Back End Engineer

Job Details

Kijani Forestry is seeking an experienced Back-end Engineer to design, build and maintain the back-end systems that support its field operations, administrative platforms and mobile applications. The role requires strong ownership of production systems, sound engineering judgement and ability to deliver reliable solutions with minimal supervision. Location: Uganda (Gulu-based organization). Employment Type: Full Time.

Key Duties and Responsibilities

• Design, develop and maintain back-end services and REST APIs using PHP and Laravel.
• Own back-end features from technical design through implementation, testing, deployment and production support.
• Develop and maintain administrative functionality using Laravel and Filament.
• Design secure and efficient API contracts for mobile applications and system integrations.
• Design and optimize PostgreSQL queries, relationships, indexes and data access patterns.
• Build and maintain background jobs, queues, scheduled tasks and third-party integrations.
• Troubleshoot production issues, identify root causes and implement durable fixes.
• Write meaningful automated tests for new functionality, bug fixes and critical workflows.
• Contribute to code reviews, technical design, security, performance and engineering standards.

Qualifications, Skills and Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Technology or a related discipline, or equivalent demonstrable professional experience.
• At least 3 years of professional backend software engineering experience with strong hands-on experience in PHP and Laravel.
• Demonstrated experience building and maintaining production systems used by real users.
• Ability to independently deliver backend features and resolve complex technical problems.
• Experience working in collaborative engineering teams using Git-based development and pull request workflows.
• Strong proficiency in PHP 8+ and modern Laravel; strong understanding of object-oriented programming, application architecture and clean code principles.
• Strong REST API design, validation, authentication and authorization skills.
• Strong PostgreSQL and SQL skills including query optimization, indexing and data modelling.
• Experience with automated testing using Pest, PHPUnit or equivalent tools.
• Experience with queues, background processing, scheduled jobs and retry-safe workflows.
• Working knowledge of Linux, Git, GitHub, CI/CD and production debugging.
• Added advantage: Experience with Filament, Laravel Sanctum or Laravel observability tooling; PostgreSQL/PostGIS, GIS or geospatial systems; Redis, Supabase, Docker or GitHub Actions; field-data collection systems, mobile application backends or data-intensive platforms.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving ability; high ownership, accountability and attention to detail; ability to work independently while collaborating effectively; sound judgement on security, data integrity, performance and production risk; strong communication, documentation and continuous learning.