Junior Developer

Zohorecruit; Johannesburg; On-site; ZAR 360,000 - 480,000; Full time

Job summary

Zohorecruit in Johannesburg, South Africa seeks a Junior Developer to contribute to the design, build, test, support and maintenance of enterprise Java services. You will deliver stable, well-tested components that move data between systems while building technical depth to work independently on the platform.

The role focuses on developing and maintaining Java applications, RESTful APIs, and data access layers with strong emphasis on secure, auditable code and reliable deployments.

Qualifications

• 3 years’ commercial software development experience.
• Java production applications experience.
• Spring Boot for services and REST endpoints.
• RESTful API development and consumption.
• SQL and relational databases.
• JPA/Hibernate including entity mapping and basic query tuning.
• Git in a team workflow.
• Maven or Gradle build tooling.

Responsibilities

• Develop, enhance and maintain Java applications and services.
• Build and consume RESTful APIs, including models, validation, error handling and versioning.
• Implement data access with JPA/Hibernate against relational databases.
• Write and maintain SQL for development, investigation and performance checks.
• Apply OO design to fit existing patterns and be readable by the team.
• Write unit and integration tests and support system testing before release.
• Debug defects across application, API and database layers and document fixes.
• Use Git for branching, commits, pull requests and code review feedback.
• Build and package applications with Maven or Gradle and follow release processes.
• Participate in design discussions, sprint planning and stand-ups.

Skills

Java

Spring Boot

REST API

SQL

JPA/Hibernate

Git

Maven/Gradle

OO Design

Unit Testing

Debugging

Tools

Docker

Kubernetes

Azure DevOps

Maven/Gradle

Job description

Johannesburg, South Africa | Posted on 05/10/2026

The Junior Developer contributes to the design, build, test, support and maintenance of enterprise applications. The role sits in a mission-critical integration setting, where applications exchange data between systems and must remain reliable, secure and auditable.

The purpose of the Junior Developer is to deliver stable, well-tested Java services and supporting components that keep data moving correctly between source and destination systems, while building the technical depth required to work independently on the platform.

Requirements

Key responsibilities

• Develop, enhance and maintain Java applications and services.
• Build and consume RESTful APIs, including request and response models, validation, error handling and versioning.
• Implement data access with JPA/Hibernate against relational databases, including queries, mappings and transaction handling.
• Write and maintain SQL for development, investigation and performance checks.
• Apply object-oriented design so new code fits existing patterns and is readable by the wider team.
• Write unit and integration tests, and support system and regression testing before release.
• Debug defects across application, API and database layers, and document root cause and fix.
• Use Git for branching, commits, pull requests and code review feedback.
• Build and package applications with Maven or Gradle, and follow the team’s build and release process.
• Participate in design discussions, sprint planning, stand-ups and estimations.
• Support deployments and provide first-line technical input on incidents within the junior scope.
• Maintain technical notes, configuration records and handover comments for features and fixes.
• Follow secure coding, data-protection and audit requirements that apply to sensitive data.
• Escalate risks early where a change could affect message flow, data integrity or service availability.
• 3 years’ commercial software development experience.
• Java, used in production applications rather than coursework only.
• Spring Boot for services, configuration, dependency injection and REST endpoints.
• RESTful API development and consumption.
• SQL and relational databases.
• JPA/Hibernate, including entity mapping and basic query tuning.
• Git in a team workflow.
• Maven or Gradle.
• Object-oriented programming and clean, maintainable code.
• Software testing, including unit tests and defect verification.
• Debugging and troubleshooting across logs, APIs and databases.
• Ability to work from a specification and ask clear questions when requirements are incomplete.
• Written and verbal communication suitable for technical and non-technical stakeholders.

Advantageous

• Angular and TypeScript for supporting front-end or admin screens.
• Microsoft Azure and Azure DevOps (repos, pipelines, boards, releases).
• Microservices and distributed architecture.
• Docker and Kubernetes.
• API security, including JWT, authentication and authorisation.
• Integration development: mapping, transformation, interface agreements and partner testing.
• Messaging technologies such as queues or event streams.
• Healthcare or clinical systems, including HL7, FHIR, or hospital information systems.
• Experience with mission-critical or high-availability applications.
• Exposure to monitoring, logging and alerting in production.