Software Engineer

Software Engineer (PHP)

Location: Remote (must live within commuting distance of Exeter)

Salary: Competitive

We are Ucheck - we are not just a background check provider; we are an engine of trust, safety, and compliance for UK businesses. We empower organisations to hire safely, quickly, and legally by verifying the credentials and histories of potential employees.

Ucheck is part of the Citation Group - a collective of businesses dedicated to supporting small and medium-sized enterprises across a range of essential services. We know that running a business means juggling a lot. Our mission is to ease these pressures by providing expertise, guidance, and solutions that enable business leaders to focus on what they do best. From HR and Health & Safety to Cybersecurity, E-Learning, and ISO compliance, we’ve got you covered.

Citation has achieved strong growth through a combination of organic expansion and strategic acquisitions, continually broadening our expertise, services, and reach to create a one-stop shop that supports businesses across the UK, Canada and Australia.

The role

As a Software Engineer at uCheck, you will:

• Design, build, and ship complex features across the stack, with deep expertise in modern PHP (Laravel/Symfony) and working comfort in front-end, databases, and cloud infrastructure.
• Write high-quality, secure, well-tested code and set a strong example for engineers around you.
• Use AI/agentic coding assistants as a core part of your daily workflow, and help less experienced engineers adopt them effectively.
• Contribute to architectural and technical decisions for your product area, working closely with your Tech Lead and Engineering Manager.
• Mentor engineers through pairing, code review, and technical guidance.

Key Responsibilities

Engineering & Delivery

• Design and implement features end-to-end: PHP services and APIs, database schema, and where needed, front-end integration.
• Write clean, testable, secure, production-grade code daily.
• Break down complex work into shippable increments and deliver value continuously.
• Provide realistic estimates; flag technical risks and dependencies early.
• Participate fully in agile ceremonies: planning, refinement, stand-ups, reviews, retros.

Code Quality & Engineering Practice

• Practice TDD/BDD and clean code principles (SOLID) as standard, not exception.
• Give and receive constructive, educational code review feedback.
• Apply secure coding practices: OWASP fundamentals, dependency management, basic threat awareness.
• Build observability into what you ship: logging, monitoring, sensible alerting.
• Contribute to and maintain CI/CD pipelines; keep builds fast and reliable.
• Identify and refactor technical debt proactively rather than waiting to be told.

AI and Agentic Coding Assistants

• Use AI coding assistants (Copilot, Cursor, Claude, etc.) daily: writing code, tests, documentation, debugging, and reviewing.
• Apply a generation → review → refinement workflow — treat AI output as a draft, not a final answer.
• Learn and share effective prompting and verification techniques with the team.
• Ensure AI-generated code meets the same security and quality bar as anything else you ship.
• Spot opportunities where AI/LLM capability could genuinely improve the product, not just the workflow.

Technical Collaboration & Mentorship

• Pair with and mentor other engineers, including apprentices and less experienced team members.
• Contribute to technical discussions and design sessions; bring a point of view, not just implementation.
• Support onboarding and interviewing of new engineers.
• Escalate technical blockers and risks to your Tech Lead/Engineering Manager promptly.

Required Experience and Skills

Technical

• Strong hands-on experience with PHP and a modern framework (Laravel or Symfony preferred).
• Solid understanding of relational databases (MySQL/PostgreSQL) — schema design, query performance, migrations.
• Comfortable working across the stack: able to pick up front-end work (JavaScript/TypeScript, a modern framework such as Vue or React) when needed.
• Practical experience with cloud platforms (Azure or AWS) and containerisation (Docker; Kubernetes exposure a plus).
• Experience with CI/CD pipelines, automated testing, and infrastructure-as-code concepts.
• Understanding of secure coding fundamentals (OWASP Top 10, dependency hygiene).
• Experience working with or evolving legacy systems without breaking things.

AI and Engineering Practice

• Regular, confident user of AI coding assistants with a track record of using them to genuinely improve output, not just output volume.
• Strong grasp of TDD/BDD, clean code, and automated testing practices.
• Comfortable with pair programming and giving/receiving code review feedback.

Behavioural

• Clear communicator: can explain technical trade-offs to engineers and non-technical stakeholders alike.
• Pragmatic: balances technical excellence with delivery reality.
• Collaborative: works well with Product, Design, QA, and other engineers.
• Ownership mentality: sees things through, doesn't wait to be asked.
• Curious and current: keeps learning, experiments, shares what they find.

Nice to Have

• Experience integrating AI/ML services or LLM APIs into production systems.
• Event-driven architecture, message queues, or reactive systems experience.
• Contributions to open source or active participation in technical communities.

Here’s a taste of the perks we roll out for our extraordinary team members:

25 Days of Holiday + 8 Bank Holidays : We’re talking sun-soaked beaches, snow-capped mountains, or simply your favourite cozy spot at home. Take your well-deserved break with 25 days of holiday, plus those cherished bank holidays.

Birthday Bliss: Your birthday isn’t just another day on the calendar; it’s YOUR day! Enjoy it in style with a day off, because at Citation, we believe in celebrating YOU.

Post-Wedding Bliss: Newlyweds, we’ve got something special for you too! Extra one week of holiday to bask in the glow of post-wedding happiness.

Growing Families: We’re all about supporting our Citation family, and that includes expectant parents. Vouchers and special perks await to celebrate the newest addition to your family.

Healthcare cash plan: Your well-being is our priority. That’s why we offer private healthcare to ensure your peace of mind and keep you feeling your best.