Hands-on backend expertise in PHP and Laravel Experience designing and shipping production-grade Laravel services or APIs Experience with complex systems like distributed systems, microservices, or modular monoliths Strong code quality and testing discipline Experience with collaboration across functions in squads or cross-functional teams Experience with mentorship and leadership-in-action Effective use of AI tools in workflow Comfort with scaling environments and navigating ambiguity Familiarity with modern tooling (Git, CI/CD pipelines, cloud environments like AWS)