Product Engineer, Backend at Kinship

London, England, United Kingdom

Kinship Logo
Not SpecifiedCompensation
Mid-level (3 to 4 years)Experience Level
Full TimeJob Type
UnknownVisa
Architecture, EngineeringIndustries

Requirements

  • Strong experience with PHP (PHP 8+)
  • Familiarity with containerized environments using Docker
  • Product mindset (thinking in terms of user value, not just technical correctness)
  • Clear communicator and thoughtful collaborator
  • Excited to work in a small, fast-moving team
  • Knowledge of Laravel or Symfony
  • Comfortable with AWS basics (deploying apps, storing files, managing databases)
  • Experience designing or evolving APIs in production
  • Familiarity with CI/CD pipelines
  • Interest in DevOps, observability, or developer tooling

Responsibilities

  • Build and maintain backend services in modern PHP
  • Design and implement APIs consumed by frontend and desktop apps
  • Use Docker to standardize development and streamline deployments
  • Work with AWS services (e.g., ECS, S3, RDS, CloudWatch) to keep systems fast and reliable
  • Collaborate with product, design, and other engineers to ship features
  • Write tests and monitor performance to ensure the stack is trustworthy at scale

Skills

Key technologies and capabilities for this role

PHPDockerAWSLaravelSymfonyAPIsCI/CDECSS3RDSCloudWatch

Questions & Answers

Common questions about this position

What is the salary for this Product Engineer role?

Kinship offers a competitive salary for this position.

Is this backend engineer role remote or onsite?

This is an onsite position requiring presence in the central London office.

What key skills are required for this backend Product Engineer position?

Strong experience with PHP (8+), familiarity with Docker, and comfort with AWS services like ECS, S3, RDS, and CloudWatch are essential. Knowledge of Laravel or Symfony, API design, and CI/CD pipelines is also valued.

What is the work environment like at Kinship?

It's a small, fast-moving team in a beautiful plant-filled office in central London with good coffee, emphasizing real autonomy, work-life balance, and collaboration among a no-BS team that loves building great software.

What makes a strong candidate for this backend engineer role?

Candidates with a product mindset, strong PHP experience, Docker familiarity, AWS knowledge, clear communication skills, and excitement for a small fast-moving team will stand out; familiarity with Laravel/Symfony, APIs, and CI/CD is a plus.

Kinship

Relationship management tool for connections

About Kinship

Kinship provides a platform focused on relationship management, helping users enhance their professional and personal connections. The tool allows users to take notes through various methods, including SMS and voice, and securely store different types of information such as photos, videos, and documents. One of its key features is customizable reminders, which assist users in reconnecting with important contacts at appropriate times. Kinship targets individuals and businesses that prioritize relationship-building, such as sales professionals, networkers, and entrepreneurs. Unlike many competitors, Kinship emphasizes a user-friendly interface for note-taking and organization, and operates on a subscription model, offering premium features and services to its users.

New York City, New YorkHeadquarters
2019Year Founded
$48.6KTotal Funding
SEEDCompany Stage
Consulting, Consumer SoftwareIndustries
1-10Employees

Benefits

Dog-friendly workplaces
Medical, dental, vision
401k match
pet benefits
Unlimited PTO
Hybrid work environment
Parental leave
Discounts on pet products, services, nutrition and veterinary wellness plans
An extensive onboarding program

Risks

Copia's acquisition may shift strategic focus, alienating existing customers.
Integration challenges with Copia could disrupt services and delay feature rollouts.
The competitive landscape in relationship management tools is intensifying.

Differentiation

Kinship integrates AI-driven analytics for personalized relationship management experiences.
The platform offers voice and SMS note-taking for enhanced user convenience.
Kinship provides secure storage solutions, addressing rising data privacy concerns.

Upsides

AI-driven analytics in relationship management tools are gaining traction.
Voice recognition technology in note-taking apps is expected to grow by 20% annually.
Subscription models in digital services see a 15% increase in user retention rates.

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