PHP Team Lead

What you'll do

You lead quality on PHP training projects. You review AI-generated PHP code, backend snippets, debugging answers, API examples, database logic and tests, plus the work of trainers and QAs. The ad's list of faults to catch includes non-executable code, insecure SQL handling, weak validation, outdated syntax and hallucinated APIs. You spot-check items, answer team questions on syntax, frameworks, runtime behaviour, security and testing, update the team on Discord when guidelines move, chase inactive contributors, and write the documentation, examples and honeypots. You run onboarding calls for new PHP trainers and QAs.

Who fits

• A degree in computer science, software engineering or IT, or equivalent professional experience
• 3+ years of professional PHP development, backend engineering, code review, QA or mentoring
• Strong PHP 8+: OOP, namespaces, Composer, autoloading, exceptions, type declarations, sessions, HTTP, REST and database access
• Familiarity with Laravel, Symfony, PHPUnit, Pest, MySQL or PostgreSQL, Redis, Docker, CI/CD, static analysis and PSR standards is preferred
• Leading remote teams is strongly preferred; the ad names Discord, Google Sheets and Docs, GitHub and project management tools
• LLM evaluation or rubric-based code review is a strong plus

Applicants must be in the United States.

What it pays

Up to $70 an hour on an hourly contract, per the ad, which is $10 above the PHP Engineer listing. The engineer role asks for 4+ years where the lead asks for 3+, so the lead seat has the lower stated experience bar.

Worth knowing

Good:

• Higher PHP ceiling and a lower stated experience bar than the engineer role
• Documentation and mentoring work adds a leadership line to a CV
• Remote and hourly

Less good:

• The ad lists a selection process of an AI interview, a domain-specific task and a recruiter interview. The company page covers the wider hiring flow, Deel contracting and time tracking.
• US-only, where the engineer role opens to 17 countries
• Coordination time (messages, onboarding calls, follow-ups) may not all count as tracked work

About this listing

Posted on SME Careers, the hiring site SuperAnnotate uses for expert contractors, and read from its jobs board on 27 October 2026. The board gives no posting date, so we have not stated one. The comparison with the PHP Engineer listing is ours; requirements are SME's. The hiring process, Deel contracting and monitoring rules are covered on the company page. See SuperAnnotate.