Open to opportunities

Juan de la Cruz Garcia

@juandelacruzgarcia

Message

Backend engineer and technical lead with 12+ years building APIs and mentoring teams.

Spain

Message

What I'm looking for

I’m looking to lead backend architecture and API design, mentor engineers, and partner with product strategy—owning migrations and delivery end to end, ideally blending hands-on engineering with technical leadership.

I’m a backend engineer and technical lead with 12+ years of experience delivering and scaling core platform capabilities. I specialize in PHP (Symfony/Laravel/Lumen) and API design (REST & GraphQL), and I’ve led major migrations while shaping architecture decisions across teams.

In my current role, I also bridge engineering and product: I’ve worked as an interim Product Manager while staying hands-on. I’ve built integrations and analytics capabilities, introduced AI-assisted development tooling (Claude, Cursor), mentored engineers with TDD and refactoring workshops, and supported large-scale client adoption through careful cross-version migration.

Experience

Work history, roles, and key accomplishments

Current

Senior Engineer & Interim PM

Current

Trusted Shops

Jan 2022 - Present (4 years 6 months)

Develop and scale core backend features using Symfony and API Platform, including statistics-calculation endpoints and data warehouse integration for analytics. Led a multi-stage migration of legal-compliance tools and supported cross-version Consent Manager adaptations while mentoring engineers.

Symfony REST APIs Data Warehouse Statistics Endpoints Third Party Integrations Legal Tools Vue Shopware React Consent Management Migration Scripting Claude Cursor Agentic Development Spec Driven Development Orchestration TDD Refactoring Engineering Best Practices

Squad Leader & Backend Developer

Aareon AG

Apr 2021 - Jan 2022 (9 months)

Built a multi-language localization system in Symfony and exposed content via RESTful APIs to multiple consuming systems. Served as the primary liaison between leadership and the development team, coordinating technical direction and priorities.

Symfony Multi Language RESTful APIs API Design Technical Direction

Lead Developer

WATA Factory

Oct 2019 - Mar 2021 (1 year 5 months)

Established and led software development practices for international clients, acting as the technical reference point and achieving operational autonomy within 6 months. Designed RESTful API architecture, maintained a multi-language WordPress corporate website with custom API integrations, and mentored junior developers.

RESTful APIs Multi Language WordPress API Integration API Design Mentoring

Software Developer

EPICSA

Mar 2019 - Oct 2019 (7 months)

Developed and optimized government-administration web tools using Java, Oracle, PHP (Symfony), and MySQL.

Java Oracle PHP Symfony MySQL

Software Developer

Basebone

Jan 2018 - Mar 2019 (1 year 2 months)

Developed features for a high-traffic routing system using the Lumen microframework (Laravel-based). Implemented GraphQL APIs and integrated external systems via REST (HubSpot, HasOffers).

Lumen Laravel GraphQL HubSpot HasOffers

Software Developer

QaShops

Aug 2017 - Jan 2018 (5 months)

Built a marketplace-manager product with Yii 2 using an API-first approach, implementing RESTful endpoints for product and inventory management.

Yii API First RESTful APIs Product Management Inventory Management

Software Developer

AtSistemas

Dec 2016 - Aug 2017 (8 months)

Developed a customer-service ticketing system integrating external systems via REST and migrated from Yii to Symfony. Helped lead stakeholder discussions to define requirements and API specifications.

REST APIs Yii Symfony Stakeholder Specifications

Software Developer

Interesse

Jun 2014 - Dec 2016 (2 years 6 months)

Built dashboards and automations for a 360º marketing platform using Zend Framework. Delivered statistics dashboards backed by optimized MySQL stored procedures.

Zend Framework Dashboards Automation MySQL Stored Procedures Marketing Analytics