// US-based PHP developers
Free project plan & cost estimate in 48 hours.
Senior PHP developers, based in the US, working your hours
PHP web apps, APIs, and legacy rescues, built by US engineers who clean up old code while keeping the site running.
- Interview engineers before you pay anything
- 100% U.S.-based, working your hours
- No brief or spec needed to get started
First 5 Dev Hours Free
Project plan. Roadmap. Cost & ROI estimation.
Real engineers. Real conversations.
Talk to an engineer. Not a salesperson.
Free · No commitment · Project-focused call
Most teams interview matched engineers within a week
Not the right fit? We bring in a replacement
Get your free project plan
Three quick steps. No brief needed.
Free · No commitment · Reply within one business day
// teams we've worked with
“NextGen scaled us from 2 to 7 dedicated engineers in under a quarter. Enterprise-grade capacity, zero agency drag.”
Sound familiar?
- Hiring a senior PHP developer full-time is taking months.
- Your PHP codebase has grown messy and every change breaks something else.
- Offshore hand-offs and time-zone gaps turn one-day fixes into week-long threads.
- You need someone senior enough to make decisions, not just close tickets.
What our PHP engineers build
Web apps & APIs
Modern PHP 8 apps and APIs with tests and clean deploys.
Legacy rescue
Old PHP codebases upgraded, secured, and documented.
Performance
Slow pages and queries measured and fixed.
How it works
- 01
Pick a time
Book a 30-minute project call directly in our calendar.
- 02
Talk through the problem
Tell us what needs building, what's stuck and what success looks like. No spec needed.
- 03
Your plan in 48 hours
Get your project plan, roadmap, cost and ROI estimates. The plan is yours to keep.
- 04
First 5 dev hours free
Agree the scope with our team. Decide whether to continue before any paid work begins.
Common questions
Will this turn into a sales pitch?
No. The call is about your project: what needs building, what's stuck, and whether we have the right engineers. If we're not a fit, we'll say so.
What do I get for free?
A project plan, roadmap, cost estimate and ROI estimate within 48 hours of your project call. Your first 5 development hours are free, too. We agree the scope and any paid work with you before proceeding.
Do I need a spec or brief?
No. Tell us the problem in plain words and we'll help shape the scope with you.
Are the engineers really in the U.S.?
Yes. Every engineer lives and works in the United States. No offshore hand-offs, and that's in the contract.
What our clients say
"NextGen scaled us from 2 to 7 dedicated engineers in under a quarter. Enterprise-grade capacity, zero agency drag."
"Their R&D tax credit workflow platform paid for itself in the first filing season."
"AI-native from day one. Our IRS transcript pipeline runs 24/7 without a human in the loop."
"Property tax appeals used to take weeks. Their comp analysis tooling turned it into hours."
"The AI intake agent handles our tier-1 patient calls with a hand-off cleaner than our old call center."
"POS, inventory, ordering — all unified. We finally have one source of truth across every location."
"The procurement platform paid for itself in the first quarter of use."
"They shipped our matching engine in 6 weeks. Our old team would've taken 6 months."
"Enterprise-grade delivery without the enterprise-agency price tag."
"Their team plugged into our sprint on day one. Zero ramp time."
"NextGen scaled us from 2 to 7 dedicated engineers in under a quarter. Enterprise-grade capacity, zero agency drag."
"Their R&D tax credit workflow platform paid for itself in the first filing season."
"AI-native from day one. Our IRS transcript pipeline runs 24/7 without a human in the loop."
"Property tax appeals used to take weeks. Their comp analysis tooling turned it into hours."
"The AI intake agent handles our tier-1 patient calls with a hand-off cleaner than our old call center."
"POS, inventory, ordering — all unified. We finally have one source of truth across every location."
"The procurement platform paid for itself in the first quarter of use."
"They shipped our matching engine in 6 weeks. Our old team would've taken 6 months."
"Enterprise-grade delivery without the enterprise-agency price tag."
"Their team plugged into our sprint on day one. Zero ramp time."
Hire US-based PHP developers from NextGen Coding Company to build applications, maintain existing systems, or plan a PHP upgrade. Whether your project uses Laravel 12, Symfony 7.4 LTS, or custom PHP, define the role around the code you actually run. Typical work includes REST APIs, administrative portals, subscription workflows, and replacing tightly coupled scripts with tested services and clear database boundaries.
PHP maintenance gets difficult when Composer dependencies block upgrades, background jobs behave differently from web requests, or Eloquent queries multiply unnoticed. A useful scope names your PHP 8.x target, PHPUnit or Pest test coverage, PHPStan checks, and deployment constraints before implementation begins. Every engineer lives and works in the US, with no offshore subcontracting. We sign an NDA and full IP assignment before touching your code.
Frequently asked questions
- Should I hire a Laravel developer or a general PHP developer?
- Choose for the application, not just the language. Laravel work calls for familiarity with Eloquent, middleware, service containers, queues, and Artisan commands. Symfony projects need attention to dependency injection, configuration, and often Doctrine. For custom PHP, prioritize request lifecycle knowledge, Composer dependency management, SQL debugging, and the ability to add tests around unfamiliar code.
- Can we upgrade a legacy PHP application without rewriting it?
- Often, an incremental upgrade is possible. Start by checking Composer constraints, required extensions, deprecated behavior, and framework compatibility against the target PHP version. Add characterization tests for important workflows before changing implementation. Tools such as Rector and PHPStan can help identify changes, but database behavior, integrations, and production configuration still require deliberate testing.
- How should a PHP developer investigate a slow Laravel application?
- Begin with measured request traces and database timings rather than guessing. Inspect N+1 queries, missing indexes, expensive model hydration, synchronous external calls, and work that belongs in a queue. Laravel Telescope can help in development; production profiling needs appropriate access and overhead controls. Confirm OPcache configuration and distinguish PHP execution time from database or network delays.
- What tests should we add to an older PHP codebase first?
- Protect the workflows where a regression would disrupt users: authentication, permissions, checkout, imports, or critical administrative actions. PHPUnit can support both isolated tests and integration tests; Pest is another option where compatible. Capture current behavior before refactoring, use realistic database constraints, and test queued jobs separately from the HTTP requests that dispatch them.
- How does hiring a US-based PHP developer through NextGen work?
- Book a 15-minute call and describe your framework, PHP version, deployment setup, and immediate backlog. Most teams interview matched engineers within a week of that first conversation. Engineers join your standups and follow your working hours. If the fit isn't right, we bring in a replacement with a proper hand-over of the PHP application context.
- Are your developers really based in the US?
- Yes. Every engineer lives and works in the United States. No offshore subcontracting and no hand-offs to another team. That's written into the contract.
- How fast can someone start?
- Most teams interview matched engineers within a week of the first call. Start dates depend on your interview process.
Related reading
- How to hire a software developer
What to check before you sign.
- Hiring test for senior engineers
How to vet senior talent fast.
- Senior engineer salary guide 2026
What the market pays.
- Onshore vs offshore vs nearshore
The honest tradeoffs.
- Forward deployed engineers
Need an owner, not just capacity?
- Resource library
Every guide and benchmark we publish.
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