Technical Team Lead

Job Description

We are looking for a Back-End Technical Lead (PHP) to drive the backend development and architecture of our platform. You will work closely with a small team of talented engineers to design scalable, high-performance backend systems using modern technologies such as PHP (Laravel), MySQL, MongoDB, and Elasticsearch. You will also collaborate with our DevOps team to ensure system scalability and high availability, while maintaining strong development standards.

This is a hands-on leadership role where you will write code, conduct code reviews, shape system design, and set technical standards for the team.

Responsibilities:

• Lead backend development efforts and guide our engineering team.
• Architect, design, and implement scalable, high-availability backend systems using PHP (Laravel) and related technologies.
• Define and enforce coding standards and best practices, maintaining high code quality through code reviews and mentorship.
• Collaborate with DevOps teams to build and maintain robust infrastructure using Kubernetes, Docker, and CI/CD pipelines.
• Design microservices and system layer architectures to support scalability and reliability requirements.
• Write high-performance, secure, and maintainable code.
• Ensure appropriate test coverage through unit, integration, and functional testing.
• Optimize database queries for performance and scalability across MySQL and MongoDB.
• Work with Elasticsearch to design and maintain efficient search functionality and optimize indexing/querying strategies.
• Proactively identify bottlenecks and optimize performance at the code, database, and infrastructure levels.
• Troubleshoot and resolve issues across the development lifecycle.
• Stay up-to-date with backend development best practices and emerging technologies.
• Promote a culture of technical excellence, continuous improvement, and knowledge sharing within the team.

Requirements:

Technical Skills:

• Strong experience in backend development with PHP, particularly using the Laravel framework.
• Deep understanding of system architecture (microservices, API design, system layer architecture).
• Solid knowledge of database technologies: MySQL and MongoDB, including query optimization techniques.
• Experience working with Elasticsearch: designing indices, writing queries, and optimizing search performance.
• Experience with system scalability strategies and designing for high availability.
• Hands-on experience with Kubernetes, Docker, and CI/CD pipelines.
• Strong grasp of performance optimization, identifying system bottlenecks, and backend development best practices.
• Good knowledge of software testing practices: unit testing, integration testing, and maintaining test coverage.

Leadership Skills:

• Previous experience leading or mentoring a small engineering team.
• Strong ability to perform and facilitate thorough code reviews.
• Ability to design and enforce coding standards across the team.
• Collaborative mindset with experience working closely with DevOps and product teams.
• Excellent problem-solving and communication skills.

Nice to Have:

• Experience with Python and Django frameworks.
• Experience with cloud providers.
• Experience with message brokers (Kafka, RabbitMQ).
• Exposure to logging, monitoring, and alerting systems (e.g., Prometheus, Grafana, ELK Stack).
• Contributions to open-source projects or technical blogs.