Backend Developer

Looking for a place where your ideas are heard, your code is shipped, and learning never stops? Do you want to learn by building software that powers real-world events — from festivals to film shoots in 70+ countries?

Join Rentman as a Backend Developer and build scalable, high-impact systems for our global SaaS platform. Tackle complex logic, big data, and real-time challenges.

About us

Rentman is a B2B SaaS scaleup building smart, powerful resource management software for event and production teams. Our users plan everything from small shoots to massive festivals in 70+ countries - and they all rely on Rentman to keep their gear, people, and timing perfectly in sync. We’re based in Utrecht (NL) with a second office in Toronto (CA), and our team includes 100+ people from 30+ nationalities. We work in English, and our culture is open, inclusive, and flat — built on curiosity, ownership, and the freedom to challenge ideas.

Mission of this role

As a Medior Backend Developer, you’ll work on one of the most complex and critical areas of Rentman: equipment availability and resource calculations. You’ll build and maintain backend systems that balance new feature development with bug fixes and technical debt reduction. Over time, you’ll grow into technical ownership of core product areas and help raise the team’s engineering maturity.

What are you going to do?

• Develop and maintain backend systems handling complex availability and equipment logic.
• Contribute ~60% of your sprint work to new features, while also resolving bugs and reducing technical debt (~40%).
• Write efficient, maintainable PHP and SQL, working within a custom framework while helping the team move toward Symfony/Laravel standards.
• Take technical ownership of features, guiding implementation decisions and surfacing risks early.
• Collaborate with senior backend developers, architects, and product owners on long-term design decisions.
• Support your team in strengthening its technical voice and practices.

Our Stack

Rentman is a modern cloud-based web application relied on daily by our users to administer the movement of equipment and access data on the go.

Back-end

• From a back-end perspective, Rentman consists of our internal API, a public API and a set of microservices. The internal API is quite intense on complex database calculations.
• Modern version of PHP and MySQL, used in our internal API
• Modern versions of Laravel, used by some of the microservices
• Our backend is deployed on AWS
• We work based on "Continuous integration", so our systems can be separately run on different versions

Testing Approach

• Automated unit testing on every pull request
• Automated E2E tests with Ghost Inspector, running weekly and on-demand
• Automated mobile app tests with Appium and Webdriverio
• Weekly manual regression testing
• Manual testing on-demand

Methodology

We follow Scrum with two-week sprints and weekly releases. Our five self-organising development teams each focus on their own product stream and consist of a product owner and 4 to 6 frontend or backend developers, one of whom has the role of Scrum Master. A dedicated QA team supports testing and manages regression tests and releases. During a weekly 'Tech Alignment' meeting, developers together with the CTO discuss technology, address technical debt and decide on our technical roadmap. A 20% sprint capacity can be allocated to initiatives on the technical roadmap.

Essential attributes to be a successful Backend Developer

• 4–6 years of professional backend development experience.
• Strong PHP experience, ideally including work on complex, real-world systems.
• Strong SQL skills, comfortable with advanced queries and performance tuning.
• Problem-solving ability for challenging business logic and legacy systems.
• Ability to take ownership of features and deliver them independently.
• Assertive communicator — able to challenge ideas constructively and contribute to technical discussions.

Nice-to-have attributes to make you a perfect match for the Backend Developer

• Experience with Symfony, Laravel, or other modern PHP frameworks.
• Background working with scheduling, availability, or similar logic-heavy domains.
• Exposure to AWS or cloud-based deployment environments.

What makes this role attractive

• Opportunity to dive deep into complex puzzles and technical challenges.
• Direct impact on one of the most technically complex SaaS platforms in the event industry.
• Scale-up environment with room to grow into technical ownership.
• Culture that values thoughtful problem solving and quality over quick fixes.

What you'll get

• An ambitious, inclusive, diverse international team
• A “13th month” annual bonus based on company results
• 25 days of paid vacation, plus one extra day off each year up to your 5th anniversary
• A paid 4-week sabbatical after 5 years to go on an adventure
• Flexible WFH policy & work from anywhere for 4 weeks a year
• A shiny Windows, Linux or Mac of your choice
• An Annual training budget to boost your skills
• A pension plan via BrightPensioen
• Access to OpenUp for mental well-being and personal growth
• Sports activities (Rentman football team, squash and padel) and a fitness subscription
• An OV Business card if you live further than 10km away from the office
• A flexible and engaging work environment with free lunches, office perks (PS5, Ping Pong, D&D), legendary karaoke parties, and various team activities
• An amazing office in the heart of Utrecht, Netherlands, at the historical Drift