§ 01Snapshot
- Levelsenior backend engineer, more than a decade of PHP backend work and about a decade on Symfony. Hands-on individual contributor and lead developer; doesn't claim a CTO role.
- Roles heldsenior backend developer at a chargeback-prevention fintech, an esports tournament platform, a classifieds marketplace and an adtech group (CPA and banner networks) · senior developer at a mid-size online store and at an online payment processor
- Scaletook a minimal MVP to a production system in under three months · cut infrastructure costs by about 80% on one platform, by their own account
- Industriesfintech and payments (chargebacks / disputes, payment processing) · esports and online gaming · classifieds marketplaces · adtech (CPA, banner networks) · e-commerce
- Company typesearly-stage fintech product · growth-stage platforms · mid-size e-commerce · payment service provider
- Specialtiesdatabase schema design from business models and expected queries (their #1 skill) · query optimisation · chargeback and dispute automation with card-network dispute alert services · multi-tenant white-label architecture · role-based access control · payment gateway integrations · infrastructure cost reduction · test coverage and monitoring
- Best forseed startup · scale-up · fintech / payments teams · corporate teams running PHP products
- Core stackPHP 7/8, Symfony, Laravel, Yii, Twig, Sonata Admin · MySQL / MariaDB / Percona, PostgreSQL, ClickHouse, MongoDB, Elasticsearch, Redis, RabbitMQ · AWS, Docker, CI/CD · PHPUnit, Codeception · REST APIs · React, jQuery
- Time zonesAmericas time zones (US-friendly hours)
§ 02Services
| ✓ | PR/MR code review | PHP / Symfony / Laravel |
| ✓ | Architecture review | |
| ✓ | Architecture design | especially data model / schema |
| ✓ | Audit / due diligence | schema, queries, infrastructure cost |
| ✓ | Vibe-code rescue | PHP backends, data model first |
| — | Team mentoring | Not offered by this expert |
§ 03Track record
From minimal MVP to a production chargeback-prevention system in under three months
A chargeback-prevention service existed only as a minimal MVP and needed to reach the market quickly.
One of our experts turned it into a scalable, production-ready system: backend architecture, integrations, admin and client interfaces, monitoring and tests.
A full production system in under three months, ready for launch.
Dispute automation with card-network dispute alert services
Merchants were handling disputes and fraud cases by hand, and every missed alert could become a chargeback.
One of our experts integrated several card-network dispute alert services, covering alerts, rapid pre-dispute resolution, compelling-evidence submission and order-detail sharing, into the product's dispute workflow.
Less manual work and faster fraud and dispute resolution for merchants.
Admin and merchant-facing portals for a dispute product
Internal staff and merchant clients both needed to work with dispute data, through different views and permissions.
One of our experts designed and built both the internal admin interface and the client portal.
Internal workflows and merchant self-service both got simpler, on one backend.
Monitoring and test coverage as the safety net of a payments backend
A young payments product needed to find problems before merchants did, and to change quickly without regressions.
One of our experts set up a full monitoring system for proactive issue detection and built extensive PHPUnit coverage.
Higher platform reliability and a codebase the team could change safely.
Multi-tenant white-label with custom domains
Partners wanted their own branded tournament environments on their own domains.
One of our experts designed a configurable multi-tenant white-label system with custom-domain support.
Partners could launch a branded environment with minimal effort.
Cutting infrastructure costs by about 80%
Infrastructure spend was high for what the platform needed.
One of our experts optimised server configurations, database usage and file storage.
Infrastructure costs dropped by about 80%, with lasting savings.
Granular role-based access control for tournament management
Many people managed tournaments, but they shouldn't all be able to do everything.
One of our experts designed and implemented a granular access-rights system with role-based permissions.
Better security and operational control over who can change what.
Schema restructuring for faster queries
On two platforms, queries slowed down as data grew.
One of our experts restructured and optimised the database schemas and the queries on top of them.
Faster query execution and page loads, with more efficient use of resources.
Back-office and reporting dashboards for a classifieds marketplace
The team managed the marketplace with weak internal tools and little view of key metrics.
One of our experts built the admin back-office on Sonata Admin and implemented reporting and analytics dashboards, covered by PHPUnit tests.
Better internal workflows and clearer visibility of business metrics.
Payment integrations and statistics tooling for CPA and banner networks
Affiliate and banner networks needed reliable payments and trustworthy performance statistics.
One of our experts integrated multiple payment systems, optimised performance and tracking, and built reporting and statistics tools for system and business metrics.
Secure transactions and a clearer view of network performance.
Search relevance for a mid-size online store
Shoppers weren't finding the right products, and the search code was hard to maintain.
One of our experts improved search on Elasticsearch and refactored the codebase around it.
More relevant results, better performance and easier maintenance.
Adding payment gateways and e-wallets to an online store
Customers wanted more ways to pay.
One of our experts implemented new payment gateways, including a major international wallet and a regional e-wallet, plus merchant-feed and delivery-service integrations.
Smoother checkout and broader payment options.
§ 04What you can book
Schema-first review of an AI-generated data model
An AI assistant generated the tables and migrations along with the features, and nobody has looked at the data model as a whole.
Map the business entities and the queries the product will run, then check keys, normalisation vs deliberate denormalisation, indexes, multi-tenancy and how money and statuses are stored.
An annotated schema with prioritised changes and safe migration steps.
Symfony / PHP PR review for a payments or SaaS team
A PHP team ships fast, often with AI help, and payment and permission code goes out with only a quick look.
Per-PR review of Doctrine queries and migrations, transaction and idempotency handling around payments and webhooks, access checks, and test coverage.
Reviewed PRs with explanations, and a short checklist of recurring issues for the team.