Lead PHP Developer

Key Responsibilities

● Lead the architecture, design, development, and delivery of scalable backend services

using Python.

● Own technical direction and architectural decisions for backend systems and services.

● Design and build robust RESTful APIs, microservices, and distributed systems

capable of handling high-scale workloads.

● Design and implement real-time communication systems, including WebSocket-based

services, where required.

● Drive system performance, scalability, reliability, availability, and security.

● Lead performance optimization, capacity planning, monitoring, debugging, and

production issue resolution.

● Establish and promote best practices around code quality, testing, observability, CI/CD,

and production readiness.

● Collaborate closely with frontend, product, DevOps, infrastructure, and other

cross-functional teams to deliver end-to-end solutions.

● Mentor and provide technical guidance to engineers, contributing to overall team growth

and engineering excellence.

● Review code and architecture designs, identify technical risks, and drive improvements

across backend systems.

● Take ownership of complex technical problems and deliver reliable, maintainable,

production-grade solutions.

Required Skills & Qualifications

● 5+ years of software engineering experience, with significant experience in backend

development.

● Strong expertise in Python and experience building production-grade backend

applications.

● Proven experience designing and developing REST APIs and microservices

architectures.

● Strong understanding of distributed systems, scalability, fault tolerance, and

high-availability architectures.

● Hands-on experience with WebSockets and real-time backend integrations.

● Strong experience with SQL/NoSQL databases, caching systems, and data-intensive

applications.

● Experience with performance optimization, monitoring, logging, debugging, and

production operations.

● Strong understanding of software engineering principles, design patterns, and clean

architecture.

● Proven ability to lead technical initiatives and make sound architectural decisions.

● Strong communication, collaboration, and technical leadership skills.

● Experience mentoring engineers and conducting effective code and design reviews.

Job Title: Team Lead / PHP Architect

Experience: 8–10 Years

Location: Andheri, Mumbai

Working Days: Mon ~ Fri

Employment Type: 6-Month Contract (Extendable)

Notice Period: Immediate Joiners Preferred

About the Role

We are seeking a highly capable Team Lead / PHP Architect to drive end-to-end software architecture, technical strategy, and project execution. In this role, you will act as the technical anchor for our development team, ensuring robust system design and high-quality code delivery. You will work closely with business stakeholders to translate complex functional requirements into scalable technical solutions while actively mentoring engineers and unblocking technical bottlenecks.

Core Responsibilities

• System Architecture & Design: Conceptualise, design, and implement scalable, enterprise-grade architectures for complex PHP applications, ensuring high performance, security, and future readiness.
• Engineering Leadership & Delivery: Manage day-to-day development operations, oversee task allocation, define delivery milestones, and ensure features are shipped on time without compromising quality.
• Quality Assurance & Code Standards: Institutionalise engineering best practices. Conduct rigorous peer code reviews, optimise application performance, and systematically reduce technical debt.
• Stakeholder Engagement: Act as the primary technical liaison for key business stakeholders and clients, effectively communicating technical roadmaps and project statuses to non-technical audiences.
• Mentorship & Team Development: Cultivate a culture of technical excellence. Mentor junior and mid-level developers, resolve complex technical roadblocks, and elevate the team’s overall engineering capabilities.

Qualifications & Technical Profile

• Experience: 8–10 years of progressive software engineering experience, with a proven track record in application architecture and team leadership.
• Core Technical Skills: Deep expertise in modern PHP frameworks (e.g., Laravel, Symfony) and advanced proficiency in database modelling (SQL/NoSQL).
• System Design: Strong understanding of modular design, microservices architectures, RESTful API design, and third-party integrations.
• Leadership Capabilities: Demonstrated ability to lead technical teams, manage sprints, and drive engineering deliverables to successful, on-time completion.
• Communication: Exceptional verbal and written communication skills, with the confidence to lead client-facing meetings and stakeholder presentations.
• Availability: Must be available to join immediately and work full-time from our Andheri, Mumbai office.

What We Offer

• High-impact role with the autonomy to shape technical architecture.
• Opportunity for contract extension based on performance and project needs.
• Dynamic, fast-paced on-site work environment.

Celeco Labs is hiring a hands-on Head of Engineering on behalf of a confidential client in the housing-finance sector.

This is a role for an engineer who wants to own delivery, not only manage it. You will set the technical direction, build and maintain production systems, and work closely with the business team. You should be comfortable taking a requirement from the first discussion through technical planning, implementation, release, and production support.

What you will do

• Own the engineering roadmap and help decide what should be built first.

• Design, build, and maintain reliable customer-facing products and internal systems.

