The Role
Lead and deliver full‑stack PHP development across WordPress and Laravel ecosystems. Provide technical direction, code quality and deployment governance, manage suppliers, translate product requirements into technical plans, and optimise performance, security and availability of revenue-generating websites and integrations.
Summary Generated by Built In
Job Purpose
Oxford International is growing as a business and as a marketing team and is seeking a Senior Full Stack PHP Developer to join the Digital Products team to lead our development function.
The role will support the Head of Digital Products by working across Oxford International’s digital estate, including revenue-generating websites, applications, critical integrations and MarTech tools.
This is a senior hands-on full-stack PHP development role with explicit technical lead responsibilities. The postholder will deliver and coordinate high-quality development, while helping to shape technical direction, improve delivery discipline, guide internal and external developers, and support stronger supplier accountability.
The successful candidate will help evolve Oxford International’s websites and technology stack to meet growing business, commercial, brand and user needs, with a pragmatic, outcomes-focused and growth-minded approach.
Oxford International is growing as a business and as a marketing team and is seeking a Senior Full Stack PHP Developer to join the Digital Products team to lead our development function.
The role will support the Head of Digital Products by working across Oxford International’s digital estate, including revenue-generating websites, applications, critical integrations and MarTech tools.
This is a senior hands-on full-stack PHP development role with explicit technical lead responsibilities. The postholder will deliver and coordinate high-quality development, while helping to shape technical direction, improve delivery discipline, guide internal and external developers, and support stronger supplier accountability.
The successful candidate will help evolve Oxford International’s websites and technology stack to meet growing business, commercial, brand and user needs, with a pragmatic, outcomes-focused and growth-minded approach.
Main Duties and Responsibilities
Technical leadership
- Provide technical direction across internal developers, external agencies and freelance or supplier development resources, setting clear development standards, coding principles and practical ways of working.
- Lead technical discussions, unblock development issues and ensure decisions are pragmatic, scalable and aligned to business priorities.
- Translate business and product requirements into clear technical options, recommendations, delivery plans, user stories, issues, tasks and acceptance criteria.
Supplier and agency management
- Act as the day-to-day technical owner for development supplier relationships, ensuring suppliers have clear briefs, priorities, acceptance criteria and technical context before work begins.
- Review and challenge supplier proposals, estimates and technical recommendations to ensure they are appropriate, commercially sensible and aligned to the long-term platform direction.
Development governance and delivery
- Own and maintain practical development governance standards across WordPress, PHP,
- Laravel and related platforms, including code review, deployment readiness, documentation, access control and release management.
- Design, develop and deploy scalable and efficient PHP applications using WordPress, Laravel and other relevant technologies, writing clean, modular and well-documented code.
- Maintain, rationalise and optimise WordPress applications for performance, availability and security, including custom plugins, templates and vetting of new deployments, plugins and themes.
Person Specifications
Legal status
- Right to work in their respective country.
Qualifications
- Relevant degree, professional qualification or equivalent practical experience in software development.
- Relevant certifications in PHP, Laravel, WordPress, cloud platforms, DevOps or security. (Desirable)
Experience and knowledge
- At least 7 years’ experience in full stack PHP development, including strong hands-on experience with WordPress, Laravel, Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP.
- Experience with frontend frameworks or libraries such as React or Vue.js and understanding of WCAG 2.2 accessibility standards. (Desirable)
Skills and Abilities
- Strong technical leadership, problem-solving, communication and prioritisation skills, with the
- ability to balance hands-on delivery, governance, stakeholder communication and commercial awareness.
- Experience with cloud platforms, CI/CD, automated testing, PHP debugging tools, web
- performance optimisation, CDNs and WordPress security tools.
Personal qualities
- Growth mindset, accountability, ownership, customer empathy, responsiveness and the confidence to operate in a fast-paced, ambiguous and outcomes-focused environment.
Disclaimer
This job description is provided as a guide to the role. It is not intended to be an exhaustive description of duties and responsibilities and may be subject to periodic revision.
Oxford International is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children. Recruitment checks, including checks with past employees, are undertaken in accordance with our Recruitment and Selection policy.
Oxford International is an equal opportunity employer. Every applicant and employee has the same opportunities regardless of race, colour, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender, gender identity or expression, or veteran status.
We reserve the right to close this vacancy earlier than the advertised closing date should we receive a high volume of suitable applications. We therefore encourage interested candidates to apply as early as possible.
We reserve the right to close this vacancy earlier than the advertised closing date should we receive a high volume of suitable applications. We therefore encourage interested candidates to apply as early as possible.
About
Oxford International Education Group is a renowned institution dedicated to providing exceptional educational experiences to international students. With a global presence and a commitment to academic excellence, we strive to empower students to achieve their full potential and thrive in a dynamic, interconnected world. We are proud of our culture and have recently been officially certified as a Great Place to Work ©!
Skills Required
- Right to work in their respective country.
- Relevant degree, professional qualification or equivalent practical experience in software development.
- At least 7 years' experience in full stack PHP development with strong hands-on experience in WordPress, Laravel, Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP.
- Strong technical leadership, problem-solving, communication and prioritisation skills.
- Experience with cloud platforms, CI/CD, automated testing, PHP debugging tools, web performance optimisation, CDNs and WordPress security tools.
- Experience acting as technical owner for suppliers, reviewing proposals and ensuring supplier delivery and accountability.
- Experience with frontend frameworks or libraries such as React or Vue.js and understanding of WCAG 2.2 accessibility standards.
- Relevant certifications in PHP, Laravel, WordPress, cloud platforms, DevOps or security.
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The Company
What We Do
Oxford International Education Group is a global education platform founded in 1991. It provides academic pathway programs, English language training, and higher education services. The company operates independent boarding schools and international colleges, helping students from over 100 countries access education opportunities through partnerships with universities and institutions worldwide. They focus on delivering quality educational experiences and supporting student progression into higher education and careers.
