Senior Back-End Developer

Loot.co.za (Africa Online Retail (Pty) Ltd); Wes-Kaap; On-site; ZAR 550,000 - 700,000; Full time

Job summary

A major e-commerce platform is seeking a Senior Back-End Developer in Cape Town. The ideal candidate will have over 4 years of experience, primarily in Java and Spring, and will be responsible for developing and maintaining back-end systems. You will collaborate with a skilled team, focusing on building scalable APIs and modernizing legacy systems. Candidates must have experience with various technologies, including Go/Golang and AWS.

Qualifications

• 4+ years back-end development experience with strong focus on Java and Spring.
• Experience in building RESTful/GraphQL APIs at scale.
• Strong understanding of system architecture and software engineering principles.

Responsibilities

• Design and maintain robust, scalable back-end services and APIs.
• Lead system architecture discussions and data modeling.
• Collaborate on translating requirements into technical solutions.

Skills

Java

Spring

Go/Golang

Python/Django

Node.js

PostgreSQL

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or related field

Tools

Git/GitLab

AWS

Docker

Prometheus

Grafana

Job description

Location: Cape Town On-Site (only considering candidates from Cape Town)

Type: Full-Time

The Position

As a Senior Back-End Developer at Loot, you’ll play a critical role in developing, optimizing, and maintaining the back-end systems that power our high-performance e-commerce platform. You\'ll work on applications that manage millions of products and serve thousands of customers daily.

In this role, you will be deeply involved in architectural decisions, legacy modernization, and building scalable and secure APIs that drive both our customer-facing and internal platforms. You’ll collaborate with a small, focused, and highly capable team closely aligned with the business, contributing to all aspects of the development lifecycle—from design to deployment.

The Tech Stack

Loot primarily operates as a Java house, with a modern front end built in Next.js, deployed both on-premises and in the cloud. While Java is at our core, we work with a wide range of modern technologies and tools:

• Infrastructure & Tools: Git/GitLab, AWS (EB, EC2, S3, API Gateway, Lambda, Route53, Cloudfront), Docker/Portainer, Cloudflare, Prometheus, Grafana, ELK

Responsibilities

• Design, build, and maintain robust, scalable, and secure back-end services and APIs (REST and GraphQL)
• Lead and contribute to system architecture, data modelling, and technical design discussions
• Integrate with third-party services and internal systems to support complex e-commerce workflows
• Collaborate closely with front-end developers, product managers, and other stakeholders to translate requirements into technical solutions
• Drive performance optimization, monitoring, and troubleshooting of distributed systems in production
• Contribute to the evolution of our tech stack by introducing modern tools, frameworks, and best practices
• Provide mentorship to mid-level and junior engineers
• Support and improve CI/CD pipelines and DevOps workflows

Technical & Qualification Requirements

• You have experience in building RESTful/ GraphQL APIs and back-end systems at scale
• Solution architecture, including system design and documentation
• Designing and integrating APIs (internal and external) including REST and GraphQL architectures
• Building high-performance microservices in Go/Golang
• Creating and optimizing PostgreSQL database schemas
• Working with Linux-based systems
• JSON, XML, and data serialization formats
• Secure coding practices and mitigation of vulnerabilities
• Debugging and optimizing performance in distributed systems
• Handling challenges of scalability, load balancing, and infrastructure automation
• Working hands-on with cloud platforms like AWS and containerized environments

Required Skills & Experience

• 4+ years of back-end development experience, with a strong focus on Java and Spring
• Proficient in one or more additional back-end languages such as Go/Golang, Python/Django or Node.js
• Strong understanding of system architecture, design patterns, and software engineering principles
• Experience working with version control systems (Git), CI/CD tools, and observability stacks (e.g., Prometheus, Grafana, ELK)
• Excellent problem-solving and debugging skills
• Strong growth mindset with a passion for high-quality, hands-on coding
• Ability to work independently, as well as collaboratively within a team

Nice to Have

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field
• E-commerce or fintech industry experience
• Experience with remote/distributed teams
• Familiarity with containerization (Docker, Portainer, Kubernetes)
• Experience with GraphQL
• Familiarity with Python ML/data libraries (NumPy, SciPy) for e-commerce analytics

All applicants to send their CVs to [e-mail], Cape Town based candidates