Summary
AI Forward-Deployed Engineer who embeds with teams to ship production AI — LLM integrations, RAG systems, and workflow automation — backed by 10+ years building and leading SaaS platforms at scale with PHP, Laravel, MySQL, and React. I bring shipping discipline from products used by millions (OpticalCRM, a 1M+ session e-therapy platform) to AI work, and transfer ownership to teams rather than create lock-in.
Core Skills
AI EngineeringLLM Integration (OpenAI / Anthropic)RAG & Vector SearchAI AgentsWorkflow AutomationPrompt Engineering
BackendPHPLaravelMySQLREST APIsQueues & JobsRedis
FrontendJavaScriptReact.jsHTML5CSS3jQuery
LeadershipTeam LeadershipMentoringSystem ArchitectureCode Review
Experience
Tech Lead — TechUp Labs
May 2022 – Present · Remote / Gujarat
- Built NOVA, the platform for LD Expert (a speech-language and learning-disability practice), from scratch — delivered ~80% of it solo in six months; now handed to a team that supervises the agents rather than writing the work.
- Shipped an agentic AI workflow that answers inbound client questions with every available solution, then opens a reviewed pull request on confirmation — wired through Basecamp and GitHub Actions.
- Built RSM sync — therapists were entering every session twice, once in the school's RSM system and again in LD Expert to get paid. The sync removed the second entry and halved their daily logging.
- Lead development of an e-therapy platform supporting 1M+ sessions across 30K+ students and 900+ institutions.
- Built KPI dashboards and a QuickBooks integration for finance and reporting workflows.
- Optimized database queries and architecture to reduce load times and support growth at scale.
Full Stack Developer — Freelance
Aug 2021 – Apr 2022
- Delivered multiple Laravel applications for international clients.
- Built innovation-management systems and service platforms end to end.
Team Lead / Senior Web Developer — DNB Management Applications
Jun 2014 – Jul 2021 · Bangalore / Rajkot
- Led creation of OpticalCRM, the company's flagship product, adopted by 3000+ optical stores worldwide — shaped Sales, Purchase, Inventory, and Accounts modules.
- Automated client onboarding (cPanel provisioning, database setup, tailored data import) for a seamless first-run experience.
- Delivered 100+ production Laravel applications across referral, financial, and distributed-ledger platforms.
- Progression: Junior Software Engineer (2014) → Senior Web Developer (2016) → Team Lead (2016–2021).
Selected Projects
- NOVA — platform built from scratch for LD Expert, a speech-language and learning-disability practice, with an agentic AI workflow that drafts client answers and opens reviewed PRs. ~80% delivered solo at TechUp Labs. Laravel, AI agents, Basecamp + GitHub Actions.
- E-Therapy Platform — online therapy for students, institutions, and therapists. 1M+ sessions, 30K+ students, 900+ institutions. Laravel, React, MySQL.
- OpticalCRM — SaaS CRM for optical retail (sales, purchase, inventory, accounts). 3000+ stores. PHP, Laravel, MySQL.
- Innoplore — innovation-management system for tracking and driving organizational innovation. Laravel, MySQL.
- Kynderway — household-staff platform matching job seekers and employers. Laravel, React, MySQL.
References and a portfolio of live products available on request · www.akshaypatel.in