Principal Software Engineer

Sabenza IT & Recruitment; South Africa; On-site; ZAR 1,200,000 - 1,800,000; Full time

Job summary

Sabenza IT & Recruitment is seeking a veteran Software Engineer in South Africa who still codes daily and thrives in AI-native environments. You will design, build and ship enterprise-grade systems across cloud, backend, web, mobile and AI.

You will mentor teams, guide architecture, and push the boundaries of modern software development while hands-on coding and prototyping with the latest AI tools. The role prioritizes technical leadership over management and offers opportunities to shape

Qualifications

• 20+ years of professional software engineering experience.
• Strong architecture capabilities.
• Extensive experience building cloud-native apps on major cloud platforms.
• Deep knowledge of APIs, distributed systems, DevSecOps, CI/CD and secure engineering.
• Experience with multi-agent AI systems and edge AI.
• Native mobile development using Swift or Kotlin; React Native or .NET MAUI.
• Familiar with developer experience and building engineering platforms.

Responsibilities

• Design and build enterprise-grade software from concept to production.
• Define architecture across cloud, backend, web, AI and mobile platforms.
• Develop production-quality software using AI-assisted workflows.
• Build intelligent apps powered by LLMs and modern AI platforms.
• Design and develop native mobile apps and cross-platform solutions.
• Partner with clients and engineering teams to solve complex technical challenges.
• Mentor senior engineers and influence engineering standards.
• Evaluate emerging technologies to improve capability and outcomes.
• Continue coding, prototyping and experimenting with new tech.

Skills

Software design

Architectural skills

Cloud-native development

DevSecOps

CI/CD

Secure software engineering

Multi-agent AI

Edge AI

Native mobile development

React Native

Flutter

Technical leadership

Mentoring

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or related field

Tools

Azure

AWS

Google Cloud

Swift

Kotlin

React Native

.NET MAUI

Flutter

GitHub Copilot

OpenAI Codex

Claude Code

Gemini Code Assist

Firebase Studio

Job description

Ready to code the future—while still getting your hands dirty in the present?

We’re hunting for a rare breed: a battle-tested Software Engineer with 20+ years of scars and wins, who still gets a genuine rush from writing elegant code… and who’s already deep in the AI-native trenches.

This isn’t a “strategy-only” architecture role. You’ll design and ship enterprise-grade systems across cloud, backend, web, mobile and AI—from first sketch all the way to production.

Role Overview:

Someone with over 20 years of software engineering experience who is still writing code every day. Someone who embraces AI as an engineering partner, not just a productivity tool. Someone who can architect complex systems, build production software, mentor teams, and continuously redefine what’s possible with modern software development.

This is not a management role. This is a hands‑on technical leadership role for an exceptional software engineer who leads through technical excellence, curiosity, and execution.

Responsibilities

• Design and build enterprise-grade software solutions from concept through to production.
• Define architecture across cloud, backend, web, AI and mobile platforms.
• Develop production-quality software using AI-assisted engineering workflows.
• Build intelligent applications powered by Large Language Models (LLMs), AI agents and modern AI platforms.
• Design and develop native mobile applications (iOS and Android) and cross-platform solutions using Flutter or similar frameworks.
• Partner with clients and engineering teams to solve complex technical challenges.
• Mentor senior engineers and influence engineering standards through hands‑on technical leadership.
• Evaluate and introduce emerging technologies that improve engineering capability and business outcomes.
• Continue coding, prototyping and experimenting with new technologies as part of your daily work.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems or related field preferred
• 20+ years of professional software engineering experience.
• Strong architecture capabilities
• Extensive experience building cloud-native applications using Azure, AWS and/or Google Cloud.
• Deep knowledge of modern software architecture, APIs, distributed systems, DevSecOps, CI/CD and secure software engineering
• Multi-agent AI systems
• Edge AI
• Experience developing native mobile applications using Swift and/or Kotlin
• On-device AI
• React Native or .NET MAUI
• Developer Experience (DevEx)
• Building engineering platforms and accelerators
• Cursor
• Claude Code
• GitHub Copilot
• OpenAI Codex
• Windsurf
• Gemini Code Assist
• Lovable
• Bolt.new
• Firebase Studio