R&D Engineer – Generative AI

Engineering; Cape Town; Hybrid; ZAR 600,000 - 900,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading software development company based in Cape Town seeks experienced software developers with strong Python skills and familiarity with generative AI technologies. Join a dynamic team dedicated to innovation and making real-world impacts through cutting-edge technology.

Benefits

Annual Foos-Fest

AI-Powered Hackathons

Year-End Celebrations

Flexible work environment

Personalized mentorship

Discovery Medical Aid

Half-Day Birthday Leave

Qualifications

• 2-5+ years experience in software development with strong Python background.
• Familiarity with generative AI technologies like LLMs and image generation.
• Experience in R&D projects and agile teams.

Responsibilities

• Prototype and iterate tools and models for generative AI.
• Contribute code that shapes product direction and AI integration.
• Explore edge-case uses of GenAI tools and identify upcoming trends.

Skills

Python

Machine Learning frameworks

Debugging skills

Research skills

Education

Degree in Computer Science or related field

Tools

PyTorch

Hugging Face

OpenAI tools

Job description

At Scrums.com (formerly SovTech), we believe the future of software lies in the talent, innovation, and creativity found on the African continent. For over a decade, we have been pioneering world-class software development for a global audience. We are the leading custom software development company from Africa that, like any great tech company, was founded in a garage. Scrums.com has now grown to more than 350 of the best AI-powered software engineering experts, building world-class platforms for growing businesses across four cities on three continents.

Looking ahead, we remain committed to growing Africa's tech ecosystems. Africa is home to the world's youngest population, with over 50% of Africans under the age of 25. Recent estimates indicate there are over 700,000 professional software developers across Africa today. That number is projected to double by 2025. We believe in the future of African tech talent and the impact it will have on scaling global companies.

Accelerating business growth with expert tech talent

Trusted by 400+ companies, Scrums.com helps businesses scale with our cloud-based engineering subscription platform, offering consistent, cost-effective AI-powered experts, teams, and reliable developer analytics.

Our Culture

Our culture is underpinned by 8 core values.

Earth’s leading software company from Africa- that's where we're going.

Why Join Us?

Be part of a dynamic, people-first team that’s showcasing and advancing Africa’s tech landscape on the global scale. At Scrums.com, we celebrate your individuality, empower your decision-making, and create meaningful experiences. Together, we’re driving innovation and building exceptional teams Take a look at some of the highlights:

Embrace Our African Talent Footprint, Flexibility, and Autonomy

At Scrums.com, we champion an empowered workplace where you shape the culture, influence decisions on tech stacks, and take charge of user testing—all while working from wherever you thrive best across our interconnected Guilds.

Our distributed teams span South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Zimbabwe, and other parts of the continent, showcasing the diversity and brilliance of African talent.

The Scrums.com Vibes

Annual Foos-Fest ️ : Showcase your skills at our legendary Foosball Festival and take home quirky, sought-after awards.

AI-Powered Hackathons : Collaborate with your team to create innovative, market-ready products in just 24 hours—all while enjoying live music and family-friendly fun.

Year-End Celebrations ️ : Reflect and connect at our unforgettable year-end events, a decade-old tradition we continue to cherish.

Popcorn Fridays, Dev Chats, and Braais : Bond with colleagues over insightful discussions and sizzling good vibes.

Fluid Clubs : Join like-minded peers in activities like hiking, running, and more to foster shared interests beyond work.

Weekly All-Hands : Stay inspired and in the loop with our weekly All-Hands sessions that bring us together as one team.

Explore Week : Our annual tradition encourages you to work from anywhere around the globe for one exciting week—freedom meets inspiration!

Stacos (our company currency) : Reward and recognise your peers with Stacos and exchange them for cool vouchers to celebrate accomplishments big and small.

Commission Incentives : Unlock attractive rewards for successful business development leads and employee referrals.

Continued Career Growth & Support

Internal AI Platforms : We empower our teams with access to both closed and open source LLM’s that make work easier and empower your professional growth. We love AI!

High-Performance Culture : Stay aligned and on track with OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) and structured annual reviews.

Personalized Mentorship : Receive dedicated guidance from leadership and the Talent SuccessTeam through one-on-one sessions and quarterly check-ins tailored to your career aspirations.

Our teams are powered by AI— Transforming How We Work

Our teams embrace cutting-edge AI platforms, agents and tools, creating smarter workflows and accelerating career development with AI.

OpenAI, Anthropic, Llama - we use them all so choose what suits you best!

You don’t need your own licenses - we cover the costs and have our own internal AI platforms that gives you access to them all in a secure environment.

Outstanding Employee Benefits*

Discovery Medical Aid : Prioritizing your health with the best care.

Half-Day Birthday Leave : Celebrate your special day with an afternoon off!

Family responsibility & Parental Benefits : Providing full support for a meaningful work-life balance.

*Please note: Benefits may vary depending on employment type

Join us and be part of a dynamic, supportive team that’s making waves across Africa.

Job requirements

Experience

2–5+ years of experience in software development with a strong Python background

Exposure to or curiosity about generative AI technologies — image generation, LLMs, computer vision, and voice cloning

Experience working on experimental or R&D-style projects, preferably in small, agile teams

Familiarity with tools, frameworks, or APIs in the GenAI ecosystem (e.g. Diffusion Models, Transformers, Whisper, VITS, etc.)

Skills

Python expert — confident writing clean, experimental, and reusable code

Comfortable working with ML frameworks (e.g., PyTorch, Hugging Face, OpenAI, Replicate, ComfyUI, etc.)

Quick to prototype and iterate — whether building a new tool, testing a model, or running a benchmark

Strong debugging and research skills — can sift through GitHub issues, Discord chats, arXiv papers, and Reddit threads to find answers

Comfortable running, modifying, and chaining models (image, text, audio)

Bonus: Experience with prompt engineering , fine-tuning , or deploying GenAI models at scale

Attributes

Inherently curious — obsessed with how things work, how they break, and how to push them further

Self-motivated and comfortable diving deep into weird corners of the internet for answers

Passionate about open-source GenAI models , experimental tools, and cutting-edge research

Willing to test and break boundaries — including uncensored models and controversial areas of GenAI

Strong communicator — shares findings clearly with the team, documents well, and raises good questions

Not afraid to get stuck, get weird, and figure it out

Real-World Impact

Helped prototype features across image generation, LLM interaction, computer vision, and voice cloning

Contributed code and insights that directly shaped product direction and AI integration

Explored edge-case use of GenAI tools and models, helping the team find what’s next before it’s mainstream

Acted as a radar inside GenAI communities — surfacing trends, breakthroughs, and tooling before others spot them

Pushed forward initiatives with a hacker's mentality and a researcher's discipline