Principal Engineer

Rank Group; Cape Town; Presencial; ZAR 1.500.000 - 2.800.000; Jornada completa

Descripción de la vacante

Rank Group in Cape Town seeks a Principal Engineer to shape AI-powered software delivery. You’ll stay hands-on, writing production code while guiding technical direction, architecture and tooling at scale.

Work across Java, .NET, React and Flutter to build platforms, guardrails and telemetry, mentoring senior engineers and influencing practices without direct management. This is a high-impact role in a regulated, high-volume environment.

Formación

• Significant software engineering experience at senior levels.
• Hands-on capability across multiple tech stacks (Java, .NET, React or Flutter).
• Experience with cloud-native architectures, AWS and CI/CD pipelines.

Responsabilidades

• Design and build AI-enabled tooling and workflows for software engineering.
• Develop prototypes and production solutions to boost productivity and quality.
• Create reusable patterns across Java, .NET, React and Flutter stacks.
• Shape technical standards for AI-generated code in collaboration with Architecture and Security.
• Build telemetry to measure AI impact on delivery and quality.
• Evaluate new AI models and developer tools against real engineering challenges.
• Mentor senior engineers and provide technical leadership across teams.

Conocimientos

Java

NET

React

Flutter

Herramientas

AWS

Descripción del empleo

The role

We’re looking for a Principal Engineer to help shape the future of software engineering at Rank.

This is a senior, hands‑on technical role focused on how we use AI to transform software delivery across our engineering organisation. You’ll build the platforms, tooling and standards that enable our teams to use AI safely and effectively, while remaining close to the technology and writing production code yourself.

Working across Java, .NET, React and Flutter, you’ll influence engineering practices across multiple teams without direct line management responsibility. Your impact will come through technical expertise, collaboration and the solutions you build.

What you’ll be doing

• Design and build the tooling that supportsAI-assisted software engineering, including agentic workflows, context and retrieval, evaluation frameworks and guardrails.
• Develop prototypes and production solutions that demonstrate how AI can improve engineering productivity and quality.
• Create reusable patterns and tooling across our Java, .NET, React and Flutter technology stacks.
• Help shape technical standards for AI-generated and AI-assisted code, working closely with Architecture and Information Security.
• Build engineering telemetry that helps us understand the impact of AI on delivery, quality and productivity.
• Evaluate emerging AI models, platforms and developer tools against real engineering challenges.
• Mentor senior engineers and provide technical leadership across multiple teams.

What we’re looking for

You’ll be an experienced engineer who enjoys solving complex problems and wants to remain hands‑on while influencing at organisational level.

Ideally, you’ll bring:

• Significant software engineering experience, ideally at Principal, Staff or Senior Staff Engineer level.
• Strong hands‑on experience across at least two of Java, .NET, React or Flutter.
• Experience with AWS, cloud-native architecture, microservices, APIs and CI/CD.
• Practical experience working with LLMs, generative AI, agentic workflows, retrieval/context engineering or AI developer tooling.
• Experience building platforms or engineering tools used across multiple development teams.
• A track record of influencing technical direction without relying on line management authority.
• Strong communication skills and the confidence to work with both senior engineers and business leaders.
• Experience within gaming, financial services or another regulated, high-volume environment would be an advantage.

Why join us?

This is more than a traditional Principal Engineer role.

You’ll have the opportunity to help define how AI changes the way engineering is done at Rank, rather than simply implementing an established model.

You’ll experiment, build and prove new approaches within a complex live technology environment, while helping our engineering teams adopt them successfully.

For someone who wants to stay close to the code while having an impact across an entire engineering organisation, it’s an exciting opportunity to help shape what comes next.