PHP Developer

Description

Whisker is redefining what it means to live with cats—designing intelligent systems that remove friction, elevate the everyday, and celebrate the quiet brilliance of feline companionship. Today, Litter-Robot leads the category. Tomorrow, an entire ecosystem that expands what’s possible for cats and the people who love them. We believe the future is feline. And we’re imagining that future today.

We work onsite 4+ days a week, with our team based in Auburn Hills, Michigan, and Juneau, Wisconsin. Our team of 700+ passionate pet people thrives on collaboration, innovation, and the occasional office cameo from a four-legged friend.

The PHP Developer will build, enhance, and maintain the software and systems that power Whisker’s operations, including fulfillment of our Litter-Robots, Feeder-Robots, and other innovative pet products. This role is ideal for a mid-level developer with strong PHP expertise who is eager to contribute to core business systems and expand their technical skillset. Experience with ERP, MES, or similar enterprise systems is a strong bonus.

The Specialist will collaborate across teams, actively participate in Agile processes, and deliver clean, maintainable, and efficient solutions that support Whisker’s global operations.

This list of duties and responsibilities is not all-inclusive and may be expanded to include other duties and responsibilities as deemed necessary.

• Contributes to the development, enhancement, and maintenance of Whisker’s operations management systems
• Collaborates with operations, manufacturing, and shipping teams to understand challenges and support solutions
• Translates requirements into incremental deliverables, provide accurate estimates, and participate in Agile ceremonies (planning, stand‑ups, reviews, retros)
• Writes, tests, and deploys clean, maintainable code across both back‑end and front‑end systems
• Participates in code reviews, offering and receiving constructive feedback
• Assists in designing and maintaining database schemas and queries
• Develops and supports integrations with third‑party systems (e.g., shipping, returns, ERP)
• Troubleshoots and resolves system issues with urgency and attention to detail
  
  Creates and maintains technical documentation for system functionality and processes
• Writes and maintains unit and integration tests to ensure application reliability
• Follows best practices in software development, including coding standards, testing, and Agile methodologies
• Stays current with emerging technologies and recommends improvements for systems and processes
• Will perform additional responsibilities when required

• BS in Computer Science, Computer Engineering and/or equivalent experience
• 2–3+ years of professional experience in web development with strong PHP expertise
• Experience with modern MVC frameworks such as Laravel or Symfony
• Experience developing REST APIs and integrating with third‑party APIs
• Hands‑on experience with relational databases and writing efficient queries
• Familiarity with project management tools for task/issue tracking
• Experience participating in Agile teams and ceremonies
• Exposure to maintaining and refactoring existing applications
• Experience with unit testing frameworks (e.g., PHPUnit)
• Proficiency in PHP (7.x/8.x) and object‑oriented programming
• Strong understanding of MVC frameworks and clean code principles
• Basic knowledge of cloud hosting and deployments (Azure preferred)
• Front‑end skills:
  JavaScript, JQuery, SASS/LESS, with familiarity in build tools (Webpack, Gulp, or Grunt)
• Familiarity with modern JS frameworks (React, Vue, Angular, or Svelte)
• Exposure to CI/CD pipelines, containerization (Docker), and version control (Git)
• Maintains confidentiality of proprietary information
• Ability to maintain a professional atmosphere in a fast‑paced environment with numerous interactions and interruptions
• Ability to establish and maintain cooperative working relationships with Team Members and colleagues
• Comfortable with office pets (cats, dogs)

• Experience working with ERP, MES, or other enterprise‑grade systems
• Experience migrating PHP…