• Write production code and review code written by others.

• Turn business requirements into clear technical plans and releases.

• Choose practical architecture, tools, and vendors that fit the company's needs.

• Set working standards for testing, deployment, monitoring, backups, and access control.

• Protect customer and company data through practical security controls.

• Investigate production issues and make sure the same problems do not repeat.

• Help hire and guide a small engineering team as the company grows.

What we are looking for

• 3–5 years of professional software-engineering experience.

• Experience building and running production systems.

• Strong backend skills, including APIs, databases, and cloud services.

• Enough frontend knowledge to work across a product when needed.

• Good judgment about system design, security, reliability, and cost.

• The ability to explain technical choices in simple language.

• Comfort working independently and taking full ownership of delivery.

Experience in lending, housing finance, fintech, or another regulated industry is useful, but not required. Experience leading engineers or working directly with founders and business leaders is also useful.

How to apply

Please share your CV or LinkedIn profile and two short examples of production systems you have owned. This is a confidential search. More information about the company will be shared with shortlisted candidates during the interview process.

Strong Backend Node.js Developer Profile

2

Mandatory (Experience 1) – Must have 7+ years of hands-on Backend Engineering experience using Node.js building production-grade systems for B2C products at meaningful consumer scale

3

Mandatory (Experience 2) – Must be AI-native in their own engineering workflow: already uses LLMs and agentic tooling across the SDLC, from design and code generation through testing and debugging

4

Mandatory (Experience 3) – Must have owned backend architecture end to end, including greenfield builds. Should be able to make early architecture calls and reason clearly about service boundaries, data flow, caching, queueing, failure modes, scalability, and reliability trade-offs under real constraints.

5

Mandatory (Experience 4) – Must have a solid understanding of backend fundamentals, including API development, service-oriented architecture, data structures, algorithms, and clean coding practices

6

Mandatory (Experience 5) – Must have experience designing, building, and maintaining APIs and backend services, including integrations with external systems and third-party platforms

7

Mandatory (Experience 6) – Must have strong experience working with databases (SQL and/or NoSQL), including efficient data modeling, query optimization, and performance tuning

8

Mandatory (Company) – Must have worked in B2C product companies / startups at meaningful consumer scale. (WealthTech, FinTech, or high-growth consumer product background is highly preferred)

9

Mandatory (Stability) – Must have a stable career history, with consistent tenure across previous companies; frequent job-hopping will not be considered

10

Mandatory (AI Product) – Must have experience building and shipping products that use LLMs and agentic workflows to end users.

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Mandatory (College) – ) - B.Tech or Dual degree (Btech and Mtech or Integrated Msc/MS) from Tier 1 Engineering Institutes (IITs, not NITs). Candidates from other institutions will not be considered unless they come from top top-tier product companies

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Mandatory (Compensation Alignment) – Candidate must be comfortable with the compensation structure where the company matches their current CTC and provides ESOPs, without any salary hike

About the role

You'll join a growing engineering team as a Lead Engineer / Architect, leading a small team in India and working closely with engineering teams in the US and Mexico. You'll be responsible for driving technical execution, solving complex engineering problems, and leading a team to build, deliver, and maintain reliable software.

This is a hands-on leadership role for someone with strong backend engineering expertise who can also contribute across the stack when needed.

Location: Hyderabad

Work Mode: Hybrid

What you'll do

• Lead a small engineering team in India, driving day-to-day technical execution and delivery
• Work closely with teams in the US and Mexico to plan, develop, and deliver software
• Design and build robust, scalable backend systems using .NET
• Own technical decisions around architecture, implementation, and engineering best practices
• Contribute across the full stack when needed.
• Break down complex technical problems and drive them through to implementation and delivery
• Mentor engineers and help maintain a high standard of engineering quality
• Collaborate with distributed teams and communicate technical decisions clearly

What we're looking for

• 8+ years of software engineering experience, with experience in a lead-level role
• 2+ years of experience leading a team
• Strong, hands-on expertise in .NET and backend engineering
• Strong understanding of software architecture and scalable backend systems
• Full-stack experience is preferred, with React being a plus
• Experience leading a small engineering team and driving technical delivery
• Excellent communication skills, particularly when working with distributed teams
• Strong problem-solving skills and a hands-on approach to engineering
• AI expertise is a plus
• Experience with payment systems or payment-related products is a plus

Who you are

• You take ownership and drive work through to completion
• You're hands-on and enjoy solving challenging engineering problems
• You're curious, resourceful, and always looking to learn
• You communicate clearly and work well with teams across different locations
• You lead by example and help the team deliver high-quality work