{"id":1770886,"url":"https://alion.io/job/jemhr-senior-product-engineer-","title":"Senior Product Engineer *","company":{"id":2522566,"name":"Jem","domain":"jemhr.com","url":"https://alion.io/company/jemhr","size_band":"51-200","is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"BambooHR","truth_index":{"grade":"B","score":75,"open_postings":7,"ghost_share":0,"stale_share":1,"repost_share":0,"time_to_fill_p50_days":null,"computed_at":"2026-10-20T05:45:00Z"}},"role":"Backend","role_family":"Backend","seniority":"senior","employment_type":"full_time","work_mode":"on_site","remote_scope":null,"remote_scope_basis":null,"remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"structured","locations":["Johannesburg, South Africa"],"countries":["ZA"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":null,"salary_estimate":{"min_usd":47000,"max_usd":86000,"period":"year","method":"role_seniority_country_remote_cell","sample_n":26},"experience_years_min":null,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":false,"technologies":[{"name":"AI Agents","optional":false},{"name":"LLM","optional":false},{"name":"Model Context Protocol","optional":false},{"name":"Multi-Agent Systems","optional":false},{"name":"Platform Engineering","optional":false},{"name":"PostgreSQL","optional":false},{"name":"Prompt Engineering","optional":false},{"name":"Python","optional":false},{"name":"TypeScript","optional":false},{"name":"WhatsApp","optional":false}],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-01-07T00:00:00Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-01-07","last_verified_at":"2026-10-20T04:49:16Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":286,"trust":{"level":"stale","repost_count":0,"flags":["stale"],"days_open":286},"description":"Johannesburg-Based | Scale-Up | Full-time Role | Tech Machine | Hiring Manager: Thamsanqa Moyo, Kaeleigh Stroud, Richard O'Brien\n\nJem is hiring two Product Engineers to build AI-native systems, lead technical workstreams with enterprise customers, and ship production features that directly impact our platform and customers.\nJem is a fast-growing HR and financial wellness scale-up building tools for frontline teams. We support deskless workers across South Africa with payroll, HR, and benefits products, delivered through modern platforms and AI-powered conversational systems.\nThis is a forward-deployed product engineering role. You will build AI agents and platform systems, while also working directly with enterprise customers during technical discovery and implementation. This role combines product engineering, platform ownership, and client-facing technical leadership.\n⭐ Your Mission\nBuild and operate AI-native product systems that work reliably at scale.\nLead technical implementation with enterprise customers and turn real-world problems into shipped product.\n⭐ What Success Looks Like\nAI agents and conversational systems are live, reliable, and improving over time\nEnterprise implementations run smoothly and convert into long-term customer partnerships\nFeatures you own move core product and customer success metrics\nPlatform systems are stable, observable, and secure\nJunior engineers grow through your technical mentorship\n⭐ What You’ll Do\nAI-Native Product Development\nBuild and orchestrate multi-agent systems using modern agent frameworks\nDevelop conversational and voice-based AI agents for WhatsApp and related channels\nImplement MCP and agent-to-agent communication patterns\nUse AI coding agents to accelerate delivery and experimentation\nContinuously improve agent performance through prompt design and workflow optimisation\nPlatform Engineering\nDesign and maintain PostgreSQL schemas and production data models\nBuild and operate event-driven systems and integrations\nDevelop secure, enterprise-grade backend services\nOwn system reliability, performance, and observability\nBuild and maintain integrations with enterprise platforms and middleware tools\nForward-Deployed Client Engineering\nLead technical discovery and implementation sprints with enterprise customers\nRun technical scoping sessions with client IT teams\nDesign integration architectures across payroll, ERP, and internal systems\nPresent technical solutions, timelines, and progress to client stakeholders\nBuild long-term technical relationships with customer teams\nProduct Ownership & Team Contribution\nDrive features from problem definition through release and iteration\nOwn performance and business outcomes for your features\nConduct customer interviews and validation sessions\nMentor interns and junior engineers in AI-native development practices\n⭐ You’ll Thrive Here If You\nHave built AI agents or conversational systems