Senior Backend Engineer - Mobility (12 month FTC)

M-KOPA; Cape Town; Remote; ZAR 900,000 - 1,200,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Fully remote role (UTC-1 to UTC+3)

Global team collaboration

Professional development programs

Job summary

M-KOPA Mobility is hiring a Senior Backend Engineer to scale our e-mobility platform across Africa. You will build event-driven microservices using C#/.NET, working in a cloud-first environment with Azure, AWS, or GCP.

You will own components end-to-end, from architecture to production monitoring, in a fully remote role across UTC -1 to UTC +3. You’ll join a mission-driven team delivering climate-friendly transport solutions.

Qualifications

• Strong grasp of C# .NET development.
• Experience with event-driven systems (Service Bus or similar).
• Microservices architecture experience.
• Experience with Azure or other major cloud providers (AWS, GCP).
• Familiarity with containerisation/orchestration tools (Kubernetes, Docker).
• Observability tools such as Prometheus and Grafana.
• Testing and deployment expertise.
• DevOps culture mindset.
• Experience with AI coding tools (Claude Code or similar).

Responsibilities

• Build sophisticated event-driven microservices with real-world impact.
• Own solutions end-to-end from architecture decisions to production monitoring.
• Collaborate in a DevOps culture focusing on CI/CD and observability.

Skills

C# .NET development

Event-driven systems

Microservices architecture

Cloud platforms

Kubernetes & Docker

Observability tooling

Testing & deployment

DevOps culture

AI coding tools

Tools

Service Bus

Kafka

RabbitMQ

Azure

AWS

GCP

Kubernetes

Docker

Prometheus

Grafana

Claude Code

Job description

Job Overview

Join our expanding engineering team! We're actively recruiting a Senior Backend Engineer to help scale M-KOPA Mobility, our fast-growing e-mobility business. This is an initial 12-month Fixed Term Contract, with the potential to extend or transition into a permanent role. Build the event-driven microservices that power clean, affordable transport for riders and entrepreneurs across Africa.

The Impact

Africa's transport sector is massive, underserved, and at an inflection point, and the transition to electric is accelerating, led by East Africa. Your code will directly power the technology behind Kenya's leading e-mobility financing platform. We've already financed over 11,000 electric motorbikes, helping riders save more than $3 a day and cutting air pollution by 90%. It's your chance to build tech for a business that's literally transforming lives across an entire continent.

The Opportunity

• Mission-driven engineering: Every service you build helps put clean transport within reach of riders who'd otherwise be locked out of ownership
• Global recognition: Join a company named by the Financial Times as one of Africa's fastest-growing companies for 5 consecutive years running (2022–2026)
• Scale challenges: Build backend systems for a business growing at 3x year-on-year, with over 11,000 e-motorbikes financed and demand climbing
• Real climate impact: Electric is simply better for drivers, cities, and the planet — our e-motorbikes cut air pollution by 90% versus petrol equivalents

What You'll Do

At M-KOPA, you'll build sophisticated event-driven microservices with real-world impact. Our engineering teams own their solutions end-to-end – from architecture decisions to production monitoring. Join us in combining cutting-edge .NET development with purpose-driven engineering that makes digital and financial inclusion possible across Africa.

Technical Environment

• Languages & frameworks: C#/.NET
• Cloud: We work in Azure, and welcome experience across AWS or GCP
• Architecture: Event-driven systems and microservice development – we use Service Bus, and welcome experience with similar messaging technologies such as Kafka or RabbitMQ
• Infrastructure: Kubernetes, Docker
• Observability: Prometheus, Grafana
• Engineering culture: DevOps, infrastructure as code, automated testing across all environments including production, continuous delivery
• AI tooling: We use AI coding tools including Claude Code as part of our engineering workflow

Our Engineering Approach

• High quality output
• Observability and monitoring
• Automated testing in all environments, including production
• Infrastructure as code and DevOps practices

What You Need

We expect you to be comfortable working as part of a team which owns the entire software stack, including supporting infrastructure, throughout the entire software lifecycle, from inception through production to decommissioning under a DevOps culture. You'll value the constraints that continuous delivery places upon engineering processes and embrace testing and observability as first-order concerns in development.

Required Experience

• Strong grasp of C# .NET development
• Experience with event-driven systems – Service Bus or similar messaging technologies such as Kafka or RabbitMQ
• Microservices architecture experience
• Experience with Azure, or other major cloud providers such as AWS or GCP
• Familiarity with containerisation and orchestration tools (Kubernetes, Docker)
• Experience with observability tools such as Prometheus and Grafana
• Testing and deployment expertise
• DevOps culture mindset
• Experience working with AI coding tools, ideally Claude Code or similar

Location & Benefits

• Initial 12-month Fixed Term Contract, with potential to extend or transition into a permanent role
• Fully remote role within UTC -1 to UTC +3 time zones
• Work with diverse teams across UK, Europe, and Africa
• Professional development programs and coaching partnerships
• Family-friendly policies and flexible working arrangements
• Well-being support and career growth opportunities

Our Mission

We create financial inclusion for the traditionally excluded through a fair, flexible, customer-centric financing model, with M-KOPA Mobility extending that same model to clean transport. We strive to drive greater inclusion of women, youth, and low-income communities.

Our Impact

• Connected: 6 million smartphone customers, 2.5 million first-time smartphone users
• Prosperous: 70% of customers use their M-KOPA product for income generation, with 35,000+ livelihoods created for agents
• Green: 11,000+ e-motorbikes financed, growing 3x year-on-year, cutting air pollution by 90% and helping riders save more than $3 a day

Company Information

At M-KOPA, we empower our people to own their careers through diverse development programs, coaching partnerships, and on-the-job training. We support individual journeys with family-friendly policies, prioritize well-being, and embrace flexibility.

Explore more at m-kopa.com.

Corporate Information & Notice

Recognized four times by the Financial Times as one Africa's fastest growing companies (2022, 2023, 2024, 2025 and 2026), named on CNBC's World’s Top Fintech Companies 2025 & 2026 and by TIME100 Most influential companies in the world 2023 and 2024 , we've served over 10 million customers, unlocking $2 billion in cumulative credit for the everyday earners across Africa, in addition to over 10,000 e-bikes financed in Kenya.

M-KOPA is an equal opportunity and affirmative action employer committed to assembling a diverse, broadly trained staff. Women, minorities, and people with disabilities are strongly encouraged to apply.

M-KOPA explicitly prohibits the use of Forced or Child Labour and respects the rights of its employees to agree to terms and conditions of employment voluntarily, without coercion, and freely terminate their employment on appropriate notice. M-KOPA shall ensure that its Employees are of legal working age and shall comply with local laws for youth employment or student work, such as internships or apprenticeships.

M-KOPA does not collect/charge any money as a pre-employment or post-employment requirement. This means that we never ask for ‘recruitment fees’, ‘processing fees’, ‘interview fees’, or any other kind of money in exchange for offer letters or interviews at any time during the hiring process.

Applications for this position will be reviewed on a rolling basis. Shortlisting and interviews will take place at any stage during the recruitment process. We reserve the right to close the vacancy early if a suitable candidate is selected before the advertised closing date.

If your application is successful M-KOPA undertakes pre-employment background checks as part of its recruitment process, these include; criminal records, identification verification, academic qualifications, employment dates and employer references.