Forward Deployed Engineer for Symfony-Based Web App (Bootstrap/Twig/jQuery)

# Forward-Deployed Engineer / AI-Native Symfony Developer We are looking for a hands-on **Forward-Deployed Engineer** to help us improve and extend our Symfony-based web application for managing bookings, invoicing, bookkeeping, housekeeping, tenants, internal workflows and for integration with 3rd party APIs in a property rental business. The application currently has 98,584 lines of production code across 634 files plus ~550 phpunit tests. We have a pre-configured docker-compose environment and github actions for running tests and for deployments. This is not a pure “ticket taker” role. We need someone who is willing to learn about the existing code base and that can take a rough feature idea, clarify what is needed by understanding our business and the use cases, implement it, test it, and submit a production-ready pull request. ## What We Need You should be able to: * Understand business requirements and turn them into practical technical solutions. * Work with an extensive existing code base, adapt architecture and design patterns and re-use existing code where appropriate. * Refine unclear feature requests and ask good questions when needed. * Refine rough requirements and produce excellent UX in the suggested solution/implementation * Use AI coding agents and AI tools effectively to make fast progress. * Take responsibility for the full feature lifecycle: requirements, implementation, testing, pull request, review your own and other developers code, get features to production * immediately fix bugs if any are found in or reported from production * Work independently, but involve the relevant person in the company when a business decision is needed. * Test your own work well enough that we do not have to re-test every detail. We are looking for someone who uses AI tools professionally, not someone who blindly copies AI-generated code. ## Typical Tasks Examples of work include: * Improve UI and usability in a Symfony application. * Modify Twig templates and Bootstrap 5 layouts. * Integrate with 3rd party APIs to automate business processes. * Create Symfony commands to reliably execute automated processes. * Add lightweight JavaScript features using jQuery or plain JavaScript. * Make HTML tables searchable, sortable, and filterable. * Convert long forms into multi-step wizards with validation. * Work with REST endpoints and MySQL-backed UI elements. * Add and update tests where appropriate. ## Tech Stack * Symfony 7.4 / PHP 8.5 * Twig * Bootstrap 5 * jQuery / lightweight JavaScript * MySQL * GitHub * Docker + Docker Compose * PHPUnit We prefer simple, maintainable solutions and avoid heavy frontend frameworks or complex build tools unless there is a strong reason. ## Requirements You should have experience with: * Symfony and PHP * Twig templates * Bootstrap 5 and responsive UI * JavaScript or jQuery * Git, branches, pull requests, and code review * Docker-based development environments * Thoroughly testing your own work before submitting it and not just testing the "happy path" * willing to learn and improve your own skills (we already have some very senior developers on the team) Experience with booking systems, calendar views, property management, invoicing, bookkeeping, or internal business tools is a plus. ## How to Apply Please include: * Relevant past projects. * Your experience with Symfony, Twig, Bootstrap, and JavaScript. * Which AI coding agents or AI development tools you use and how. * How you approach unclear or incomplete feature requirements. * How you test your work before opening a pull request. * Your estimated time for the three example tasks above. We are looking for someone who can move fast, think independently, communicate clearly, and deliver production-ready features. Apply only through Upwork. Direct emails will be ignored and marked as spam.