AI-Driven Backend Engineer: Scale Real-Time Systems

Clickatell; Johannesburg; Hybrid; ZAR 360,000 - 1,080,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical Aid contribution

Pension fund contribution

Quarterly performance incentive bonus

Risk benefit company contributions

Reimbursable communications allowance

Birthday half-day off

5 personal days leave

Flexible working conditions (remote &

Home office set-up with laptop

Job summary

Clickatell, a leader in AI-driven chat commerce, is seeking a backend engineer who embraces modern software practices. You will own backend services end-to-end, leveraging AI to move faster while maintaining reliability and scale.

You will work with Java Spring Boot and Python, build high-scale distributed systems, and ensure robust APIs. Join a learning culture with flexible remote-in-person options and perks.

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.

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.

Skills

Java (Spring Boot)

Python backend

Distributed systems

APIs & microservices

AWS

Containerization (Docker/Kubernetes)

LLM APIs / AI integration

Tools

Kafka

Job description

Clickatell, a leader in AI-driven chat commerce, is seeking a backend engineer who embraces modern software practices. You will own backend services end-to-end, leveraging AI to move faster while maintaining reliability and scale.

You will work with Java Spring Boot and Python, build high-scale distributed systems, and ensure robust APIs. Join a learning culture with flexible remote-in-person options and perks.