Intermediate Full Stack Software Engineer

LekkeSlaap; Cape Town; Hybrid; ZAR 300 000 - 400 000; Full time

Job summary

A leading accommodation booking platform based in Cape Town is looking for an Intermediate Full Stack Software Engineer to enhance their user-facing products. This role involves building and optimizing systems, leveraging AI and automation for improved workflows, and collaborating with cross-functional teams. Ideal candidates will have 3–5 years of experience in software development, proficiency in PHP and JavaScript, and a keen interest in innovative technologies. A hybrid work model is offered with various employee benefits including learning opportunities and generous leave.

Benefits

Free lunch when in office

Travel vouchers and discounts

Generous leave package

Team budget for learning

Qualifications

• 3–5 years of experience in full-stack software development, preferably in a high-traffic environment.
• Proficiency in JavaScript and PHP frameworks.
• Experience with AI and automation tools is preferred.

Responsibilities

• Design, build, and deploy scalable web applications.
• Optimize system performance and ensure secure coding practices.
• Collaborate with product managers and designers for technical solutions.
• Engage in documentation and maintenance of project standards.

Skills

Full-stack engineering experience

Cross-functional team collaboration

Problem-solving mindset

Adaptability to new technologies

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or related field

Tools

PHP (Laravel)

JavaScript (React)

Docker

Git

Job description

• 💻 Bring 3–5 years of full-stack engineering experience in user-facing products
• ⚙️ Build and optimise full-stack systems powering a large-scale travel platform
• 🤖 Leverage AI and automation to improve development workflows and product capabilities
• 🔁 Work cross-functionally with Product, Design, and Engineering from idea to launch
• 📍 V&A Waterfront, Cape Town (hybrid)

LekkeSlaap is South Africa’s leading accommodation booking app known for its user-friendliness, exceptional customer experience, and extensive local accommodation options. Owned by Tripco, a travel technology company based in the V&A Waterfront, Cape Town. LekkeSlaap is committed to innovation, best-in-class customer service, and setting new standards in travel technology.

As an Intermediate Full Stack Software Engineer at Tripco, you’ll be a part of a close-knit Product & Engineering team, building and optimising the technology that powers our products. You’ll work across the full technology stack, delivering high-quality, scalable, and maintainable solutions enhancing the travel booking experience for millions of users. From backend architecture to front-end performance, you’ll collaborate with cross-functional teams to bring ideas to life while ensuring our systems are secure, efficient, and future‑ready.

You’ll also play an active role in leveraging AI‑driven tools and automation to improve development efficiency, optimise internal processes, and enhance product capabilities as the industry continues to evolve.

Our Stack

You’ll work with a diverse and modern technology ecosystem, including:

• Core Stack: Backend - PHP (Laravel), Frontend - Twig/HTML/CSS/JavaScript (React), MySQL (MariaDB), Redis, and Nginx
• Additional Languages: Python, C++, and Rust for performance‑critical and specialised microservices
• AI, Data & Automation: Active use of AI‑driven tools, automation, and data‑informed solutions to improve internal systems, development workflows, and product capabilities
• Infrastructure: Containerised apps using HashiCorp’s Nomad, Consul, Vault, and Terraform on a self‑managed multi‑server environment.
• CI/CD: Docker and GitHub Actions for automated builds, testing, and deployments.

Responsibilities

• Application Development: Design, build, test, and deploy scalable and maintainable web applications across the full stack.
• Performance & Security: Optimise system performance and implement secure coding practices that meet industry standards and protect customer data.
• Code Quality: Participate in peer code reviews, maintaining high standards for maintainability, readability, and test coverage.
• Stakeholder Engagement: Partner with product managers, designers, and other developers to translate business needs into technical solutions.
• Problem Resolution: Diagnose and resolve software bugs, bottlenecks, and performance issues quickly and effectively.
• Documentation: Maintain clear, practical technical documentation that captures system context and business logic to support ongoing development and long‑term maintainability.
• Continuous Improvement: Contribute to the continuous improvement of tools, frameworks, and practices to enhance development efficiency and product quality.
• Automation & AI Enablement: Actively identify opportunities to introduce automation and AI‑assisted solutions across the development lifecycle, from testing and deployments to internal tooling and workflows, and product features for our guests & hosts.
• Platform Independence: Develop solutions with a platform‑agnostic mindset to support long‑term scalability and flexibility.
• Product feature ownership: Take full ownership of features, and collaborate across departments to ensure successful integration.

Behavioural competencies

• Collaboration: Thrives in a team environment, working efficiently across multiple disciplines and fostering a culture of shared goals.
• Problem‑solving mindset: Approaches challenges with a doer mentality, balancing analysis, planning, and hands‑on execution to deliver results.
• Adaptability: Open and eager to learn new technologies, including emerging AI and automation tools, as the tech landscape evolves.
• Urgency & ownership: Manages workload effectively, makes confident decisions, and takes full ownership of deliverables.
• Continuous learning: Proactively keeps skills and knowledge current to remain ahead of industry trends, with a strong interest in AI‑driven development practices.
• Attention to quality: Committed to delivering high‑quality, secure, and maintainable code.

Functional experience & competencies

• 3–5 years of proven experience as a Full Stack Software Engineer or similar role, ideally within a web‑based, high‑traffic, user‑facing product environment.
• Proficiency in our stack, or similar technologies, as outlined above.
• Familiarity with software design principles, coding best practices, and scalable architecture.
• Experience with version control systems, particularly Git.
• Keen interest in using AI tools and automation to improve productivity, code quality, and development workflows.

Bonus if you have:

• Good eye for UI/UX design and experience with relevant tools (eg. Figma).
• Experience or strong interest in Machine Learning, Data Analytics, or data‑driven product development.
• Prior exposure to AI‑powered features, automation tooling, or intelligent systems.
• Comfortable with the terminal, Linux and Git.
• Hands‑on experience with containerisation (Docker) and orchestration tools (eg. Nomad/Kubernetes).
• Exposure to continuous integration and deployment pipelines (eg. Github Actions).
• Experience with cloud platforms such as AWS and infrastructure‑as‑code (eg. Terraform).
• Understanding of the web infrastructure—DNS, HTTP, SSL, loadbalancing, etc.

• Hybrid work model & flexible start times
• Free lunch when in office
• Modern offices based at the V&A Waterfront
• Showers on site
• Travel vouchers and discounts
• Discovery medical aid contributions & Vitality Health membership
• Retirement annuity contributions
• High‑end laptops and workstation setup for both in‑office and WFH
• Team budget for learning, online courses, and developer conferences
• Generous leave package
• Half‑day off every month
• Digital nomad month (work from anywhere)
• Regular team events and more!

We are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive workplace and encourage applications from all suitably qualified candidates, including persons with disabilities.