PHP developer CVs carry two contradictions: the language powers 77% of the web including 43% via WordPress alone, yet PHP developers consistently undersell their work; and PHP 8.x is a substantially modern language with JIT compilation, enums, fibers, and readonly classes, yet most PHP CVs describe a developer who could have written exactly the same skills list in 2005. "PHP, MySQL, HTML, CSS, JavaScript" as a complete skills section tells the recruiter nothing about Laravel, Composer, PHPUnit, PSR standards, or any of the ecosystem elements that distinguish a professional PHP developer from someone who once configured a shared hosting account. The PHP market in 2026 is segmented: WordPress and WooCommerce development is the largest segment by job volume; Laravel is the modern framework for custom application development; Symfony powers European enterprise applications. Each requires different vocabulary on a CV, and the distinction matters — a Laravel developer applying to a Symfony role without naming Symfony is invisible to the ATS, regardless of skill. This guide covers the PHP version, framework, testing, and static analysis vocabulary that makes a PHP developer CV credible in 2026.

What PHP Developer Job Descriptions Require in 2026

PHP developer JDs break along three clear specialisations with distinct requirements:

Laravel application development: The dominant modern PHP framework. JDs specify PHP 8.1 or 8.2, Laravel 10 or 11, Eloquent ORM for database access, Blade templating, Laravel Sanctum or Passport for API authentication, Laravel Horizon for Redis queue workers, and PHPUnit or Pest for testing. Livewire (reactive frontend components in PHP without a JavaScript framework) is increasingly listed for roles building admin interfaces and dashboards. Senior Laravel JDs add Laravel Octane (Swoole or RoadRunner persistent processes for high-throughput APIs), microservices architecture, and deployment via Laravel Forge or Vapor.

WordPress and WooCommerce development: Theme and plugin development using PHP and the WordPress hook system (actions and filters). JDs specify PHP 8.x, Custom Post Types, Advanced Custom Fields (ACF) Pro, WooCommerce customisation (checkout hooks, payment gateways, product types), REST API integration for headless delivery, and Gutenberg block development in PHP/React. Agency roles frequently add multi-site WordPress network management and performance optimisation (caching, Cloudflare, CDN integration).

Symfony and enterprise PHP: Symfony (primarily versions 5, 6, and 7) for European enterprise applications and large-scale PHP platforms. JDs specify Doctrine ORM, Twig templating, Symfony Flex, Messenger (message bus), and Symfony Security Component. Compared to Laravel, Symfony roles are less common but command higher salaries — the market is smaller and the skill demand is consistent.

Cross-specialisation requirements: PHP 8.x (always specify the version), Composer for dependency management, MySQL or MariaDB, Redis, Git, Docker, PHPUnit or Pest for testing, and CI/CD (GitHub Actions or GitLab CI). PHPStan or Psalm for static analysis is appearing in more senior PHP JDs and is a strong differentiator for any candidate who includes it.

PHP developer salaries in 2026: £35K–£60K UK; £55K–£90K for senior Laravel/Symfony. US: $75K–$120K; $100K–$155K for senior Laravel engineers at product companies.

ATS Keywords for a PHP Developer Resume

PHP ATS filtering uses framework names, PHP version numbers, and ecosystem tool names. "PHP developer with MVC experience" is significantly weaker than "PHP 8.2 · Laravel 11 · Eloquent · Pest · PHPStan."

Essential ATS terms for a PHP developer resume:

  • Title variants: PHP Developer, PHP Engineer, Senior PHP Developer, Laravel Developer, Symfony Developer, WordPress Developer, Full Stack PHP Developer, Backend PHP Developer
  • PHP versions: PHP 8, PHP 8.1, PHP 8.2, PHP 8.3, PHP 8.0 (name the specific version; PHP 5 or PHP 7 as a primary version signal is a red flag in 2026)
  • Laravel ecosystem: Laravel, Laravel 11, Laravel 10, Eloquent ORM, Blade, Artisan, Laravel Sanctum, Laravel Passport, Laravel Horizon, Livewire, Laravel Octane, Laravel Forge, Laravel Vapor, Inertia.js
  • Symfony ecosystem: Symfony, Symfony 6, Symfony 7, Doctrine ORM, Doctrine DBAL, Twig, Symfony Flex, Symfony Messenger, Symfony Security
  • WordPress ecosystem: WordPress, WooCommerce, Advanced Custom Fields, ACF, Gutenberg, Custom Post Types, WordPress REST API, wp-cli
  • Other frameworks: CodeIgniter, CakePHP, Zend Framework, Laminas, Slim, Lumen
  • Tooling and quality: Composer, PHPUnit, Pest, PHPStan, Psalm, PHP-CS-Fixer, phpdoc, PSR-4, PSR-7, PSR-12, SOLID, OOP, design patterns
  • Databases and cache: MySQL, MariaDB, PostgreSQL, Redis, SQLite, MongoDB, Elasticsearch
  • APIs: REST, RESTful, GraphQL, JSON, OAuth2, JWT, OpenAPI, Swagger
  • Infrastructure: Docker, Nginx, Apache, AWS, DigitalOcean, GCP, GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, CI/CD, Git
  • Long-tail phrases: PHP developer resume, how to write a PHP developer resume, Laravel developer resume, WordPress developer resume, PHP developer cv 2026, senior PHP developer resume, Symfony developer resume

Placement: PHP version (PHP 8.2) and framework (Laravel, Symfony, or WordPress) explicitly in the headline — these are the primary ATS first-pass signals. PHPStan or Psalm with the level number in the Skills section — almost no PHP candidate includes this; its presence immediately signals professional code quality. Testing framework (PHPUnit or Pest) named explicitly.

