Senior/Principal Full Stack Software Engineer

Part of nGAGE Talent Limited; Johannesburg; On-site; ZAR 1,000,000 - 1,800,000; Full time

Job summary

Part of nGAGE Talent Limited is seeking 4 exceptional Principal/Senior Full Stack Software Engineers to join a cross-functional product team in Johannesburg or Cape Town. You will solve hard energy trading and renewable energy problems with end-to-end responsibilities across the stack.

The role requires 10+ years of experience, strong Python/Django skills, and cloud exposure. You’ll collaborate with domain experts, craft scalable systems, and mentor peers in a hands-on engineering culture.

Qualifications

• 10+ years in full-stack software engineering with Python/Django.
• Experience across backend, frontend, databases and cloud infra.
• Delivery-focused with product discovery experience alongside PMs.

Responsibilities

• Design and implement backend services in Python/Django.
• Build front-end interfaces in JavaScript/TypeScript.
• Work with AWS infrastructure and cloud services.
• Mentor junior engineers and participate in code reviews.
• Drive technical discovery with product managers and designers.
• Balance short-term delivery with long-term platform health.

Skills

Python backend

Full-stack

AWS

PostgreSQL

Product-minded engineering

Problem solving

Communication

AI coding tools

Degree in CS/CE/EE

Education

Degree in Computer Science or related field

Tools

Django REST Framework

JavaScript/TypeScript

Terraform

Docker

AWS

Job description

Title: Principal/Senior Full Stack Software Engineer

Location: Johannesburg OR Cape Town

About Us

A leading renewable energy independent power producer (IPP) and energy trader, currently with 600 MW of owned generation capacity under construction, and another 300 MW of capacity under construction by IPPs where we are the off takers.

About the Role

We are looking for 4 exceptional full-stack software engineers (with 10+ years of experience). You'll work within a cross-functional, empowered product team alongside product management and design, solving hard problems in the energy trading and renewable energy domain. The teams follow the product operating model - engineers participate in product discovery, assess feasibility, prototype solutions, and deliver outcomes. You won't be shielded from the business; you'll have direct exposure to customers and end users, domain experts, and the complex real-world problems our software needs to solve.

Role and Responsibilities

• Work with your product team to understand customer pain, evaluate technical approaches, and deliver solutions that move the business forward.
• Design and implement backend services in Python/Django, build front-end interfaces in JavaScript/TypeScript, and work with cloud infrastructure on AWS.
• You'll work closely with energy and financial domain experts - turning complex business models and spreadsheet-based workflows into robust, scalable systems.
• Write clean, tested, maintainable code. Contribute to architectural decisions, code reviews, and engineering standards as we build the foundation of our platform.
• We expect engineers to actively use AI coding tools (we primarily use Claude, but experiment broadly) to accelerate their work without compromising quality.
• We're in the early stages of building a world-class product and engineering organisation. You'll help establish practices, processes, and norms - not just inherit them.
• Partnering with product managers and designers to assess feasibility risk and drive technical discovery.
• Mentor and elevate junior engineers through pairing, code review, and architectural guidance.
• Make strategic technical decisions that balance short-term delivery with long-term platform health and scalability.
• Take ownership of cross-cutting concerns: system architecture, reliability, performance, and security

Required Experience

• Strong Python backend skills - significant experience building production systems with Python and Django (or Django REST Framework).
• Full-stack capability - comfortable working across backend, frontend (JavaScript/TypeScript), databases, and infrastructure. You don't need to be an expert in all layers, but you must be willing and able to work across them.
• Cloud platform experience - hands-on experience with AWS (preferred) or another major cloud provider.
• Relational database proficiency - solid experience with PostgreSQL or similar.
• Product-minded engineering - you think about the "why" behind what you build, not just the "how." You're comfortable participating in product discovery alongside product managers and designers.
• Strong problem-solving instincts - you break down complex, ambiguous problems into clear technical approaches.
• Effective communication - you can articulate technical decisions clearly to both technical and non-technical colleagues.
• AI-augmented workflow - you actively leverage AI coding and productivity tools to accelerate your work and improve quality, and understand how to use AI safely and responsibly.
• Relevant qualifications and experience - ideally a degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electronic Engineering, or a related field, combined with relevant professional experience of 10 to 20 years. Qualifications and years of experience are a guide, not a gate. If your skills and impact exceed what your CV timeline suggests, we want to hear from you.

Beneficial Skills and Experience

• AWS architecture and security - including networking, IAM, and infrastructure-as-code (Terraform)
• DevOps and platform engineering - CI/CD pipelines, containerisation (Docker), monitoring, and reliability
• Data engineering - data lakes, ETL/ELT pipelines, large-scale data processing, analytics architecture
• Front-end architecture - experience leading front-end technology choices and building modern JavaScript/TypeScript applications
• Energy sector or energy trading experience - familiarity with complex, technical domain-heavy environments