Senior Backend Developer (PHP | Node)

Description

Job Summary: At Cactus Gaming, we are seeking a Senior Backend Developer to work on a highly critical platform, designing and evolving complex integrations to ensure security and scalability. Key Highlights: 1. Working on a highly critical platform with a large volume of transactions. 2. Developing and evolving complex integrations with a focus on security. 3. An environment that values autonomy, ownership, and continuous learning. **About the Opportunity** At **Cactus Gaming**, we are looking for a **Senior Backend Developer** to work on a highly critical platform handling high transaction volumes and integrations with game providers, payment systems, KYC, and anti-fraud services. You will be responsible for **designing, developing, and evolving complex integrations across multiple platforms**, ensuring **security, high availability, low latency, and scalability** across Cactus Gaming's entire ecosystem. **Responsibilities** * Design, develop, and maintain high-performance, well-structured **RESTful APIs**. * Build and maintain **robust integrations** with external providers (payments, KYC, anti-fraud, game providers, notification gateways, etc.). * Work with **asynchronous events and message queues** (Redis, Kafka, SQS or similar) to ensure scalability and resilience. * Ensure **integration security**, protecting APIs against attacks (rate limiting, authentication, authorization, input validation, etc.). * Optimize **database queries and performance** (MySQL, PostgreSQL) and **NoSQL**. * Use **caching** (Redis and similar) to reduce latency and increase throughput. * Implement and maintain **automated tests** (unit, integration, and contract tests where applicable). * Document APIs and integration flows using **Swagger / OpenAPI, Postman**, or similar tools. * Collaborate with **Frontend, DevOps, and Security** teams on complex architectural solutions. * Help evolve standards for **architecture, code quality, logging, metrics, and observability**. **Required Qualifications** * Solid backend development experience with **PHP (Laravel)** and hands-on experience with at least one other modern backend language (**Node.js or Java**). * Strong knowledge of the Laravel ecosystem: **Eloquent, Events, Jobs, Middlewares, Queues, Multi\-tenant**. * Proven experience integrating **third-party APIs**, including authentication and security: + OAuth2, JWT, API Keys, Webhooks, WebSockets. * Proficiency in databases: + **Relational:** MySQL, PostgreSQL. + **Non-relational (NoSQL):** Redis, **MongoDB and/or DynamoDB**. * Experience with **caching, performance optimization, and monitoring**, using tools such as: + Sentry, Grafana, Prometheus, ELK/EFK or similar. * **Strong debugging and problem investigation skills** in legacy systems and complex integrations, including log analysis, distributed tracing, and production behavior analysis. * Practical knowledge of **Cloud** (AWS) and **containerization with Docker**. * Experience with **Git**, code reviews, and version control best practices. * Ability to work **autonomously**, with strong ownership mindset and effective communication within the team. **Nice-to-Have** * Prior experience in **iGaming, sports betting, payment processing, or fintech**. * Certifications in **AWS, Google Cloud, Azure, or Laravel**. * Experience with **microservices**, **Event Sourcing**, and **CQRS**. * Knowledge of **security and compliance**: + PCI\-DSS, LGPD, GDPR, OWASP best practices. * Experience with **container orchestration** (Kubernetes, Helm) and **resilience / disaster recovery strategies**. * Experience with **feature flags**, A/B testing, and experimentation. **Technical Mindset We Seek** * **Genuine willingness and availability to learn new tech stacks**, especially: + **Kotlin** (for modern JVM-based services). + **Go (Golang)** for high-performance, low-latency services. * Vision for **scalable architecture**, understanding trade\-offs among performance, cost, and maintainability. * Focus on **quality**, testing, logging, metrics, and observability from day one. * Mindset of **continuous improvement**, proposing and implementing enhancements to processes, architecture, and code. If you enjoy working on **highly technical complexity**, mission-critical integrations, and want to grow in an environment that values **autonomy, ownership, and continuous learning** (including new languages like Kotlin and Go), we want to talk to you.