Senior / Staff Laravel Engineer — Technical Lead, UK Insurtech Platform (Production Build & Go-Live)

[NO AGENCY] Summary We're looking for a senior/staff-level Laravel engineer to act as technical lead on a dual-brand UK insurance platform as it moves into production. This is a high-ownership, hands-on role: you'll pick up an established, domain-driven Laravel codebase, own delivery of key backend features, and be the senior technical voice the team can rely on to make the right calls independently. The architecture is largely settled for launch and the platform is running on AWS — this is not greenfield. You need to be someone who reads an unfamiliar codebase fast and starts shipping in days, not weeks. This is technical leadership without line management. You'll be the technical authority on the backend — making engineering decisions, reviewing others' work, and keeping the codebase coherent — but you won't be managing people or running the team. We handle that. We need your judgement and your output, not your calendar. What you'll own Mid-term adjustments (MTAs) — the primary build. You'll design and implement the MTA backend end to end: the endpoints, the domain logic, and the API delta calculations that drive them. Dynamic pricing — picking up and extending the pricing engine. It's a domain-driven, effective-dated, per-product rating system; you'll take it further into dynamic pricing capability. Backend decisions — working within the established architecture and making the engineering calls that come up in your areas without needing hand-holding. Code review — reviewing PRs from the wider dev team to a consistent, pragmatic standard. The stack Laravel (PHP) REST API · React frontends (admin + customer portals) · MySQL (RDS) · AWS ECS · SQS · S3 · Stripe · Laravel Sanctum. Domain-driven design with an Actions pattern and a per-product strategy architecture. What We Need Deep, current Laravel/PHP experience building and shipping production systems — you've owned real features, not just closed tickets. Strong REST API design, domain-driven design, and clean use of design patterns. Solid MySQL and working familiarity with AWS (ECS/RDS operationally). Genuinely able to work independently and make sound engineering decisions — you'll be trusted to unblock yourself and the team. Comfortable being the senior technical voice: reviewing code and holding a consistent standard. Clear, concise async communicator with meaningful UK-hours overlap. Nice to have Regulated fintech or insurance/insurtech domain experience — policy lifecycle, IPT, rating, MTAs. A real plus. Pricing/rating engine experience. Stripe payments at production scale. Enough React to read and tweak the frontend when needed. Engagement Immediate start. Intensive initial period through production go-live, with strong potential to continue long-term. Remote, async-first, with meaningful daily overlap with UK hours. Up to 40 hours/week (full-time), logged via Upwork.