PHP Developer CV Structure and Bullets That Show Modern PHP Ecosystem Depth

Section order:

  1. Headline — "PHP Developer | PHP 8.2 · Laravel 11 · Eloquent · Livewire · PHPStan · AWS"
  2. Skills — PHP Version / Framework / ORM / Testing & QA / Infrastructure / Databases
  3. Experience — 4–5 bullets per role; PHP version, framework, system scale, and measurable outcome per bullet
  4. Projects / Open Source — significant PHP packages on Packagist, GitHub repos, or client sites with measurable traffic; link to GitHub

Two pages for 4+ years. PHP version in every experience bullet — not just in the headline. Framework name in every bullet — even within a role using the same framework, repeat it, because ATS systems parse bullets individually.

Three elements make a PHP developer bullet convincing: the PHP version and framework, the system built and its scale (users, transactions, page views, subscription count), and the measurable reliability or performance outcome. Three examples:

  • Built a multi-tenant Laravel 11 SaaS billing platform — PHP 8.2, Eloquent ORM with PostgreSQL, Laravel Sanctum for API token authentication, Livewire reactive billing dashboard, and Laravel Horizon managing Redis queue workers for Stripe webhook processing; PHPStan level 6 across all application code; deployed via Laravel Forge with zero-downtime atomic releases; platform handles 3,400 active subscriptions
  • Migrated a 180KLOC PHP 7.4 Symfony 4 e-commerce platform to PHP 8.2 Symfony 6 — updated 240 Composer packages for Symfony 6 compatibility, replaced deprecated Symfony components, and introduced PHPStan at level 4 across the codebase (catching 180 type errors previously hidden at runtime); platform processes £2.1M in monthly transactions with zero critical incidents in the 6 months post-migration
  • Developed 12 WordPress plugins for a digital marketing agency — PHP 8.1, Advanced Custom Fields Pro for content architecture, WooCommerce hooks for custom checkout flows, and WordPress REST API endpoints consumed by Next.js headless frontends; plugins deployed across 40 client sites serving 2.3M monthly page views; average plugin update cycle under 4 hours

PHP developer interviews include coding exercises (implement a Laravel Eloquent relationship, write a Symfony service), framework knowledge questions (explain Laravel's service container, how does Symfony's dependency injection work?), and often a code review exercise on existing PHP. Your CV's PHP version, static analysis evidence, and framework depth determine whether the interview tests your architecture thinking or your basic PHP syntax.

Three PHP Developer CV Mistakes That Signal Outdated PHP

PHP version not specified, or PHP 5/7 as the primary version. PHP 5.6 reached end-of-life in December 2018. PHP 7.4 reached end-of-life in November 2022. PHP 8.0 was released in November 2020 and introduced the JIT compiler, named arguments, match expressions, nullsafe operator, and union types — these are significant language improvements, not incremental updates. A PHP developer CV that lists "PHP" without a version, or lists PHP 5 or PHP 7 as the primary version, signals either that the candidate is working exclusively on legacy systems or that they haven't tracked the language's evolution. Always state the PHP 8.x version you use: "PHP 8.2" or "PHP 8.1" in the headline and in each role's first bullet. It costs nothing to add and immediately signals currency.

"PHP, MySQL, HTML, CSS, JavaScript" as the complete skills section. This skills pattern describes a web developer from 2005 — before Composer existed (2012), before Laravel (2011), before PHPUnit was standard practice, and before PSR standards for code interoperability. In 2026, a PHP developer CV that lists raw PHP and database technology without any of the following is a significant gap: Composer (package management), a framework (Laravel, Symfony, or WordPress ecosystem tools), a testing tool (PHPUnit or Pest), and at minimum one quality tool (PHPStan, Psalm, or PHP-CS-Fixer). These are not optional additions to a PHP developer CV — they are the evidence that the candidate works in a professional development environment rather than editing files directly on a shared hosting server.

No static analysis tool listed. PHPStan and Psalm are static analysis tools for PHP that check type correctness, catch logic errors, and enforce type safety — all before the code runs. PHPStan runs on a 0–9 level scale; a codebase running at level 6 or higher has strict type checking that catches the majority of type-related bugs at build time. Almost no PHP developer CV mentions PHPStan or Psalm, despite these tools being standard at any PHP company with a CI/CD pipeline and a concern for code quality. Including "PHPStan level 6" in your Skills section, or "introduced PHPStan level 4 across a 40KLOC codebase" in an experience bullet, immediately signals professional PHP that most CVs don't — the absence is so common that the presence stands out.

If you are applying to PHP developer, Laravel engineer, or WordPress development roles and want your CV rebuilt around the specific PHP version, framework, and quality tool requirements in a target job description, Resumegpt generates your PHP developer CV from your work history in under 60 seconds — PHP 8.x version evidenced, framework depth named, PHPStan signal included, ATS-optimised, and exported as a PDF ready to submit.