Akshay Patel - AI Forward-Deployed Engineer & Laravel Tech Lead
LLM Integration
RAG & Agents
Laravel Expert
Available for AI projects & consulting

Hi, I'm Akshay Patel

AI Forward-Deployed Engineer & Laravel Tech Lead

I embed with your team to ship production-grade AI into real products — LLMs, RAG, and workflow automation — backed by 10+ years building SaaS at scale with Laravel.

Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India | Open to remote

10+Years Experience
100+Projects
1M+Users
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Engagements

How we can work together

Fixed-scope, embedded with your team, and always ending in something running in production

AI Integration Sprint

Ship one working AI feature into the product you already run — not a prototype that dies in a branch.

  • Scoping against your real codebase
  • One feature, built and deployed
  • Handover doc so your team owns it
2–4 weeks

RAG & Knowledge Base

Make your own documents answerable, with retrieval you can inspect when an answer looks wrong.

  • Ingestion and chunking for your data
  • Retrieval you can evaluate, not guess at
  • Self-hosted option — data never leaves your box
3–6 weeks

Agentic Workflow Automation

Put an agent on the repetitive work, with a human gate before anything ships.

  • Map the workflow that actually costs time
  • Agent plus an explicit review step
  • Wired into the tools you already use
4–8 weeks

Laravel + AI Architecture

Decide how AI fits your stack before you spend a quarter building the wrong thing.

  • Architecture and integration review
  • Model tiering and a real cost model
  • A roadmap your team can execute
1–2 weeks
Book a 30-min scoping call

Pricing follows scope. Thirty minutes is usually enough to size the work — and to tell you if it isn’t worth doing.

About Me

My Story

A decade shipping SaaS at scale — now bringing that discipline to AI

I started as a Junior Developer at DNB Management Applications, growing to Team Lead. Today I'm a Tech Lead at TechUp Labs and an independent AI Forward-Deployed Engineer — I embed with teams and ship production AI, not slide decks.

My edge is shipping complex business applications that actually scale — from OpticalCRM serving 3000+ optical stores to an e-therapy platform handling 1M+ sessions.

Now I bring that same shipping discipline to the AI era: integrating LLMs, RAG, and workflow automation into real products, then mentoring teams to own them long after the engagement ends.

AI Forward-Deployed Engineer

LLMs, RAG & automation shipped into production products

10+ Years PHP & Laravel

Enterprise-grade SaaS used by millions

Tech Lead & Mentor

Leads teams and transfers ownership, not lock-in

10+ Years Experience
100+ Projects Delivered
1M+ Users Served
3000+ Optical Stores
Tech Stack

Skills & Expertise

Technologies I work with daily

AI Engineering

LLM Integration OpenAI API Anthropic Claude RAG & Vector Search AI Agents Workflow Automation Prompt Engineering

Backend Development

PHP Laravel MySQL REST APIs Queues & Jobs Redis

Frontend Development

JavaScript React.js HTML5 CSS3 jQuery

Leadership

Team Leadership Mentoring System Architecture Code Review Agile / Scrum
Career Journey

Professional Experience

My career growth and achievements

Tech Lead

TechUp Labs

May 2022 - Present Remote / Gujarat
  • Built NOVA, the platform for LD Expert, 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
  • Led development of an e-therapy solution supporting 1M+ sessions from 30K+ students
  • Implemented KPI dashboards and QuickBook integration
  • Optimized database queries reducing load times significantly
AI Agents Laravel React MySQL GitHub Actions

Full Stack Developer

Freelance

Aug 2021 - Apr 2022
  • Delivered multiple Laravel applications for international clients
  • Built innovation management systems and service platforms

Team Lead / Senior Web Developer

DNB Management Applications

Jun 2014 - Jul 2021 · 7 yrs 2 mos Bangalore / Greater Rajkot Area

Career Progression: Started as Junior Software Engineer (Jun 2014) → Promoted to Senior Web Developer (Jun 2016) → Advanced to Team Lead (Jun 2016 - Jul 2021)