in production environments\nAre comfortable owning backend systems and product features end to end\nEnjoy working directly with enterprise customers and their technical teams\nCare about system quality, reliability, and real-world impact\nAre excited by fast-moving, high-ownership environments\nEnjoy mentoring others and raising the technical bar\n⭐ Requirements\nHands-on experience with agent frameworks and AI-native systems\nExperience building conversational or voice-based AI products\nStrong prompt engineering and LLM integration patterns\nStrong PostgreSQL experience and backend development skills\nExperience with event-driven architectures and system integrations\nAbility to lead technical discussions with enterprise IT teams\nProfessional experience in Python and/or TypeScript\nComfort travelling to client sites for implementation work\n⭐ What You Can Expect from Us\nHybrid work environment with a 3-day office policy in the Cape Town/Johannesburg office.\nFrontline exposure to building real AI products at scale\nDirect work with enterprise customers and complex real-world systems\nHigh ownership, fast learning, and visible impact\nCompetitive salary\nGreat Benefits (lunch 4 times a week, medical aid contribution, retirement annuity contribution, etc.) and 22 days of annual leave.\nWe respond to all applications. You can expect feedback on your application, even if we decide not to move forward.\nTo learn more about what Jem looks for beyond the CV, please check out our People Notes on the Jem Ideal Employee Profile here","description_format":"text","description_chars":4449,"description_truncated":false,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":null,"management_years_min":null,"team_size_min":null,"manages_managers":false,"education":null,"security_clearance":false,"languages":[]},"benefits":["Annual leave","Hybrid work"],"hiring_locations":[],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":false,"industries":[],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-10-03T15:30:22Z"}],"visa":[],"liveness":{"score":8,"band":"cold","label":"Long shot","p_open":1,"p_active":0.279,"p_room":0.28,"age_days":286,"expected_fill_days":36,"reasons":["conf:0","win:tail","crowd:"],"computed_at":"2026-10-20T05:45:00Z"},"pay":null,"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/jemhr-senior-product-engineer-","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/jemhr-senior-product-engineer-.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-10-20T08:55:38Z","cache_seconds":300,"methodology":"https://alion.io/methodology","terms":"https://alion.io/terms","contact":"https://alion.io/contact","api":"https://alion.io/developers","about":"Alion is a live layer of people, companies and AI agents: who they are, whether they are real and active right now, what they do and how to work with them, readable by people and by agents and paid per call.","catalog":"https://alion.io/catalog.json","usage":{"tier":"crawler_verified","counted_by":"address","units_charged":1,"used_today":9806,"day_limit":null,"remaining_today":null,"minute_limit":300,"resets_at":"2026-10-21T00:00:00Z"}},"offers":[{"id":"company.slices","title":"One company in depth, by slice","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002,"plus_per_slice":{"credits":0.05,"usd":0.005}},"unit":"per company, plus each slice with data","note":"the employer in depth","call":{"mcp_tool":"get_company","arguments":{"id":2522566},"rest":"https://alion.io/mcp/rest/get_company?id=2522566"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.slices&for=job%2Fjemhr-senior-product-engineer-"},{"id":"market.stats","title":"A market slice: pay, demand and time to fill","status":"live","price":{"credits":1,"usd":0.1},"unit":"per slice","note":"pay, demand and time to fill for this role and place","call":{"mcp_tool":"market_stats"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=market.stats&for=job%2Fjemhr-senior-product-engineer-"},{"id":"job.search","title":"Open jobs by role, technology, place, pay and visa","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002},"unit":"per posting in a list","note":"similar open postings","call":{"mcp_tool":"search_jobs"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=job.search&for=job%2Fjemhr-senior-product-engineer-"},{"id":"company.verify","title":"Is this company real and active right now","status":"pilot","price":null,"unit":"per company","request":{"url":"https://alion.io/catalog/request","method":"POST","body":"{\"offer\": \"company.verify\", \"for\": \"job/jemhr-senior-product-engineer-\", \"note\": \"what you need it for\"}"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.verify&for=job%2Fjemhr-senior-product-engineer-"}]}