PHP Application Architect

Dealer Tire•Cleveland, OH

2d•Remote

About The Position

The Application Architect PHP, a fully remote position, will report directly to the Distinguished Engineer in the Dealer Tire CEG Technology group. They play a critical role in designing, integrating, and implementing components to meet the organization's needs, while collaborating with various teams to maintain the desired future-state code and systems. This role requires strong critical and analytical thinking — the ability to evaluate complex trade-offs, diagnose root causes, and make sound architectural decisions in a fast-moving environment.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree required in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a related technical field, or equivalent practical experience.
Minimum of 7 years' experience as an application developer utilizing required technologies.
Experience leading both onshore and offshore teams.
Demonstrated ability to think critically and analytically — including evaluating and decomposing requirements, asking targeted clarifying questions to resolve ambiguity, assessing technical trade-offs, identifying risks, and communicating well-reasoned decisions clearly to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
Extensive proficiency in PHP 8 and the Symfony framework, following PSR-12 coding standards and common design patterns.
Strong understanding of API design and implementation, including RESTful APIs and webhooks.
Experience with JIRA, GitHub, and related DevOps tooling.
Proficiency in applying and building with AI tools — including using AI assistants (Claude is a plus) in daily development and integrating LLM-based capabilities into products.
Results-oriented, with an agile mindset and strong intuitive problem-solving skills.
Self-motivated, able to work independently, and capable of recognizing implications and impacts of technical decisions.
Excellent project management (JIRA), communication, and interpersonal skills.
Ability to thrive under changing deadlines and aggressive priorities in a fast-paced, high-growth business environment.

Nice To Haves

Knowledge of Single Sign-On (SSO) protocols and identity federation standards (e.g., SAML, OAuth 2.0, OpenID Connect).
Ability to create thorough technical designs from requirements and review AI-generated designs for correctness, completeness, and alignment with architectural standards.
Ability to review code against requirements and technical designs, ensuring adherence to intent, quality standards, and design specifications.

Responsibilities

Architect and integrate components to meet the needs of the organization, with a primary focus on PHP/Symfony-based systems.
Collaborate with peers, engineering leadership, and subject matter experts to develop and maintain the organization's desired future-state code and systems.
Apply critical and analytical thinking to evaluate architectural trade-offs and recommend scalable, maintainable solutions.
Develop and implement solutions both incrementally (near-term sprints) and strategically (long-term roadmap).
Perform and facilitate requirements analysis, coordinate user acceptance testing, and manage competing resources and priorities through sprint planning.
Integrate and build AI-powered features into products, leveraging LLM APIs (e.g., Claude/Anthropic) and emerging AI tooling to deliver intelligent user experiences.
Champion the use of AI development tools (e.g., Claude, Google Gemini) to accelerate team velocity and code quality.
Incorporate methods to maintain high system and infrastructure availability.
Document and communicate the results of your efforts clearly across technical and non-technical stakeholders.