AI-First Principal Software Engineer

Golden Rule; Johannesburg; On-site; ZAR 2,000,000 - 2,800,000; Full time

Job summary

Golden Rule is seeking an exceptionally hands-on software engineer with 20+ years of experience to lead through technical excellence and practical delivery. This is not a management role but a technical leadership position focusing on AI-native engineering, modern development practices, and solving complex business problems with software.

You will architect systems across cloud, backend, web, AI and mobile platforms, build production software, mentor teams and continuously redefine what's

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems or related field preferred.
• 20+ years of professional software engineering experience.
• Proven experience designing and delivering complex software systems at enterprise scale.
• Strong architecture capabilities with ability to translate strategy into working software.
• Expert-level coding skills and a passion for remaining hands-on.
• Experience building cloud-native apps on Azure, AWS or Google Cloud.
• Deep knowledge of modern software architecture, APIs, distributed systems, DevSecOps, CI/CD and secure software engineering.
• Experience developing native mobile apps using Swift and/or Kotlin; cross-platform via Flutter or similar.

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 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.
• Mentor senior engineers and influence engineering standards through hands-on leadership.
• Evaluate and introduce emerging technologies to improve engineering capability and business outcomes.
• Continue coding, prototyping and experimenting with new technologies as part of daily work.

Skills

Hands-on coding

Software architecture

Cloud-native design

AI/ML integration

Swift/Kotlin/Flutter

DevSecOps / CI/CD

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or related

Tools

Azure

AWS

Google Cloud

OpenAI

Codex

GitHub Copilot

Job description

Golden Rule is seeking an exceptionally hands-on software engineer with 20+ years of experience to lead through technical excellence and practical delivery. This is not a management role but a technical leadership position focusing on AI-native engineering, modern development practices, and solving complex business problems with software.

You will architect systems across cloud, backend, web, AI and mobile platforms, build production software, mentor teams and continuously redefine what's