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Laravel Architect

EUR €50,000 to €75,000 / GBP £50,000 to £75,000

  2. About Us

  3. Careers

  4. Job

Job Type

  • Remote or work from our office in Malta, or hybrid of the two
  • Currently only able to accept applications if you are one of the following:
    • already tax resident in the UK
    • already tax resident in Malta, or
    • an EU Citizen willing to relocate to Malta.

Job Description

About Us

Coop Exchange is a technology start-up like no other – poised to redefine sustainable capital – it is building a global network of tech enabled cooperative stock exchanges. This international platform will change both the financial and living world by enabling trading in financial instruments rooted in the cooperative and mutual sector. Ultimately, this platform will allow institutions and, following regulatory approval, individuals to invest in cooperative financial instruments.

Key to its success will be the development, deployment and on-going maintenance of a robust technology platform which is both agile and compliant with international regulatory requirements while also having an intuitive and user-orientated interface.

The systems you’ll be working on

Initially, you’ll be working on our brand new crowdfunding application, before progressing onto building our (again, brand new) stock exchange and associated systems. The software will be used by organisations and individuals from all over the world.

In addition, you’ll also be working on our internal tools, including our internal BDD version control system (the system that allows us to version control the user requirements) and our governance system, all written using the same technology stack.

The technology stack

  • PHP (latest – currently 8.3)
  • Laravel Framework (latest – currently 10): You’ll be using the latest version of the Laravel framework and associated ecosystem, including running our apps on AWS using Laravel Vapor.
  • Eloquent
  • Filament (latest – currently v3)
  • Livewire (latest – currently v3)
  • Tailwind CSS (default in the Laravel Framework)
  • Vite (default in the Laravel Framework)
  • Laravel Octane
  • Pest PHP
  • Laravel Dusk

The toolset

  • PHP Storm
  • Github (inc. Github Actions)
  • Laravel Vapor
  • Flare
  • Fathom Analytics
  • Laravel Pint

Note: Our team embraces a standard tech stack, but we're open to new, beneficial tools - decided democratically. For example, we prefer Eloquent for its Laravel synergy. If you have innovative ideas, you'll have regular chances to suggest improvements, fostering a collaborative and dynamic work environment.

Technical Responsibilities of the Role

  • Development: You’ll be responsible for implementing new features and functionalities into our Laravel apps:
    • architecting and designing the implementation strategy for these features and functionalities,
    • using events and commands where possible,
    • writing the code to implement them following SOLID principles and design patterns to ensure codebase maintainability and scalability, within the predefined technology stack and toolset (defined above).
    • Implement authentication and authorisation features using Laravel’s built-in capabilities such as Gates, Policies, and Passport to ensure secure access to different parts of the application.
    • Optimise for maximum speed and scalability, employing Laravel’s caching mechanisms and optimising database queries through Eloquent ORM or the query builder where necessary.
    • Integrate third-party services and APIs (e.g., payment gateways, social networks, geolocation services), handling both the server-side logic and client-side callbacks.
    • Utilise Laravel queues and job processing to handle as many tasks as possible asynchronously, and designing code accordingly to improving application throughput and user experience.
    • Apply Laravel’s event and listener system to decouple application components and facilitate modular code design, improving maintainability and scalability.
    • Ensure application security by implementing Laravel’s security best practices, including protection against SQL injection, cross-site request forgery (CSRF), and cross-site scripting (XSS).
    • Where appropriate, refactoring and optimising existing codebase for better performance and readability on an on-going basis, adhering to PSR standards and Laravel best practices.
  • Tests: You’ll write both unit and feature tests; using Pest for the unit tests and using both our Pest BDD plugin (https://pestphp.com) and Laravel Dusk for the feature tests, to confirm the requirements have been met and to ensure application reliability and robustness through automated testing.
  • User Interface: You will be mostly using Filament v3 (https://filamentphp.com) and pre-defined Tailwind components, so you don’t need to worry about how the user interface looks – only that it passes the tests. You’ll already know from the previous sentence that you’ll be using Livewire v3 (https://livewire.laravel.com) and it’s likely that pages not using Filament will utilise elements of Livewire.
    • Utilise Laravel Livewire in tandem with Tailwind CSS for building dynamic and interactive user interfaces.
  • Data: You’ll be using a combination of Eloquent (MySQL) and Event Sourcing (https://spatie.be/docs/laravel-event-sourcing/v7/introduction)
  • CI: Using Github actions to ensure our automated tests pass with every change to the codebase.
  • Deployment: Manage application deployment and environment configurations using Laravel Vapor.

Optional responsibilities

We’re a young but ambitious organisation with huge potential to grow and you can be part of shaping that growth. If you’re excited about our mission to change the world by introducing new ways to invest sustainably, then you’ll have opportunity, if you chose and can still manage your other responsibilities, to get involved in the following:

  • Joining our products circle, which, using event storming, decides the user requirements (in conjunction with our users); and
  • Mentoring othering developers.

