Senior Backend Developer

About the opportunity 

We’re on the hunt for a hands-on Senior Backend Developer to help power the First Table engine. 

This is a role for someone who loves building reliable, scalable backend systems and wants their work to move the needle. You’ll take ownership of core backend functions and integrations, and turn complex technical challenges into real impact, from booking flows and partner integrations through to cloud reliability as we scale internationally.

We’re outcome-driven. With clear OKRs, you’ll own results, shipping improvements that lift reliability, performance, and delivery.

In this newly created role, you’ll report to our Engineering Lead and work closely with our dedicated engineering and product teams, delivering our roadmap and improving how we build, ship, and support a platform used across NZ, AU, the UK and beyond.

This position can be based remotely from Auckland or at our Queenstown HQ.

About us

At First Table, our vision is simple: to be the first place diners go to book a table.

Proudly established in Queenstown, New Zealand - where our head office is based -  we've been leading the charge in the hospitality tech industry for over a decade, with operations spanning New Zealand, Australia, and the UK. 

First Table is a dining discovery platform that connects diners to restaurants through their love of food.  Through our clever tech, we help restaurants get their night off to a great start and give diners a compelling reason to try somewhere new. It’s a win-win situation. From early bird offers to last table reservations, we make discovering and booking great dining experiences fast, easy, and rewarding.

At the heart of everything we do are our values: Win-Win-Win, Own It and Grow Together.  These guide how we show up for each other, our restaurant partners, and our diners and they’re a big part of what makes First Table a great place to work.

About the role

This is a hands-on senior backend role, primarily in PHP, with increasing ownership across cloud platforms for microservices and scalability as we grow.  

If you like solving real problems in production, and owning the outcome, you’ll feel right at home here.

What you’ll be doing

Design, develop, and evolve scalable backend services and APIs (PHP-first). 

Build and maintain integrations with restaurant reservation systems and third-party partners. 

Move workflows toward event-driven architecture, improving reliability and performance. 

Strengthen our AWS platform with infrastructure improvements, automation, and operational excellence (think CI/CD, IaC, containerised workloads). 

Improve observability and resilience (queueing, throttling, retries, debouncing, and production support) when it counts. 

Mentor and uplift the team, contributing to engineering standards and sound technical decisions.

What you’ll bring

5+ years building backend systems for production web applications.  

Strong PHP experience (framework experience helpful, not essential).  

Solid API design + integrations experience.  

Strong SQL + database design (MySQL or equivalent).  

Production experience with AWS, and ideally asynchronous/event-driven systems (SQS/SNS, Kafka, etc.).  

An ownership mindset: you care about quality, reliability, and making things better.  

Why you’ll love working with us

Scale the platform into new product opportunities and cities.

High trust role with real impact.

Work from one of our hubs, Queenstown HQ (fun office culture, regular social events, 1 WFH day per week) or Auckland, where the team works remotely and connects regularly for collaboration and catch-ups.

Enjoy perks like free First Table bookings, referral incentives, team recognition, and regular opportunities to celebrate wins.

Join a beloved consumer brand that is purpose-led, award-winning, and values creativity, collaboration, and growth.

What’s next? 

Ready to build something people love? Apply now.

Include your CV and a cover letter, we genuinely read them, so make it count: why First Table, and why you?

We’re reviewing and progressing applications as they come in, so don’t wait to apply.