You are skilled at continuously developing the knowledge (domain, product, and technical) that you need in order to execute
• You are looking for less than a full-time work commitment, or a stable, half-time gig to complement other engagements which may come and go

This role is NOT a good fit if:

• You prefer to collaborate closely on a daily basis with other engineers
• You will be frustrated living with cruft and PHP patterns that are older or less sophisticated
• You are looking to spend less than a year in the role

Requirements

• 7+ years of experience with PHP, SQL, CSS, and JS
• Experience maintaining PHP-based SaaS applications in production on IaaS (AWS/Azure/GCP/etc.) and/or PaaS (Heroku/App Engine/Forge/etc.) with thousands (or more) monthly active users
• Ability to autonomously learn an existing product and codebase, leaning on and contributing to documentation
• Very organized, detail-oriented and conscientious
• Excellent grasp of web engineering fundamentals
• Refined debugging and troubleshooting skills
• Proactive and clear communication, especially written

Role details

 

This position is part-time, requiring an estimated 15-20 hours of work per week. The company is open to restructuring the role as W-2 employment (half-time) for candidates authorized to work in the United States, if interested. Ideally, you will be available to work during at least 3 weekdays (M-F), with specific interest in our team collaboration hours (roughly 10am-2pm Pacific Time); outside of those guidelines, the schedule is flexible. Expect 1-2 concise live meetings or check-ins per week.

 

Hiring process

1. Application submission
2. Self-recorded responses to interview prompts
3. Technical exercise (on your own, up to 2 hours)
4. Zoom interview with the team
5. Decision on offer