Lead Software Engineer (PHP, Laravel, SAAS)

We are looking for an experienced Lead Software Engineer PHP Laravel / SaaS Engineering with 4 to 8+ years of hands-on experience in building scalable web and SaaS applications. The ideal candidate should possess strong expertise in Laravel, MySQL, REST API development, Docker-based deployment, and full-stack engineering, along with proven technical leadership capabilities.

This role requires both technical excellence and leadership. The selected candidate will lead the development team, design scalable architectures, build secure backend systems, develop APIs for mobile applications (React Native / Flutter), and mentor junior developers.

This is a highly hands-on technical leadership role. The candidate is expected to actively contribute to architecture, coding, debugging, deployment, optimization, and production support on a daily basis, and not function purely as a managerial lead. Depending on project complexity, delivery timelines, or team availability, the candidate should also be capable of independently owning and delivering complete features or projects end-to-end.

Experience with AI-assisted development tools / AI IDEs such as Cursor is highly preferred to improve productivity, code quality, and delivery speed.

Key Responsibilities

Technical Development

• Design, develop, and maintain scalable web applications using PHP, Laravel MVC Framework, and MySQL.

• Architect and build multi-tenant SaaS applications with strong emphasis on scalability, maintainability, performance, and security.

• Design and develop secure RESTful APIs / JSON APIs for web, mobile, and third-party integrations.

• Develop backend services and API layers for React Native and Flutter mobile applications.

• Containerize and deploy applications using Docker for development, staging, and production environments.

• Optimize database architecture, indexing, caching, and query performance for high-volume workloads.

• Implement authentication and authorization mechanisms such as:

• JWT

• OAuth

• Role-Based Access Control (RBAC)

• API Token Management

• Integrate third-party systems including payment gateways such as CCAvenue, email/SMS gateways, ERP/CRM systems, and cloud APIs.

• Build responsive and high-quality frontend interfaces using:

• HTML5

• CSS3

• JavaScript

• jQuery

• AJAX

• ReactJS (preferred)

• Implement background jobs, queues, schedulers, and event-driven workflows.

• Ensure secure coding practices to prevent vulnerabilities including SQL injection, XSS, CSRF, and authentication flaws.

• Write clean, reusable, testable, and maintainable code following SOLID principles and modern design patterns.

Hands-on Ownership & Individual Contribution

• Actively write production-grade code and contribute directly to core modules, APIs, and critical system components.
• Take complete ownership of major technical modules from requirement analysis to production deployment.
• Be capable of independently delivering complete features or projects when required.
• Switch effectively between individual contributor mode and team leadership mode based on business requirements.
• Troubleshoot and resolve production-critical issues independently during high-pressure situations.
• Take ownership of release quality, deployment stability, and system reliability.

Technical Leadership & Team Management

• Lead and manage a team of junior and mid-level developers.
• Break down project requirements into technical tasks and assign work to team members.
• Review code submissions and enforce coding standards, architecture guidelines, and engineering best practices.
• Conduct technical design and architecture discussions before implementation.
• Monitor sprint progress and ensure timely delivery of milestones.
• Identify technical bottlenecks and proactively resolve blockers.
• Improve engineering processes, documentation, and development workflows.

Training & Mentoring

• Train junior developers in:

• Laravel best practices

• API development

• Database design

• Debugging techniques

• Secure coding standards

• Conduct internal knowledge-sharing sessions and technical workshops.

• Guide junior team members in improving code quality, productivity, and engineering discipline.

• Help build a high-performance engineering culture focused on ownership and continuous learning.

Collaboration & Delivery

• Collaborate with product, UI/UX, QA, DevOps, and management teams.
• Participate in sprint planning, effort estimation, release planning, and deployment decisions.
• Use AI-powered development tools such as Cursor to improve productivity, testing, debugging, documentation, and faster code delivery.
• Support technical hiring by screening candidates and participating in interviews.
• Customize and maintain WordPress / WooCommerce solutions when required.

Required Skills & Expertise

• Strong expertise in Core PHP and modern PHP standards.

• Minimum 4+ years of Laravel development experience (Laravel 8/9/10/11 preferred).

• Strong knowledge of:

• OOP

• MVC Architecture

• SOLID Principles

• Design Patterns

• Strong expertise in MySQL schema design and query optimization.

• Extensive experience in REST API design and implementation.

• Hands-on experience with Docker and containerized deployments.

• Good understanding of Linux servers and deployment workflows.

• Experience with:

• Git

• GitHub / GitLab / Bitbucket

• CI/CD pipelines

• Strong frontend knowledge:

• HTML5

• CSS3

• JavaScript

• jQuery

• AJAX

• Strong debugging, profiling, and optimization skills.

• Experience handling production deployments and release management.

Preferred / Added Advantage

• Experience in multi-tenant SaaS architecture

• Experience building subscription-based SaaS products

• Knowledge of ReactJS

• Exposure to React Native or Flutter ecosystem

• Experience with:

• Redis

• WebSockets

• Queue Workers

• Real-time notifications

• Knowledge of cloud platforms such as:

• AWS

• Google Cloud

• DigitalOcean

• Experience with DevOps workflows

• WordPress / WooCommerce customization

• Exposure to AI APIs and automation systems

• Experience in ERP / CRM / enterprise SaaS products

• Prior experience handling high-concurrency or high-traffic applications

Preferred Candidate Profile

• 48+ years of relevant software engineering experience
• Prior experience leading or mentoring developers
• Strong ownership mindset with ability to independently drive projects
• Comfortable working both as an individual contributor and as a technical team leader
• Excellent problem-solving and root-cause analysis capability
• Strong communication and team collaboration skills
• Ability to balance technical quality with delivery deadlines
• Strong decision-making and leadership capabilities
• Adaptability to rapidly evolving AI-driven engineering workflows

Why Join Us?

• Opportunity to build cutting-edge SaaS and enterprise software products
• Technical leadership role with architecture ownership
• Opportunity to directly influence product and engineering decisions
• Work on real-world ERP, event-tech, and large-scale applications
• Exposure to AI-powered software development workflows
• Strong growth opportunities into engineering leadership
• Competitive salary with long-term career progression
• Hybrid work flexibility

Job Highlights

• Lead Engineering Role
• Hands-on Coding + Technical Leadership
• Team Management & Mentorship
• Laravel + SaaS Architecture
• API Development for Mobile Apps
• Docker & Cloud Deployment
• AI-Assisted Development (Cursor)
• ERP / Enterprise Software Exposure