  • Led OpticalCRM's creation, the company's pioneering product, embraced by 3000+ optical stores worldwide. Shaped crucial Sales, Purchase, Inventory, and Account modules
  • Improved onboarding efficiency through automated Cpanel processes, creating databases and importing tailored client data for seamless initial experience
  • Completed and led more than 100 MLM projects and blockchain coin projects
  • Specialized in MLM Applications development, promoted to Senior Software Engineer within three years
  • Developed and maintained web applications using modern technologies, collaborating with cross-functional teams
PHP Laravel MySQL JavaScript Project Management
Portfolio

Featured Projects

Selected work that showcases my expertise

NOVA sign-in — Neuroaffirming Operations & Virtual Administration

NOVA — LD Expert Platform

Agentic AI

Neuroaffirming Operations & Virtual Administration — built from scratch for LD Expert, a speech-language and learning-disability practice. Includes an agentic workflow that answers inbound client questions with every available solution, then opens a reviewed pull request on confirmation — and RSM sync, which ended the double entry therapists were doing between the school's RSM system and LD Expert, halving their daily logging.

~80% delivered solo 6 months 50% logging cut
AI AgentsLaravelBasecampGitHub Actions

Built at TechUp Labs with Chirag and Nikhil. Live at nova.ldexpert.org — sign-in required.

 E-Therapy Platform home page

E-Therapy Platform

Tech Lead

Teletherapy for PreK–12 schools — scheduling, live sessions, documentation and reporting, across students, therapists and district administrators. I led development through the growth years and the work that kept it usable at that size: KPI dashboards for institutions, a QuickBooks integration for billing and finance, and query and architecture optimisation as session volume climbed.

1M+ Sessions 30K+ Students 900+ Institutions
Laravel PHP React MySQL QuickBooks API

Built at TechUp Labs.

 OpticalCRM home page

OpticalCRM

Team Lead

The system optical retailers run their day on — Sales, Purchase, Inventory and Accounts in one place. I led its creation as the company’s flagship product, shaped all four modules, and automated client onboarding end to end: cPanel provisioning, database setup and tailored data import, so a new store could go live without an engineer in the loop.

3000+ Stores
PHP Laravel MySQL cPanel API Automation

Built at DNB Management Applications — adopted by optical retailers worldwide.

 Innoplore home page

Innoplore

Full Stack

Innovation Management System helping organizations track and drive innovation, improving productivity and creativity.

Laravel MySQL HTML/CSS/JS
Kynderway home page, archived February 2025

Kynderway

Full Stack

Household Staff Platform streamlining hiring and matching between job seekers and employers.

Laravel MySQL React/jQuery
DRPF Worldwide franchise selection screen

MLM & Blockchain Projects

Full Stack

100+ MLM applications and blockchain coin projects for DNB Management Applications.

100+ MLM Apps
Laravel Blockchain MySQL
Blog

Latest Blogs

Insights on AI engineering, Laravel, and building production SaaS

Client Feedback

From the practice that uses it daily

Chelsea co-owns LD Expert and works in NOVA every day. This is her public post, quoted with her permission.

“Chirag and his team — especially Akshay and Nikhil — have created a platform for us at LD Expert that does all the fancy and important things — making money, increasing value, saving time — but beyond that, it was created with integrity, thoughtfulness, and innovation based on the things that we needed.”

“You’ve helped my day-to-day life tremendously by increasing my efficiency (and thus giving time back to my family) and making me more excited than ever to work. More than that though, you’ve helped our students, and that matters more than anything.”

CD
Chelsea DiMarzio, M.A. CCC-SLP, WDP Co-Owner & Speech-Language Pathologist, LD Expert
Read the original

On NOVA, built for LD Expert at TechUp Labs with Chirag and Nikhil.

Get In Touch

Let's Work Together

Available for AI integration projects, consulting, and embedded engagements

Let's ship AI into your product

I take on AI integration projects where the goal is working software in production — LLM workflows, RAG systems, and automation pipelines — built on or integrated with your existing Laravel/PHP stack. Typical engagements run 4–12 weeks, embedded with your team.

Book a call 30 minutes, no pitch — fastest way to start
WhatsApp +91 88662 98795
Email [email protected]
LinkedIn Connect with me