The Role We’re looking for a backend engineer who believes the way software is built has fundamentally changed. You don’t write everything from scratch; you use AI to move faster, think better, and focus on what matters. Boilerplate is not your job; building scalable, reliable systems is. In this role, you will own backend services end‑to‑end and use AI as a force multiplier to ship faster than traditional development teams. Responsibilities Build and own backend services using Java, Spring Boot, and Python—designed for scale, reliability, and real‑time use. Use AI tools (Amazon Q, Cursor, Copilot, Claude, GPT) to accelerate development, refactoring, and problem‑solving. Turn product ideas into production‑ready systems quickly, without compromising quality. Integrate AI capabilities (LLMs, RAG, vector search) into backend workflows where they add real value. Act as the final filter for AI‑generated code—identify flaws, inefficiencies, and incorrect assumptions before they ship. Design clean APIs, handle distributed system challenges, and ensure performance at scale. Write and validate tests to keep fast‑moving systems stable. Debug production issues and take full ownership of reliability and performance. Qualifications Strong experience with Java (Spring Boot) and Python backend systems. Experience building high‑scale, low‑latency distributed systems. Solid understanding of APIs, databases, caching, and event‑driven systems (e.g., Kafka). Experience with cloud environments (AWS) and containerized deployments. Familiarity with LLM APIs, token usage, latency, and response handling. AI‑Native Capabilities You are already using AI tools (Amazon Q, Cursor, Copilot, Claude, GPT) as part of your daily workflow. You know how to manage context, structure prompts, and get reliable outputs from AI systems. You don’t trust AI blindly; you verify, refine, and take responsibility for every line shipped. What Makes You a Fit You take full ownership; “the AI wrote it” is never an excuse. You optimize for speed and correctness. You have a tinkerer's mindset, you try new tools early, experiment constantly, and figure out what works. You constantly look for better, faster ways to build. You are comfortable operating in ambiguity and turning ideas into working systems. Benefits Medical aid contribution Pension fund contribution Quarterly performance incentive bonus Risk benefit company contributions Reimbursable communications allowance for internet and mobile phone bills Half‑day off on your birthday 5 personal days leave a year, over and above your annual leave Flexible working conditions (remote & in person) with access to office hubs as required Home office set‑up with laptop, monitor and other related items #J-18808-Ljbffr
Senior Backend Developer (Ai Native)
CLICKATELL
johannesburg, johannesburg
Published 6 days ago
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