Tech Lead - Full Stack

Job Summary

We are seeking a seasoned and solutions-oriented Technical Lead - PHP Laravel to guide our engineering teams in delivering scalable, secure, and high-performance applications across Quility's Life Insurance platform. This role is deeply technical and leadership-focused, requiring a strong command of PHP Laravel, event-driven architecture, and modern DevOps practices.

As a key member of the Engineering organization, this individual will drive end-to-end software development, architect robust solutions, and lead the adoption of AI and Kafka for real-time performance and scalability. They will oversee Scrum ceremonies, architecture governance, and release management across globally distributed teams, serving as a bridge between innovation and execution.

Key Responsibilities

• Team Leadership & Global Collaboration: Lead and mentor geographically distributed teams across time zones, facilitating end-to-end Agile execution including sprint planning, backlog grooming, daily stand-ups, and retrospectives. Manage code quality through structured pull requests, reviews, and architecture standards enforcement. Provide accurate development estimations to support release planning while driving continuous improvement in productivity and delivery across global teams.
• End-to-End Application Development: Architect and deliver scalable, secure, and performant full-stack applications using PHP Laravel, RESTful APIs, and modern front-end frameworks. Build and integrate CRM systems for streamlined data workflows, implement microservices and event-driven architectures, and enforce adherence to design patterns, scalability principles, and architectural standards throughout the development lifecycle.
• Event-Driven Systems & Confluent Kafka: Design and implement event-driven architectures for real-time processing and asynchronous workflows using Confluent Kafka. Manage publish-subscribe models, topic partitioning, and ensure event reliability, fault tolerance, replayability, and high availability in distributed, high-throughput streaming systems.
• Release Management, Change Control & Compliance: Oversee release planning, deployment coordination, and post-release validation while implementing robust change control processes across production and staging environments. Ensure proper versioning, rollback strategies, and release documentation, while maintaining compliance with PII protection, security standards, and regulatory frameworks such as TCPA and GDPR.
• System Integrations & Data Management: Integrate with insurance APIs, CRM platforms, underwriting systems, and payment gateways. Build middleware and event-driven pipelines to synchronize multi-platform data, optimize relational databases (MySQL/PostgreSQL) and caching layers (Redis/Memcached), and ensure data integrity, availability, and security in distributed environments.
• Security, DevOps & Performance Optimization: Apply secure coding practices (OAuth2, JWT, RBAC, encryption), collaborate with DevOps teams on CI/CD pipelines and containerized deployments (Docker/Kubernetes), and scale infrastructure across cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, Google Cloud Platform). Monitor system health using ELK, Grafana, and Prometheus, while driving load testing, performance tuning, and proactive incident management for high availability and reliability.
• AI & Innovation in Development: Drive the adoption of AI/ML technologies for predictive analytics, intelligent automation, and feature innovation. Integrate AI-assisted coding, smart testing, and performance optimization tools into the development lifecycle. Champion data-driven, AI-powered experiences that elevate both agent and customer engagement.

Qualifications

• 8-10 years of end-to-end application development experience with PHP Laravel.
• Proven technical leadership in Scrum environments with global, multi-time-zone teams.
• Expertise in event-driven architectures and Confluent Kafka for messaging and streaming.
• Strong background in architecture compliance, release management, change control, and estimation.
• Experience with RESTful APIs, microservices, CI/CD pipelines, Docker, and Kubernetes.
• Proficiency in SQL databases, caching strategies, and cloud deployments (AWS, Azure, Google Cloud Platform).
• Excellent problem-solving, architecture, and debugging skills for complex distributed systems.

Preferred Qualifications

• Hands-on experience with AI/ML integration in enterprise web applications.
• Background in Life Insurance or Financial Services technology.
• Knowledge of real-time analytics, event streaming, and distributed systems best practices.

Company Summary

Quility is a modern Insurtech company transforming how life insurance and financial wellness solutions are designed, delivered, and experienced. By blending advanced technology, data-driven insights, and a human-first approach, we empower agents and partners to offer streamlined, fully digital insurance experiences at scale. With thousands of independent agents nationwide and a growing suite of proprietary platforms and products, we are redefining the future of insurance distribution. Our corporate team drives innovation across every touchpoint, enabling families across America to access the protection and peace of mind they deserve. At Quility, we're not just keeping up with industry change, we're leading it.

Supervisory Responsibility

This role does not have direct supervisory responsibilities, but may lead cross-functional initiatives or project teams.

Work Environment

This job operates in a professional office environment. This role routinely uses standard office equipment such as computers, phones, photocopiers, filing cabinets and fax machines.

Physical Demands The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job.

This is largely a sedentary role; however, some filing is required. This would require the ability to lift files, open filing cabinets and bend or stand on a stool as necessary. The employee is frequently required to sit for long periods of time.

Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Position Type and Expected Hours of Work

This is a full-time position. Days and hours of work are Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Occasional evening and weekend work may be required as job duties demand.

Additional Eligibility Qualifications

None required for this position.

Other Duties

Please note this job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Duties, responsibilities and activities may change at any time with or without notice.