Senior Developer | CAT360 | Remote (Wigan-based preferred) | Permanent, full-time | £50-£70,000 DOE

We are looking for a UK based (preferably Wigan or Worcester) Senior Developer to join Barbourne Brook in-house and take ownership of CAT360's continued development.

This is not a write tickets, ship code role. You will contribute to architectural decisions, challenge existing approaches where you see room for improvement, and help shape the technical direction of the product. You will work across the full stack, with the heaviest emphasis on the backend (Laravel/PHP) and the data processing pipeline at the heart of the platform.

We are an AI-forward team. CAT360 already integrates LLMs in-product, and we use AI development tools (Claude) extensively in our day-to-day workflow. We want someone who sees AI as a force multiplier - using it to move faster and handle the mundane - while still bringing the judgment, architecture thinking, and code ownership that no tool can replace.

Location: Predominantly remote, Wigan-based preferred
Reports to: Sam Blakeman, Head of Customs Analytics
Salary: 50,000-70,000 DOE
Contract: Permanent, full-time

What you will be doing

- Designing and building new features end-to-end across the Laravel backend and Vue.js frontend
- Contributing to architectural decisions and technical strategy for the platform
- Working on the import pipeline: ingesting, validating, enriching, and calculating duties on customs declaration data
- Building and maintaining integrations with external APIs
- Improving performance and scalability of data processing across millions of tariff measures and large-scale batch operations
- Writing and maintaining tests, and participating in code review
- Working with queue and job infrastructure for reliable background processing
- Supporting real-time features via WebSockets

Tech stack
PHP 8.4 / Laravel 12, SingleStore, Laravel Horizon, Laravel Reverb, Prism PHP with Google Gemini, Vue 3 / Inertia.js v2, Tailwind CSS v3, TypeScript, Vite, AWS (EC2, S3, ElastiCache), Laravel Forge, GitHub Actions, Pest v3, Vitest, Larastan v3.

Strong fundamentals and the right mindset matter more than version numbers.

Must-haves:
- Strong, proven PHP and Laravel experience
- Comfortable with Vue.js or a comparable modern JavaScript framework
- Solid understanding of relational databases: query optimisation, migrations, indexing, large datasets
- Experience with background job processing and queue systems
- Proficiency with AWS services
- Strong testing habits - you write tests because you want confidence in your code
- Git proficiency and collaborative development experience
- Ability to articulate and defend technical decisions, and equally, to change your mind when presented with a better argument
- Active use of AI-assisted development tools, with the judgment to know when AI output needs scrutiny

Nice-to-haves:
- Experience with SingleStore or other analytical databases
- Familiarity with Inertia.js and the monolith-with-modern-frontend pattern
- WebSocket or real-time feature experience
- LLM integration in production applications
- Multi-tenant SaaS experience

The codebase is a well-structured Laravel monolith - not a legacy rescue project. It follows current Laravel conventions with test coverage, static analysis, and CI/CD in place.

You will have genuine influence over technical direction. We want someone who pushes back, suggests alternatives, and brings their own perspective.

The domain is niche but genuinely interesting. You will learn things about how international trade works that most developers never encounter.

AI tools are part of how we work, not a novelty. If you have been waiting for a team that takes AI seriously, this is that team.

Predominantly remote. Ideally based in or around Wigan, working closely with colleagues in the Wigan and Sheffield areas. Monthly visit to our Worcester office, with occasional team meetings in Manchester.

To apply send your CV and a brief note on why this role appeals to you to careers@barbournebrook.co.uk.

Views: 9 / Location: / Closes: 01-05-2026