Our Travelstart team is looking for a talented Senior PHP Developer to join us.
This role is suited to candidates who possess expert-level mastery of software architecture and design principles, a proven ability to lead and mentor development teams, and a proven track record of delivering high-quality, scalable solutions.
(This role is planned to be based in Cape Town )
Key Responsibilities
- Design, develop, and maintain high-performance systems that handle airline integrations, payment gateways, operational systems, web APIs, and microservices.
- Design, develop, and modify modules based on functional and system requirements, ensuring responsiveness, stability, and quality of applications.
- Drive best practices in the testing process, through unit, component, integration, and performance testing, and ensure high test coverage for critical components.
- Actively contribute to team meetings, sprint planning sessions, and technical discussions.
- Generate and maintain high-quality technical documentation for developed modules.
- Lead code reviews, setting a high bar for code quality, performance and adherence to standards and best practices.
- Be comfortable with CI/CD pipelines using tools like GitHub, Jenkins, GitHub Actions, and Spinnaker.
- Collaborate closely with the DevOps team to ensure smooth deployment and operation of systems on AWS and GCP.
- Provide technical leadership and guidance to junior developers, fostering a collaborative and supportive team environment.
- Proactively contribute to the design and architecture of new systems and features, ensuring scalability, maintainability, and performance
- Proactively identify and address technical challenges and risks, proposing innovative solutions.
Requirements
- A bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or a similar technical discipline, or equivalent demonstrable experience, is preferred.
- Minimum 6 years of experience as a PHP developer (8+ years is preferred)
- Expert-level proven experience in designing, developing, and deploying complex, high-volume, high-availability PHP applications.
- Deep, demonstrable experience with SpringBoot, SOAP/REST, Apache Camel, ActiveMQ, MySQL, Docker, and Redis.
- Extensive, hands-on experience with cloud platforms, specifically AWS and GCP.
- Strong understanding of DevOps practices and CI/CD tools, including GitHub, Jenkins, GitHub Actions, and Spinnaker.
- A highly analytical, process-driven thinker with attention to detail.
- Self-motivated and autonomous operator who is a results-oriented team player.
- Well-organised with excellent communication and reporting skills.
- Demonstrated ability to accurately estimate and plan product/task delivery.
- Advantage - Previous senior experience in the travel industry and in-depth knowledge of airline systems.
About Travelstart
Travelstart is Africa’s leading online travel agency (OTA) that helps today’s business and leisure travellers search, compare and book the best flight, bus, hotel, car hire, holiday packages and activities all in one place.
With a huge focus on affordable travel and simplifying the travel booking experience for our customers, visit the Travelstart website or download the Travelstart App to find some of the lowest fares around. Pay quickly and safely online with your preferred payment method, and you’re off!
Skills Required
- Minimum 6 years of experience as a PHP developer
- 8+ years of PHP development experience
- Expert-level proven experience designing, developing, and deploying complex, high-volume, high-availability PHP applications
- Deep, demonstrable experience with SpringBoot
- Deep, demonstrable experience with SOAP and REST APIs
- Deep, demonstrable experience with Apache Camel and ActiveMQ
- Experience with MySQL
- Experience with Docker
- Experience with Redis
- Extensive hands-on experience with AWS and GCP
- Strong understanding of DevOps practices and CI/CD tools (GitHub, Jenkins, GitHub Actions, Spinnaker)
- Proven ability to lead and mentor development teams and conduct code reviews
- Experience driving testing best practices (unit, component, integration, performance) and ensuring high test coverage
- Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or similar (or equivalent demonstrable experience)
- Previous senior experience in the travel industry and in-depth knowledge of airline systems
What We Do
The TravelLab Group is Africa's leading travel and fintech technology group. Based in Cape Town, the company aims to disrupt the travel ecosystem and adjacent financial markets across the continent through innovative technology. It maintains a diversified portfolio of brands and market leaders across various travel, fintech, and technology verticals, customer segments, and distribution models.







