1. Toptal

Toptal is a matching service, initially created with only tech talent in mind. Although it has expanded its pool of talent to include designers and finance experts, the company’s bread and butter is its developer vertical. If you want to be sure that a PHP developer is up to the job, hiring an exceptional developer from Toptal is likely your best option.

Why? Toptal boasts an elite developer base. Their trademark system for vetting talent allows for only the best to become a part of their community. According to Toptal, only 3% of applicants make it through their battery of technical tests and their comprehensive vetting process.

2. Hired

Hired helps employers find software engineers and developers. On Hired, you can use their pipeline to find custom matches. You can create a company profile, search for candidates using their search algorithm (which can eliminate gender and racial identifiers for fairer hiring), and request interviews with candidates.

What’s best about Hired? It’s great for finding specialized PHP developers who are actively searching for new opportunities, have relevant experience (as most candidates on Hired have at least two years of experience), and are in your area.

3. We Work Remotely

We Work Remotely is a job board dedicated to remote listings. As a result of the remote-only restriction, there is a higher than average amount of tech and tech-creative hybrid job postings, which include front-end web developer and PHP developer positions.

Posting a job listing may be a bit more expensive than other job boards listed at $299 a month. However, if you’re looking to fill a remote position and are uninterested in recruiting local employees or freelancers, you should strongly consider utilizing We Work Remotely.

4. GitHub Jobs

Don’t waste your time perusing large job boards like Monster and Indeed. You’ll have far better luck with job boards geared toward tech talent. GitHub has a massive front-end developer community as it’s one of the largest open-source online repositories for coders. For a relatively small fee, you can post a PHP developer job listing and gain a great deal of exposure on GitHub’s huge developer community.

5. Authentic Jobs

Authentic Jobs is a job board for leading web, design, and creative talent. It has been steadily rising in popularity since its inception; the board is used by The New York Times in part of its acquisition process.

As PHP development often involves both creative and technical aspects, Authentic Jobs is a great place to begin your search. Much of their job board is populated with listings of web developer and PHP developer positions which are likely similar to your own needs.

Authentic Jobs allows for posting developer positions remote or local, so you won’t be limited to remote employees or freelancers.

6. Stack Overflow

Stack Overflow has an online community that rivals GitHub. Arguably, it’s the absolute largest and most trusted community of developers on the web. Stack Overflow is often used as a resource for all kinds of developers, novice to expert, seeking to learn more about coding. Their job board, like GitHub’s, allows for an incredible amount of exposure to dedicated PHP developers around the world.

7. Upwork

If recruiting services and job boards aren’t your thing, you might want to consider a freelance marketplace like Upwork.

Upwork has one of the largest marketplaces with millions of registered freelancers. You can hire contractors for a few simple coding tasks or begin a long-term relationship with a series of complex PHP projects. If you like the idea of finding, interviewing, and managing freelancers, Upwork’s colossal marketplace will likely meet your needs.

8. PHP Classes

Poor UI aside, PHP Classes is a wonderful site to find PHP developers for hire. The site has a large community of PHP developers, offers a wealth of educational resources, and offers forums and job boards. If you have a great deal of time on your hands, and don't mind the site's unintuitive look and feel, PHP Classes may be a good resource for hiring PHP developers.

9. People Per Hour

People Per Hour is another freelance marketplace akin to Upwork. What makes People Per Hour unique is that it holds contests and allows Freelancers to post their own job postings called hourlies.

People Per Hour has millions of members, thousands of confirmed hours, and a plethora of success stories from freelancers and entrepreneurs alike. The ease of posting jobs, contacting freelancers, and paying for hours worked makes People Per Hour a superb choice for employers interested in searching for and vetting freelance candidates themselves.

Additionally, with People Per Hour, you can connect with local freelancers, so you aren’t necessarily limited to remote talent.

10. Gun.io

Gun.io has a growing community of developers over 25,000 strong. Like Toptal, their service is designed to take the tedium out of hiring. Gun.io vets their talent and ensures that their freelancers are committed to each and every project.

Gun.io prides itself on its humanism. Every employer is connected with a VP, instead of a sales representative, and freelancers are provided with the resources to succeed.

What’s most alluring about the network? Gun.io manages and replaces talent – with no risk to you – and back every single hour worked with a 100% money-back guarantee.

Guru has a large global network of freelancers—albeit smaller than Upwork’s and People Per Hour’s massive pool. You can explore the profiles of 1.5 million gurus, propose projects, and pay your hired talent with their secure SafePay system.

Guru isn’t focused on developers, let alone PHP developers, as it is a freelance network comprised of every sort of professional. So, like with Upwork and People Per Hour, you’ll have to narrow your search yourself. Also, as with many freelance networks, the vetting and interviewing will be up to you.

12. Freelancer

Freelancer is an absolutely massive marketplace with 25 million registered users, 12 million total posted jobs, and thousands of completed projects. With the size of the marketplace comes a unique challenge, however. Finding the perfect PHP developer is like finding a needle in a haystack.

Although website development is one of the most popular job categories on Freelancer, you still will have to search through thousands of Freelancer profiles, vet and interview candidates yourself, and manage payments yourself.

If you’re looking for an affordable option, however, Freelancer is a wonderful hiring solution. For more long-term commitments, you’ll want to consider matching services like Toptal or Gun.io.

13. Find Bacon

Find Bacon is a job board aimed at eliminating the hassle of searching for design and development jobs. Find Bacon is a pleasant alternative to massive job boards like Indeed and Monster and is highly affordable. Posting a job posting for a 30-day period is only $99 dollars.

They also offer subscription packs which allow for 10 job posts a month. If you’re a company looking to fill multiple positions or are planning on hiring freelancers on an ongoing basis, you may want to consider investing in a subscription pack for a niche job board like Find Bacon.

14. X-Team

X-Team matches you with qualified PHP developers who receive mentorship and educational resources just for being a part of X-Team. Like Toptal and Gun.io, they do the heavy lifting of hiring. You won’t be saddled with rifling through resumes or preparing personalized interview scripts.

The major downside of using X-Team is that, as their name suggests, they are adept at organizing teams. If you’re only looking to hire an individual PHP developer, you’ll want to use a different matching service.

15. College Recruiter

If you’re looking to fill a part-time, entry-level position, or internship, College Recruiter is a good place to connect with college students and recent grads. This is an especially good option if you happen to constrained to a tight budget and have flexibility in terms of a hiring schedule.

Again, you’ll have to do the hard work of vetting and interviewing, but if interviewing hires doesn’t sound too daunting, College Recruiter is a good place to search for entry-level talent.

Honorable Mention: SimplyHired

SimplyHired is a large job board. It’s similar to big, general job boards like Indeed or Monster. The site comes with loads of resources from salary recommendations to hiring guides, and offers low prices for job listings. Like with Indeed and Monster, you’ll get a great deal of exposure. With over a billion job applications delivered, SimplyHired is a highly-respected job board worth investigating.

Begin exploring salary estimators, post within a network of over a hundred job boards in record time, and browse through the collated jobs by cities to see if posting a job listing on SimplyHired is worth the time and money for you.