JD: Senior PHP Developer

Senior PHP Developer —

CodeIgniter 4, PHP 8 and application modernisation

Position Details

Field Details

Job Title Senior PHP Developer

Experience 4–7 years

Openings 1

Employment Type Full-time

Department Engineering — Product Development

Location Chennai (in-office)

About ColorPodge

ColorPodge develops cloud-based colour-management software for the apparel and homewares industries. Its

SaaS products support colour development, approvals, supply-chain collaboration, and specialised business processes for international customers.

Role Summary

We are seeking an experienced PHP developer to join a product team that is modernising an established,

business-critical web application on CodeIgniter 4, PHP 8 and MySQL. The work is upgrading existing modules to the current framework and language versions while the application stays in use, with existing features, data and user workflows preserved exactly.

The role owns modules end to end: understanding the existing code and its database usage, re-implementing it on CodeIgniter 4 following the team's established structure, verifying that behaviour is unchanged, and getting the work tested and merged. This is not a greenfield role. It suits a developer who reads and understands existing code carefully, converts it faithfully, and improves it where that can be done safely.

Key Responsibilities

Code Analysis and Conversion

Verification and Testing

Engineering Practice

Read and understand existing CodeIgniter controllers, libraries, models, views and helpers, and document the business rules and role-based behaviour they implement.

Re-implement modules on CodeIgniter 4 using the team's patterns: explicit routes, base controllers,

models, services for business logic, filters for authentication and security, and language files.

Preserve existing URLs, form actions, AJAX endpoints and API contracts so that links and integrations keep working after the upgrade.

Refactor large controllers and models into maintainable units without changing business outcomes.

Upgrade legacy PHP code to PHP 8: replace deprecated and removed functions, fix type and null handling,

and apply contemporary PHP where it improves clarity.

Migrate database access to CodeIgniter 4 models and query builder, and handle MySQL version differences such as SQL modes, strict types, dates and collations.

Compare each upgraded page and workflow with the existing version, role by role, and confirm the same controls, data, validations, calculations, database writes and emails.

Raise defects found in the existing code separately rather than silently reproducing or silently fixing them.





Write and maintain PHPUnit tests for services and models, and Playwright end-to-end tests for pages, and keep the regression suite passing.

Work with the QA team on test cases, defect reports and retesting for each module before it is merged.

Write database migrations and seeders with working rollback where schema or data changes are needed.

Keep email, file upload and third-party integrations working through the application's service layer and the safety rules for non-production environments.

Follow the Git workflow: feature branches, small reviewable commits, pull requests, code review and merge; resolve merge conflicts in shared files carefully.

Deploy and verify changes on containerised staging environments and investigate issues using application and server logs.

Improve the user interface progressively while upgrading: modernise legacy jQuery code, improve forms,

tables and dialogs, and add responsiveness and accessibility, without removing features or changing navigation.

Collaboration and Reporting

Required Skills and Qualifications

Apply secure coding practices (input validation, output escaping, CSRF protection, role-based authorisation) and fix weaknesses found in existing code.

Work to a module-by-module plan with the team lead, report progress against milestones, and flag early when a module is slipping or blocked.

Take part in requirement clarification with the technical lead and business stakeholders when existing behaviour is ambiguous.

Document the modules upgraded: structure, decisions taken, agreed changes in behaviour, and anything the support team needs to know.

Use company-approved AI-assisted development tools responsibly, within the review and testing process,

and never as a substitute for understanding the code.

4–7 years of professional PHP development, including at least 2 years of hands-on work on production applications built with CodeIgniter, and demonstrable experience with CodeIgniter 4 (routing, controllers,

models, services, filters, validation, migrations).

Direct experience maintaining or upgrading legacy PHP applications: reading unfamiliar code, mapping its behaviour, and refactoring without breaking it. Experience with a CodeIgniter 3 to 4 or PHP major-version upgrade is a strong advantage.





Strong PHP 8 knowledge: type declarations, null handling, exceptions, namespaces, Composer and PSR standards.

Strong MySQL skills: schema design, joins, indexes, query optimisation, transactions, and version differences.

Solid front-end skills in HTML, CSS, JavaScript and jQuery, including AJAX-driven pages, and willingness to modernise legacy front-end code.

Experience writing automated tests (PHPUnit; Playwright, Cypress or Selenium) and working with a regression suite.

Proficiency with Git in a branch, pull-request and code-review workflow, including conflict resolution.

Working knowledge of Linux, a web server such as Nginx or Apache, PHP-FPM and Docker, and the ability to read application and server logs.

Understanding of web application security: authentication, session handling, role-based authorisation,

CSRF, XSS, SQL injection, and secure file handling.

Disciplined, careful working style: small verifiable changes, evidence before claiming a module is complete,

and clear written communication.

Preferred Skills

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.

Relevant certifications are a plus.

ISMS / ISO/IEC 27001 Responsibilities

Practice good cyber hygiene by following the established policies and procedures:

Experience with role-based business applications in supply chain, retail, manufacturing or approval workflows.

Experience with cloud storage, transactional email services and single sign-on integrations.

Experience with CI/CD pipelines.

Familiarity with AI-assisted coding tools and the practices needed to review and verify their output.

Awareness of confidentiality, privacy and data-security considerations when working with customer data and AI-assisted tools.

Keep your devices and applications patched and up to date.

Use strong, unique passphrases — make them long, complex, or both.

Secure all devices with a strong password or PIN, and set them to lock after a few minutes of inactivity as per IT policy.

Encrypt anything that stores sensitive information.

Turn on built-in anti-malware software and firewall.

Back up important files and data.

Use separate accounts for privileged (administrator) and non-privileged (user) access.

Complete required cybersecurity training.

Report security incidents and respond to security notices.

Refrain from sharing or discussing company information with external parties both during and after your employment.

Pay: ₹500,000.00 - ₹700,000.00 per year

Benefits

- Provident Fund

Work Location: In person

📌 Senior PHP Developer (Chennai)
🏢 ColorPodge
📍 Chennai