Snr FrontEnd & App Developer

Our Travelstart team is looking for a Senior Front-End & App Developer to join our Technology team and help build and evolve Travelstart’s customer-facing web and mobile experiences.

This is a genuinely blended role for someone equally comfortable working across modern front-end web development and mobile applications. You’ll work closely with Product, UX/UI, back-end engineering and other technology teams to turn customer and business requirements into intuitive, reliable and scalable digital experiences.

We’re looking for someone who can take real ownership — from understanding the problem and shaping the technical solution through development, testing, deployment, production support and ongoing optimisation.

Location: Cape Town, South Africa (Our office is located in Gardens)

• Develop, maintain and enhance responsive customer-facing web applications.
• Build and improve mobile applications across supported platforms.
• Translate product requirements and UX/UI designs into polished, high-quality digital experiences.
• Build reusable, maintainable front-end components and contribute to shared design patterns.
• Integrate web and mobile applications with APIs, authentication, payment services and other platform capabilities.
• Work with mobile-specific functionality such as push notifications, deep linking and device capabilities.
• Support mobile application versioning and App Store / Google Play releases.
• Keep performance, usability, accessibility and responsive design front of mind.

• Write clean, efficient, secure and maintainable code.
• Apply sound software engineering principles, patterns and coding standards.
• Actively participate in peer code reviews.
• Develop and maintain appropriate automated tests.
• Identify and address technical debt.
• Troubleshoot and resolve technical and production issues.
• Contribute to better engineering practices, tooling and technical standards.

As a senior developer, you won’t simply be handed tickets to execute.

You’ll be expected to understand the problem, contribute to solution design and make sound technical decisions that balance performance, scalability, security, maintainability, customer impact and delivery speed.

You’ll identify dependencies and risks early, contribute to architectural discussions and help shape technical decisions affecting our customer-facing platforms.

• Partner with Product Owners, Product Managers and UX/UI teams to understand and refine requirements.
• Participate in planning, estimation and delivery activities.
• Break larger requirements into practical technical deliverables.
• Support testing, deployment and release activities.
• Use customer feedback, analytics and application performance information to drive continuous improvement.
• Work collaboratively across front-end, mobile, back-end, platform, QA, Product and Design teams.

Delivery doesn’t end when the code is deployed.

You’ll monitor the performance and reliability of our web and mobile applications, investigate production incidents and defects, identify root causes and help improve our monitoring, logging and diagnostic capability.

We expect our senior developers to own what they build.

You’ll have strong practical experience in modern front-end development, together with demonstrable experience developing and supporting production mobile applications.

Your technical toolkit is likely to include:

• JavaScript and TypeScript.
• React or similar modern front-end frameworks.
• React Native, Flutter or equivalent mobile development frameworks.
• HTML5 and CSS.
• Responsive and mobile-first development.
• Component-based application architecture.
• RESTful APIs and/or GraphQL.
• Authentication and authorisation patterns.
• Git and modern source-control practices.
• Automated testing and testing frameworks.
• CI/CD environments.
• Application monitoring and debugging.
• App Store and Google Play deployment processes.
• Secure software development principles.

Experience working in cloud-hosted, API-driven, high-volume or transactional digital environments would be an advantage.

Experience using AI tools and AI-enabled development workflows is also preferred.

We’re looking for someone with:

• Strong professional software development experience.
• Solid experience developing modern customer-facing web applications.
• Practical experience developing and supporting production mobile applications.
• Experience integrating front-end and mobile applications with APIs and back-end services.
• Experience across the software development lifecycle.
• Experience with automated testing and modern engineering practices.
• Experience working in Agile or iterative software delivery environments.
• Experience supporting applications in a live production environment.

A relevant qualification in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Technology or a related field is welcomed, although strong equivalent practical experience is equally relevant.

We’re less interested in a particular number of years and more interested in the level at which you operate.

You should be comfortable:

• Taking ownership of complex or technically ambiguous requirements.
• Leading the technical design of significant web or mobile functionality.
• Making thoughtful technical decisions that balance immediate delivery with longer-term sustainability.
• Identifying architectural, scalability and performance considerations before they become problems.
• Influencing engineering standards and development practices.
• Mentoring and supporting other developers.
• Leading problem-solving across systems or technical disciplines.
• Discussing technical trade-offs confidently with Product and Technology stakeholders.
• Operating with a high degree of autonomy, judgement and accountability.

We value people who are curious, pragmatic and comfortable solving difficult problems.

You’ll need strong analytical ability, attention to detail and a genuine interest in creating a good customer experience. You should be able to work independently when needed, collaborate well with others and communicate technical ideas clearly to both technical and non-technical colleagues.

Most importantly, we’re looking for someone who takes ownership, keeps learning and wants to leave the technology in a better state than they found it.

At Travelstart, technology sits at the heart of how we make travel simpler, faster and more accessible for our customers. You’ll be joining a business where your work is used in real-world, high-volume customer journeys and where engineering has a direct impact on the experience we deliver. 

We’re evolving our platforms, investing in modern technology and AI-enabled ways of working, and looking for people who enjoy solving meaningful problems rather than simply maintaining the status quo. 

It’s an environment that offers complexity, pace, ownership and the opportunity to help shape how travel technology develops across the business.