OPEN TO PERMANENT & CONTRACT ROLES
LEAD BACKEND ENGINEER · 14+ YEARS

Timuçin Gündüz — Lead Backend Engineer

I architect, scale and ship business-critical PHP & Laravel ecosystems — turning complex requirements into systems that stay fast under real-world load.

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01PROFILE

An accomplished lead backend engineer with a decade-plus of architecting, scaling and delivering the systems businesses depend on — and a habit of making the impossible measurably faster.

I transform complex product requirements into robust API architectures, mentor agile engineering teams, and pair modern stacks — Laravel, AWS data pipelines, React Native, AI-assisted tooling — to move from idea to production fast. Equally comfortable owning greenfield architecture or untangling legacy systems under pressure.

14+
YEARS SHIPPING
24h→5m
PIPELINE SPEED-UP
8,000+
LOCATIONS MAPPED
6
PRODUCT TEAMS LED / BUILT
02EXPERIENCE
JUN 2026 — PRESENT · CONTRACT & CLIENT WORK

Director & Lead Engineer

Semicolon Software Services Ltd · Crawley

Delivering web platforms and mobile apps for clients through my own limited company. For Zorlu Digital Plaza, a returning client whose multi-branch sales management system I built in 2023, I added a REST API to the existing Laravel platform and built a mobile app for field technicians on top of it. For Hızlı O, I designed and built a logistics platform end to end: consumer and business mobile apps, an admin panel, and highly available infrastructure on Kubernetes with CI/CD.

APR 2023 — FEB 2026

Senior PHP / Python Developer

Address Intelligence Technologies · London

Moved into a newly formed data team to bring software-engineering practices to the analysts. Re-engineered analyst-driven data pipelines into automated workflows — cutting processing from 24 hours to 5 minutes — and built the Laravel platform powering data-driven direct-mail campaigns for real-estate agencies, with real-time CRM/ROI reporting.

MAY 2022 — NOV 2022 · CONTRACT

Software Developer

Totally Wicked · Remote

Built a high-performance postcode Store Locator with advanced map integration, and customised complex Magento 2 modules — refactoring legacy code to hit exceptional Lighthouse scores and ultra-fast load times.

JUN 2021 — APR 2022 · CONTRACT

Full Stack Developer

Learning Connexions · London

Engineered the full backend architecture for a greenfield MVP from scratch — scalable, secure Laravel REST APIs powering a modern React/Next.js frontend, with robust error-handling and clean maintainability baked in early.

JUL 2020 — MAY 2021

Lead Developer

Sprift Technologies · London

Promoted from PHP Developer (Mar 2019). Led the team and engineering standards. Designed the core Comparable Properties feature, grouping massive datasets into market categories with an interactive Leaflet.js map, plus a server-side caching layer that made report links render instantly.

MAY 2012 — FEB 2019

PHP Developer

Extend Broadband · Nicosia, Cyprus

Built a full Android field-ops app that mapped 8,000+ customer locations in its first year, a real-time geospatial network dashboard (stations, signal, AP load), and diagnostic tooling that cut costly on-site maintenance visits.

03TECHNICAL STACK
// BACKEND
PHPLaravelLumenSymfonyREST API Design
// FRONTEND & MOBILE
ReactNext.jsReact Native · ExpoJavaScriptHTML5 · CSS3
// DATA
MySQLPostgreSQLMongoDBDynamoDB
// CLOUD & DEVOPS
AWS EC2 · S3Aurora · RedshiftAWS GlueDocker
// AI & AUTOMATION
AI-Assisted DevPython AutomationPerformance Tuning
04SELECTED WORK
P/0124h → 5min

Real-Time Data Pipeline

Automated analyst-driven query workflows on AWS into a scheduled, self-updating pipeline feeding live client dashboards — collapsing a full-day process into minutes.

LaravelAWS GlueRedshift
P/02GEOSPATIAL

Comparable Properties Engine

Aggregated and grouped massive property datasets into market categories, surfaced through an interactive Leaflet.js map and compiled into Market Appraisal Reports that drove sales.

PHPLeaflet.jsServer Caching
P/038,000+ pins

Field Operations Android App

A native Android app for field technicians plus a real-time network map — stations, signal strength and access-point load — with diagnostics that cut expensive on-site visits.

AndroidPHPGeospatial
P/04100 LIGHTHOUSE

Postcode Store Locator

Nearest-store search by postcode with advanced map integration, built on customised Magento 2 modules and tuned front-to-back for near-perfect Lighthouse scores.

Magento 2PHPPerf
P/05LIVE ON GOOGLE PLAY

Hızlı O — Logistics Platform

A delivery platform for consumers and businesses, designed and built end to end: mobile apps, admin panel, and highly available infrastructure on Kubernetes with CI/CD. Live on Google Play; iOS release in App Store review.

LaravelReact NativeKubernetesCI/CD
P/06RETURNING CLIENT

Zorlu Digital Plaza — Sales, Service & Field App

A multi-branch sales and service management platform (2023), later extended with a REST API and a mobile app for field technicians (2026).

LaravelREST APIReact Native
05CONTACT

Let's build something that scales.

Open to senior and lead backend roles, permanent or contract, as well as agency work. The fastest way to reach me is a direct email — I reply quickly.

LinkedIn ↗·Crawley, UK·Indefinite Leave to Remain·EN / TR