Lead Laravel Developer / Technical Delivery Lead

The Role

We’re looking for an experienced Lead Laravel Developer to take a senior role within one of Pixel’s long-standing client partnerships. This is not purely a development position. We’re looking for someone who combines strong Laravel/PHP experience with excellent people, project and stakeholder management skills. 

You’ll take day-to-day ownership of a dedicated four-person development team and work closely with the client to manage priorities, projects and ongoing development across a substantial digital estate, including four mobile apps, two websites and a number of internal web applications. You’ll oversee projects across these platforms from initial requirements and planning through to development, testing, release and ongoing improvement. Reporting directly to Pixel’s Managing Director, you’ll have a high level of ownership and autonomy over the client relationship, team and delivery, while working closely with Pixel’s wider technical and delivery teams. 

A key part of the role will be developing a deep understanding of the client’s business. Rather than moving between multiple small projects, you’ll have the opportunity to become embedded within a significant client relationship, understand their operation and help shape how technology can support their wider business objectives. 

You’ll build relationships with stakeholders throughout the organisation, ranging from marketing and operational teams through to directors and the Managing Director. You’ll need to be equally comfortable discussing architecture with developers, running a project planning session with stakeholders and having a strategic conversation with senior management. 

While you’ll remain technically hands-on and able to contribute directly to development when required, your wider responsibility will be ensuring the team, projects and client relationship are performing effectively.

What You’ll Be Responsible For

• Leading and managing a dedicated four-person development team.
• Providing technical leadership across a Laravel/PHP development environment.
• Remaining hands-on with Laravel development when required, including development, troubleshooting, code review and technical problem solving.
• Managing multiple projects and development workstreams from initial requirement through to delivery.
• Working directly with client stakeholders to understand requirements, priorities and wider business objectives.
• Building strong relationships across the client organisation, including marketing executives, operational stakeholders, directors and the Managing Director.
• Translating business requirements into clear technical requirements and achievable delivery plans.
• Managing priorities, resource, estimates, timelines, dependencies and delivery expectations.
• Running client meetings, project reviews and planning sessions.
• Communicating progress, risks and issues clearly to technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Working with the wider Pixel team to ensure projects are appropriately scoped, planned and delivered.
• Proactively identifying opportunities where technology can improve the client’s operations, customer experience or commercial performance.
• Supporting estimates and technical scoping for new projects and features.
• Mentoring and supporting developers within the team.
• Maintaining high standards across development quality, security, performance and maintainability.
• Taking genuine ownership of the client relationship rather than simply responding to development requests.

What We’re Looking For

You’ll have at least five years of commercial PHP/Laravel development experience, ideally with experience operating at Senior, Lead or Technical Lead level. Just as importantly, you’ll have experience leading people, managing software projects and working directly with clients and stakeholders. We’re particularly interested in someone who has developed strong commercial and people skills alongside their technical career.

Technical Experience

Strong commercial experience with PHP and Laravel is essential. We’d also expect good knowledge of modern software development practices, including:

• APIs and third-party integrations
• MySQL and relational databases
• Git-based development workflows
• Testing and debugging
• Application security
• Performance and scalability
• Code review and development standards

Experience with modern frontend technologies, cloud infrastructure, CI/CD, e-commerce platforms or high-volume transactional systems would be beneficial but isn’t essential.

The Type of Person We’re Looking For

This role would suit someone who started their career as a developer and still enjoys being technically involved, but whose capabilities and interests have grown beyond simply writing code. You might currently be a Senior Laravel Developer, Lead Developer, Technical Lead or Development Team Lead and already find yourself increasingly involved in clients, projects, mentoring and commercial conversations. You enjoy understanding why something is being built, not just how to build it. 

You’ll be comfortable taking ownership of a significant client relationship and becoming someone both the client and development team trust to get things done. You’ll also have the commercial awareness to recognise opportunities, suggest improvements and help the client get more value from its technology investment.

Working Arrangements

The role is hybrid, with two days per week working on-site with our client in Stockport and the remaining days working remotely. There may occasionally be a requirement to travel elsewhere in the UK for client meetings, workshops or other business requirements. All reasonable travel and accommodation expenses will be covered. You’ll also remain part of the wider Pixel team, with opportunities to spend time at our office, collaborate with the wider development and delivery teams and take part in company events and activities.