Requirements

It’s essential you are someone who:

  • is a top level Laravel developer with extensive experience of writing PHP code using Laravel, using SOLID principles, OOP and taking advantage of the improvements in the latest versions of PHP (particularly post 8.0);
  • either uses TDD, or recognises that getting the test passing is the first priority, and refactoring/optimising code happens after the test is already passing; and
  • is comfortable using Github.

Helpful but non-essential skills include:

  • a basic knowledge of using AWS with Laravel (via Laravel Vapor) is helpful but not essential;
  • experience of using event sourcing within Laravel, especially Spatie Event Sourcing, or at least a demonstrable willingness to learn;
  • experience working with User stories (As a When I Then ; and
  • experience of Behaviour Driven Development, using gherkin (Given, When, Then).

In terms of your approach to work and others:

  • You’re sufficiently experienced and dependable that you don’t need supervision – anything you can’t handle you are able to problem solve, using online documentation, Chat GPT, Jetbrains AI assistant, Google searches and other similar tools.
  • You can strike the right balance between perfecting code and delivering the requirements in a timely fashion, recognising the sooner we deliver the requirements, the sooner Coop Exchange can get on with delivering its mission.

Cooperatives by nature are people centred. It is important that you are able to depend on your colleagues, just as it is crucial for them to rely on you to contribute effectively.

Other skills and personal attributes

When we talk about building something new – we’re not simply referring to what we do, but how we do it, other personal skills and attributes that are important for this role include:

  • Ability to Work Collaboratively as Part of a Team: Possesses the skill to effectively cooperate with team members towards a common goal, contributing positively to team dynamics.
  • Honesty and Integrity: Demonstrates a strong moral principle, ensuring transparency and truthfulness in all professional dealings.
  • Smart-working: Shows dedication to completing tasks efficiently and to a high standard.
  • Flexibility: Adapts to changing circumstances and is willing to take on different tasks as needed.
  • Independence: Capable of working without constant supervision, demonstrating initiative and the ability to manage one’s own tasks with appropriate judgement, skill and care.
  • Problem-Solving Skills: Able to identify issues and develop effective solutions in a timely manner.
  • Effective Communication: Communicates clearly and effectively with colleagues and other stakeholders, both verbally and in writing.
  • Attention to Detail: Maintains a high level of accuracy and thoroughness in work tasks.
  • Time Management: Manages time effectively, ensuring tasks are prioritised and deadlines are met.
  • Creativity and Innovation: Brings new ideas to the table and seeks innovative solutions to challenges.
  • Resilience: Shows the ability to remain motivated and persistent, even under stress or after experiencing setbacks.
  • Higher Leadership Potential: Exhibits qualities that suggest the ability to lead projects or teams in the future, including decisiveness, motivation, and vision.
  • Cultural Competence: Displays awareness and sensitivity to cultural differences and the ability to work effectively in a diverse environment.

Benefits

Supportive culture

As a pioneer in the world of sustainable finance for purpose-orientated organisations and a prominent supporter of the cooperative movement we too choose to abide by the cooperative principles and values. Put simply, we put our people first, fostering a culture of transparency, support and shared governance. Just as we ask the successful candidate to demonstrate fundamental personal attributes – we too hold ourselves to those same values and principles – resulting in a better lived experience for our people.

Working Hours

This is a full-time position worked over a 37.5 hour working week Monday – Friday. We don’t currently have set hours 9 – 5 during the week so you can fit the hours around what suits you. However, you will be expected to complete timesheets and give regular updates as required – so we can keep our stakeholders appraised. It will also be necessary for you to attend pre-arranged meetings/calls but these are organised in a way which respects personal boundaries where possible. Our culture is about delivering the end result rather than engaging in mistrusting micro-management - in this case, successful tests of the user requirements (defined using gherkin) by agreed deadlines.

Remote working

As long as you comply with legal requirements, for example, you can demonstrate to us that you comply with local work-permit and immigration requirements and you remain tax resident in either the UK or Malta (or any other jurisdiction we may establish in the future), you can work from anywhere. What’s important to our mission is that you can attend pre-arranged meetings using video conferencing such as Microsoft Teams and that you deliver on agreed commitments by the agreed deadlines.

Again, so long as you qualify to work in Malta – you can choose to work from our office in Smart City, Malta.

Technology

As our CEO is a Laravel developer, we recognise the importance of ensuring our developers have the right technology.

You’ll be supplied with a top spec Macbook Pro (currently the M3 Max), preinstalled with PHP Storm and Laravel Herd. All you need to do is clone the repository.

You’ll also have access to our team licenses of the following:

  • Microsoft Suite
  • Asana
  • Chat GPT
  • Github

Salary

  • Malta: €50,000 to €75,000
  • UK: £50,000 to £75,000

How to apply / Closing

If you are UK resident, apply here

If you are Malta resident, or an EU citizen who is willing to relocate to Malta, apply here