Principal Software Engineer

KingMakers

Cape Town

On-site

ZAR 800,000 - 1,200,000

Full time

14 days+

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Benefits offered by this job

Health Support
Comprehensive Insurance
Future Planning
Performance Bonus
Convenience at Work
Hybrid Work

Job summary

A leading entertainment and betting group in Cape Town is seeking a Principal Backend Engineer. This role involves shaping the platform's architecture and technical direction, handling millions of transactions, and leading engineering teams. Candidates should have 10+ years of experience and expertise in cloud architectures and DevOps practices, along with exceptional communication skills. The role offers a hybrid work model and various health and performance benefits.

Qualifications

  • 10+ years of engineering leadership, proven track record with large-scale distributed systems.
  • Expertise in cloud architectures (AWS, Azure, Google Cloud) and DevOps practices (CI/CD).
  • Ability to quickly address production incidents and implement preventive measures.
  • Capability to maintain product quality through unit testing and end-to-end testing processes.
  • Exceptional communication skills to work effectively across teams and influence stakeholders.

Responsibilities

  • Architect future systems, design and implement distributed systems that handle high throughput.
  • Provide technical leadership, act as a go-to expert for backend and infrastructure topics.
  • Optimize performance and identify bottlenecks for scalable solutions.
  • Drive reliability with standards for monitoring and incident management.
  • Collaborate with product and business leaders to translate ideas into technical strategies.
  • Continuously improve existing solutions and keep aligned with modern practices.
  • Lead by example, write clean code, review peers' work for consistent quality.
  • Be part of on-call rotations for critical systems.

Job description

About Us

At KingMakers, we build technology that powers sports and gaming experiences for millions of users across Africa. Since 2018, we've grown into one of the most relevant entertainment and betting groups in the region, known for our strong in-house tech culture and relentless focus on scalability, performance, and reliability.

We believe great engineering is about clarity, impact, and ownership, not buzzwords. Our teams collaborate across several countries to solve complex technical challenges that directly affect our users and the business. We move fast, ship often, and stay pragmatic. If you enjoy building things that scale and solving problems that matter, you'll feel at home here.

About The Role

We're looking for a Principal Backend Engineer to take a key role in shaping the architecture and technical direction of our platform. You’ll design systems that handle millions of transactions, improve performance across services, and ensure our technology can scale safely and efficiently as the business grows. You’ll act as a technical leader and hands‑on architect, guiding teams, raising the quality bar, and helping us make smart, sustainable engineering decisions.

What You’ll Be Doing
  • Architect the future: design, implement, and evolve distributed systems that handle high throughput and millions of concurrent transactions
  • Provide technical leadership: act as a go‑to expert for backend and infrastructure topics, mentoring teams and raising the overall engineering bar
  • Optimize performance: identify bottlenecks and design scalable solutions that improve availability, latency, and cost efficiency
  • Drive reliability: establish solid standards for monitoring, alerting, and incident management, ensuring our systems are observable and resilient
  • Collaborate across teams: partner with product and business leaders to translate ideas into clear technical strategies and execution plans
  • Improve continuously: challenge existing solutions, propose better patterns, and keep us aligned with modern practices in distributed systems and DevOps
  • Lead by example: write clean, maintainable code; review peers' work; and ensure consistent engineering quality across services
  • Be part of on‑call rotations for critical systems, focusing on root‑cause prevention, not firefighting
Tech Stack

You're welcome to work with a modern, cloud‑native environment including:

  • Languages & Frameworks: C#, .NET 8, .NET Core
  • Messaging & Streaming: Kafka, RabbitMQ, Azure Service Bus
  • Databases: SQL Server, MongoDB, CosmosDB, Redis
  • Infrastructure & Orchestration: Docker, Kubernetes (AKS), Azure Cloud
  • Monitoring & Observability: Grafana, Kibana, Application Insights

Experience with this exact stack is not mandatory, but deep technical curiosity, sound design principles, and adaptability are.

Requirements
  • 10+ years of engineering leadership, with a proven track record of delivering large‑scale, distributed systems
  • Expertise in some cloud architectures (AWS, Azure, Google Cloud), DevOps practices (CI/CD), Microservices (AKS), Kafka/RabbitMQ streams and programming languages (C#, or others)
  • Demonstrated ability to quickly address production incidents and implement preventive measures to avoid recurrence
  • Proven capability to maintain product quality through unit testing and end‑to‑end testing processes
  • The ability to foresee future challenges, craft innovative solutions, and implement strategies that drive meaningful impact
  • Exceptional communication skills to work effectively across teams and influence stakeholders at all levels
  • While iGaming experience is a plus, what matters most is your ability to solve real‑world problems with creativity and precision
Benefits
  • Health Support: A monthly allowance to invest in your health and wellbeing
  • Comprehensive Insurance: Extra protection and peace of mind for you and your loved ones
  • Future Planning: Employer contributions towards your long‑term financial security
  • Performance Bonus: Discretionary rewards that celebrate your impact
  • Convenience at Work: Free reserved parking at the office
  • Hybrid Work: A flexible arrangement with 2 days in the office and 3 days remote each week
Seniority level

Mid‑Senior level

Employment type

Full‑time

Job function

Information Technology

Industries

IT Services and IT Consulting

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