Principal Software Engineer

Posted 5 Days Ago
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Rivonia, City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality, Gauteng, ZAF
In-Office
Expert/Leader
Agency • Information Technology • Professional Services
The Role
Leads hands-on design and development of enterprise software across cloud, backend, web, mobile, and AI platforms. Builds production applications using AI-assisted workflows, LLMs, agents, and modern cloud architectures. Develops native and cross-platform mobile applications, mentors senior engineers, partners with clients, establishes engineering standards, and evaluates emerging technologies. This is an individual-contributor technical leadership role requiring daily coding and architecture ownership.
Summary Generated by Built In

Ready to code the future—while still getting your hands dirty in the present?


We’re hunting for a rare breed: a battle-tested Software Engineer with 20+ years of scars and wins, who still gets a genuine rush from writing elegant code… and who’s already deep in the AI-native trenches.


This isn’t a “strategy-only” architecture role. You’ll design and ship enterprise-grade systems across cloud, backend, web, mobile and AI—from first sketch all the way to production.


Role Overview:

Someone with over 20 years of software engineering experience who is still writing code every day. Someone who embraces AI as an engineering partner, not just a productivity tool. Someone who can architect complex systems, build production software, mentor teams, and continuously redefine what’s possible with modern software development.


This is not a management role. This is a hands-on technical leadership role for an exceptional software engineer who leads through technical excellence, curiosity, and execution.


Responsibilities

  • Design and build enterprise-grade software solutions from concept through to production.
  • Define architecture across cloud, backend, web, AI and mobile platforms.
  • Develop production-quality software using AI-assisted engineering workflows.
  • Build intelligent applications powered by Large Language Models (LLMs), AI agents and modern AI platforms.
  • Design and develop native mobile applications (iOS and Android) and cross-platform solutions using Flutter or similar frameworks.
  • Partner with clients and engineering teams to solve complex technical challenges.
  • Mentor senior engineers and influence engineering standards through hands-on technical leadership.
  • Evaluate and introduce emerging technologies that improve engineering capability and business outcomes.
  • Continue coding, prototyping and experimenting with new technologies as part of your daily work.


Requirements
  • Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems or related field preferred  
  • 20+ years of professional software engineering experience.
  • Strong architecture capabilities
  • Extensive experience building cloud-native applications using Azure, AWS and/or Google Cloud.
  • Deep knowledge of modern software architecture, APIs, distributed systems, DevSecOps, CI/CD and secure software engineering
  • Multi-agent AI systems
  • Edge AI
  • Experience developing native mobile applications using Swift and/or Kotlin
  • On-device AI
  • React Native or .NET MAUI
  • Developer Experience (DevEx)
  • Building engineering platforms and accelerators
  • Cursor
  • Claude Code
  • GitHub Copilot
  • OpenAI Codex
  • Windsurf
  • Gemini Code Assist
  • Lovable
  • Bolt.new
  • Firebase Studio


Skills Required

  • 20+ years of professional software engineering experience
  • Strong software architecture capabilities
  • Extensive experience building cloud-native applications using Azure, AWS, and/or Google Cloud
  • Deep knowledge of modern software architecture, APIs, distributed systems, DevSecOps, CI/CD, and secure software engineering
  • Experience with multi-agent AI systems
  • Experience with Edge AI
  • Experience developing native mobile applications using Swift and/or Kotlin
  • Experience with on-device AI
  • Experience with React Native or .NET MAUI
  • Experience with Developer Experience (DevEx)
  • Experience building engineering platforms and accelerators
  • Experience with Cursor
  • Experience with Claude Code
  • Experience with GitHub Copilot
  • Experience with OpenAI Codex
  • Experience with Windsurf
  • Experience with Gemini Code Assist
  • Experience with Lovable
  • Experience with Bolt.new
  • Experience with Firebase Studio
  • Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, or a related field
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The Company
Year Founded: 2013

What We Do

Sabenza IT is a niche recruitment company specializing in Information Technology, SAP, Finance, and Engineering roles, with over 23 years of experience.

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