Backend Software Engineer (PHP)

Punto Pago is a profitable, engineering-led Panamanian fintech that evolved from the country’s largest payments terminal network into a digital ecosystem spanning three verticals: Payments, Fintech, and Marketplace.Our culture: small senior squads, true ownership and accountability, a bias for shipping resilient systems fast, and a focus on measurable user value over hype.We’re hiring a Backend Software Engineer (PHP) to own core backend flows end-to-end and deliver measurable impact for hundreds of thousands of users.What you’ll be doing:Build and evolve our core backend systems for payments and fintech: payment processing, CRM business logic, loan origination pipeline, kiosk/terminal backend, operator integrations, and data exports.Develop front- and middle-office web apps for CRM and reporting.Design solutions end-to-end from data models, API contracts, to resilient, secure architectures.Collaborate closely with Business and Mobile development teams to ship features from idea to production.Ensure production stability by triaging incidents, fixing bugs quickly, preventing regressions, and monitoring KPIs with actionable alerts.Optimize performance under load: SQL tuning, PHP/Node.js profiling, and effective caching.Configure monitoring and alerting for key stability and performance metrics.Participate in code reviews and architecture discussions, ensuring clean code, secure development, and fintech-grade data protection.Work side-by-side with the platform’s original author; expect direct, high-bar feedback and data-driven decisions.What you’ll need:5+ years of commercial PHP development (8.0+ preferred).Strong MySQL: transactions, indexing, query plans, locking/concurrency.Practical web stack - JavaScript/jQuery, HTML/CSS, Smarty (or similar templating).Composer, package/dependency management, structured project setup.Caching & sessions with Memcached (invalidation strategies, TTL, hit-ratio awareness).Comfort with Linux/Unix operations and Git/GitLab workflows.Proven end-to-end ownership - from design to release and production monitoring.Commitment to clean, secure, maintainable code with proper testing.Ownership mindset, adaptability, proactive communication, a collaborative approach, comfortable with candid feedback and evolving mature systems.English proficiency for professional communication.Nice to haveWorking knowledge of Node.js for utilities/scripts and small servicesPractical MongoDB experience.Experience with C# / WPF.Secure development for fintech.DS/ML model integration in production.Performance and memory tuning skills.Experience with unit/integration/API testing and automation.Knowledge of CI/CD pipelines.Background in financial services.Spanish or Russian language skills.What we offer:Competitive salary + annual bonus (discussed post-interview).Apple equipment (or equivalent) provided.28 calendar days of vacation + 6 sick leave days annually.Hybrid/office in Panama or fully remote.Preferred hours: 8-9am → 5-6pm (Panama Time).Relocation support to Panama.