PHP Engineer

About the Company

SME Careers, a fast-growing AI data services company and subsidiary of SuperAnnotate, provides AI training data to many of the world’s largest AI companies and foundation model labs. This fully remote, hourly paid contractor role gives access to future projects available through the company's expert network.

Responsibilities

• Review AI-generated PHP code, backend designs, and technical explanations; assess solutions for correctness, clarity, security, performance, and adherence to the prompt.
• Produce high-quality reference implementations and step-by-step reasoning for complex engineering problems.
• Identify issues in application architecture, data modeling, API design, security, caching, and database usage.
• Evaluate, rank, and provide feedback on AI responses to improve correctness, security, readability, and contextual fit.
• Fact-check technical information and test AI outputs for inaccuracies, unsafe practices, and potential biases; validate reliability across real-world use cases.
• Create detailed prompts across PHP/backend topics and write high-quality reference answers to guide AI learning.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or higher in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a closely related technical field, or equivalent professional experience.
• 4+ years of professional experience developing production backend systems in PHP.
• Expert-level proficiency in modern PHP (7.4/8.x+), including OOP, strict typing, namespaces, Composer, and common design patterns.
• Strong backend fundamentals: HTTP, REST, authentication/authorization, sessions, caching, queues, and API design.
• Deep experience with databases (e.g., MySQL/PostgreSQL), including schema design, indexing, query optimization, and transactions.
• Experience with at least one major PHP framework (e.g., Laravel, Symfony) and knowledge of dependency injection, middleware, and ORM tradeoffs.
• Security mindset with hands-on knowledge of secure coding practices (e.g., OWASP Top 10, input validation, SQL injection, XSS, CSRF, secrets handling).
• Comfort with version control, CI/CD workflows, and automated testing (e.g., PHPUnit, integration tests, mocking strategies).
• Prior experience with AI data training, annotation, or evaluating AI-generated technical content is a strong plus.
• Minimum C1 English proficiency (written and spoken), with the ability to write clear technical explanations and follow detailed English-language guidelines.
• Highly detail-oriented and systematic, with a methodical approach to evaluating reasoning quality and identifying subtle bugs in complex PHP/backend systems.

Additional Information

• This is a fully remote, hourly paid contractor role. There is no immediate project for this role; qualified candidates will be among the first experts contacted when relevant opportunities arise.