Principal Generalist Engineer

Moniepoint Group; South Africa; On-site; ZAR 900,000 - 1,500,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Culture focus

Learning & development

Competitive compensation

Job summary

Moniepoint Inc. is seeking a senior Generalist Engineer for the Research & Development Team. You will own problems end-to-end, delivering complete production systems across software, distributed systems, infrastructure, data pipelines, and ML components.

The role demands first-principles thinking, strong debugging, and the ability to operate across boundaries to deliver robust, observable, scalable solutions in production. A true engineering generalist is required.

Qualifications

• Strong CS fundamentals (DSA, OS, networking, distributed systems).
• Solid probability and statistics knowledge.
• Experience building production systems at scale.
• Ability to move across languages (Go, Java, Python, Rust, SQL).
• Understanding of system behavior under load and failure.
• Comfort with Linux, containers, Kubernetes.
• Data systems, streaming systems, ML infrastructure, performance optimization.

Responsibilities

• Design and build production-grade systems that are reliable, scalable, and observable.
• Own systems end-to-end: problem → design → data → implementation → deployment → operations.
• Work across application services, distributed systems, infrastructure, data pipelines, and ML systems.
• Debug complex production issues across multiple layers.
• Make engineering trade-offs grounded in first principles.
• Improve performance, latency, reliability, and cost efficiency.
• Contribute to architecture and technical direction.
• Write maintainable code and documentation.
• Raise the engineering bar.
• Frame problems correctly: when to use ML vs deterministic systems.
• Work with data end-to-end and train, evaluate, and iterate on models.
• Build reproducible pipelines and deploy models with monitoring.

Skills

DSA fundamentals

OS fundamentals

Networking

Distributed systems

System design

Debugging

Linux

Kubernetes

Cloud or ML infrastructure

Tools

Go

Java

Python

Rust

SQL

Job description

Who we are

Moniepoint Inc. is Africa’s all-in-one financial platform, helping 20 million businesses and individuals access seamless payments, banking, credit, cross-border, and business management tools each month.

As Nigeria’s largest merchant acquirer, we power most of the country’s point-of-sale (POS) transactions. Through our subsidiaries, Moniepoint Inc. processes over $250 billion in digital payment transaction value annually.

About the role

We are hiring a senior Generalist Engineer for our Research & Development Team who can own problems end to end and deliver complete production systems, not just components. This is a broad, high-ownership role for an engineer who can operate across software, distributed systems, infrastructure, data, and, where useful, machine learning, moving from vague problem statements to clear designs, robust implementations, reliable deployment, and effective operation in production.

Success in this role requires strong first-principles thinking, sound technical judgment, deep debugging ability, and the willingness to work across boundaries to get the job done. We are looking for a true engineering generalist: someone who reduces complexity, improves reliability and performance, and treats ML as one tool among many rather than a default answer.

Curious about what makes Moniepoint an incredible place to work? Check out posts on how we cultivate a culture of innovation, teamwork, and growth.

What You’ll Be Doing

• Design and build production-grade systems that are reliable, scalable, and observable.
• Own systems end-to-end: problem → design → data → implementation → deployment → operations.
• Work across application services, distributed systems, infrastructure, data pipelines, and ML systems
• Debug complex production issues across multiple layers
• Make engineering trade-offs grounded in first principles
• Improve performance, latency, reliability, and cost efficiency
• Contribute to architecture and technical direction
• Write maintainable code and documentation
• Raise the engineering bar
• Machine Learning as Part of the Role
• Frame problems correctly: when to use ML vs deterministic systems
• Work with data end-to-end
• Train, evaluate, and iterate on models
• Build reproducible pipelines
• Deploy models and monitor performance, drift, and cost
• Debug system + model failures

What We’re Looking For

• Strong CS fundamentals (DSA, OS, networking, distributed systems)
• Solid probability and statistics
• Experience building production systems at scale
• Ability to move across languages (Go, Java, Python, Rust, SQL)
• Understanding of system behavior under load and failure
• Comfort with Linux, containers, Kubernetes
• Strong debugging skills
• Ability to reason using invariants and failure modes
• Data systems, streaming systems, ML infrastructure, performance optimization

What We Value

• Ownership over problems
• Simplicity over complexity
• Curiosity about internals
• Robust design thinking
• Clear communication

What Success Looks Like

• Deliver working production systems from ambiguous problems
• Apply ML only when needed
• Build reliable, scalable systems
• Reduce complexity
• Earn trust in technical judgment

What we can offer you

• Culture - We put our people first and prioritize the well-being of every team member. We’ve built a company where all opinions carry weight and where all voices are heard. We value and respect each other and always look out for one another. Above all, we are human.
• Learning - We have a learning and development-focused environment with an emphasis on knowledge sharing, training, and regular internal technical talks.
• Compensation - You’ll receive an attractive salary, pension, health insurance, paid leave plus other benefits.

What to expect in the hiring process

Our interview process is designed to be thoughtful, transparent, and candidate-friendly, allowing you to showcase your strengths while getting to know us better:

• Initial Conversation: A brief introductory call with our recruiter to learn more about your background, career goals, and to share insights about the role and our team.
• Technical Assessment: A practical, take-home assessment follow by a discussion with an interviewer on a call.
• System Design Interview: A focused session with our Engineering Team, where we'll explore system design, architecture, and problem-solving approaches.
• Final Interview: A combined technical and behavioural conversation with a member of our Executive Team, aimed at understanding your alignment with our values, vision, and culture

Moniepoint is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees and candidates.