Principal Engineer (Full-Stack / Platform / Data)
Summary
Principal Engineer to lead architecture and hands-on development across full-stack, platform, and data systems, driving scalability and reliability for a growing product team.
Overview
Job Description
Role: Principal Engineer (Full-Stack / Platform / Data). Location: Cape Town, South Africa (Hybrid or On-site). Open to relocation within South Africa for the right candidate.
Role Overview
We are hiring a Principal Engineer to lead the evolution of our platform across infrastructure, data, backend, and frontend systems. This is a senior, hands-on role focused on solving complex technical challenges while shaping long-term architecture and engineering direction.
Responsibilities
- Define and drive system architecture across frontend, backend, data, and infrastructure
- Make high-impact technical decisions with long-term scalability in mind
- Contribute hands-on across the stack when needed (backend, frontend, data, infrastructure)
- Design and maintain cloud infrastructure and deployment systems
- Architect data models and pipelines that support both product and analytics
- Improve reliability, observability, and developer experience
- Mentor engineers and raise the technical bar across teams
- Partner with leadership on technical strategy and execution
Experience
- 10+ years of hands-on software engineering experience
- Proven experience designing, building, and scaling complex, production systems
- Demonstrated experience working across backend, frontend, data, and infrastructure domains
Key Competencies
- Strong backend engineering experience (APIs, distributed systems, service design)
- Solid frontend engineering experience with modern frameworks (e.g., React) and performance optimization
- Proven experience designing and operating data systems (data modeling, pipelines, storage)
- Deep experience with cloud infrastructure, CI/CD systems, and observability tooling
- Technical Ability
- Strong technical judgment and ability to make high-quality tradeoffs
- Track record of influencing technical direction and mentoring engineers
- Clear and effective communication across technical and non-technical stakeholders
Nice to Have
- Leadership
- Experience in high-growth or scaling environments
- Experience building internal platforms or developer tooling
- Experience balancing product delivery with platform/infrastructure investment