Principal Backend Engineer: Lead Cloud-Native Microservices

Placements24; Stellenbosch Local Municipality; Hybrid; ZAR 1,000,000 - 1,800,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Private healthcare coverage

Retirement plan

Generous leave and development budget

Relocation assistance

Job summary

Placements24 invites applications for a Principal Backend Engineer to lead the design and development of core platform services in a SaaS environment. Based in Paarl in a hybrid setup, you will guide architectural decisions, mentor engineers, and drive scalable, resilient backend systems using microservices and cloud-native practices.

The ideal candidate has 8+ years in backend development, strong leadership, and deep expertise in Go/Java/Python/Node.js, API design (REST/gRPC), and

Qualifications

• Master’s or Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field.
• 8+ years of professional backend software development experience.
• Proven experience designing and building large-scale distributed systems (microservices).
• Expertise in at least one modern backend language (Go, Java, Python, Node.js).
• Strong knowledge of SQL and NoSQL databases and data modeling.
• Experience with cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP) and containerization (Docker, Kubernetes).
• Proficiency in API design (RESTful, gRPC).
• Solid understanding of software design patterns and principles.
• Experience with performance tuning and optimization.
• Excellent leadership, communication, and interpersonal skills.

Responsibilities

• Architect, design, and implement scalable backend services and APIs.
• Lead technical decision-making and provide architectural guidance for new features.
• Mentor and guide a team of backend engineers, fostering best practices.
• Collaborate with product managers to define technical requirements and roadmaps.
• Optimize backend systems for performance, scalability, and security.
• Oversee robust testing strategies and deployment processes.
• Champion modern technologies and engineering practices.
• Troubleshoot and resolve complex backend issues.
• Contribute to cloud infrastructure and DevOps practices.
• Ensure long-term maintainability and evolution of the platform.

Skills

Distributed systems design

Cloud platforms (AWS/Azure/GCP)

REST/gRPC APIs

Docker/Kubernetes

Backend languages (Go/Java/Python/Node

Data modeling (SQL/NoSQL)

Leadership

API design

Education

Master's or Bachelor's degree in CS/Engineering

Tools

Docker

Kubernetes

Job description

Placements24 invites applications for a Principal Backend Engineer to lead the design and development of core platform services in a SaaS environment. Based in Paarl in a hybrid setup, you will guide architectural decisions, mentor engineers, and drive scalable, resilient backend systems using microservices and cloud-native practices.

The ideal candidate has 8+ years in backend development, strong leadership, and deep expertise in Go/Java/Python/Node.js, API design (REST/gRPC), and