{"id":2813476,"url":"https://alion.io/job/job-mail-principal-software-engineer","title":"Principal Software Engineer","company":{"id":701519,"name":"Job Mail","domain":"jobmail.co.za","url":"https://alion.io/company/job-mail","size_band":null,"is_staffing_agency":true,"employer_type":"agency","is_intermediary":true,"listed_via":"jobmail.co.za","ats_vendor":"Schema","truth_index":{"grade":"C","score":64,"open_postings":6701,"ghost_share":0.497,"stale_share":0,"repost_share":0.724,"time_to_fill_p50_days":11,"computed_at":"2026-10-17T05:46:00Z"}},"role":"Backend","role_family":"Backend","seniority":"lead","employment_type":"contractor","work_mode":"remote","remote_scope":"stated_countries","remote_scope_basis":"posting_text","remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"structured","locations":["South Africa"],"countries":["ZA"],"hiring_countries":["ZA"],"hiring_countries_total":1,"salary":null,"salary_estimate":{"min_usd":25000,"max_usd":74000,"period":"year","method":"global_role_cell_scaled_by_country","sample_n":1965},"experience_years_min":null,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":false,"technologies":[{"name":"AWS","optional":false},{"name":"AWS Lambda","optional":false},{"name":"C#","optional":false},{"name":"Cloudflare","optional":false},{"name":"Docker","optional":false},{"name":"JavaScript","optional":false},{"name":"MySQL","optional":false},{"name":"Node JS","optional":false},{"name":"PostgreSQL","optional":false},{"name":"React.js","optional":false},{"name":"SQL","optional":false},{"name":"TypeScript","optional":false}],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-10-18T11:11:32Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-10-18","last_verified_at":"2026-10-18T11:11:32Z","board_verified":false,"closed_at":null,"days_open":0,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":null,"flags":[],"days_open":0},"description":"Principal Software Engineer / Principal Full Stack Engineer\nLocation: Fully Remote - South AfricaContract: 12 Months (Potential to Become Permanent)\nRate: Up to R545 per hour\nEligibility: South African Citizens Only\nAbout the Opportunity\nWe are seeking experienced, hands-on Principal Software Engineers to join an established fintech SaaS environment developing innovative technology solutions for the investment management industry.This is an exciting opportunity for technically strong engineers who enjoy building scalable applications, solving complex challenges and taking ownership of software solutions from initial design through to production.\nThe role requires strong backend engineering expertise combined with full-stack development capabilities.\nKey Responsibilities\nDesign, develop and maintain scalable, secure and reliable software applications.\nTake ownership of the full software development lifecycle, including architecture, development, testing, deployment and production support.\nDevelop full-stack solutions with a strong focus on backend development.\nMake architectural decisions and evaluate technical solutions to support business requirements.\nCollaborate with engineering teams, clients and stakeholders to deliver effective software solutions.\nDrive engineering best practices, code quality, system performance and maintainability.\nTroubleshoot complex technical challenges and provide technical guidance.\nUse AI-assisted development tools to improve efficiency and software delivery.\nMinimum Requirements\nProven experience as a Principal Engineer, Staff Engineer, Lead Software Engineer, Technical Lead or hands-on Solutions Architect.\nStrong hands-on backend development experience with full-stack capabilities.\nSolid working knowledge of TypeScript / JavaScript, Node.js, React, SQL databases and AWS.\nExperience designing software architecture and making independent technical decisions.\nProven ability to deliver software solutions from concept through to production.\nExperience in SaaS, product development, startup or smaller engineering environments.\nStrong understanding of cloud technologies, system integrations and scalable application development.\nPractical experience using AI development tools.\nExcellent problem-solving, communication and stakeholder engagement skills.\nCandidates with a strong Java or C# development background will also be considered, provided they have relevant AWS, React and JavaScript/TypeScript experience.Advantageous Experience\nPostgreSQL, MySQL or SingleStore\nAWS Lambda, Cloudflare Workers or Docker\nFintech, financial services or investment management experience\nStartup, founding engineer or entrepreneurial experience\nOpen-source contributions or independent software development projects\nWho Would Be a Good Fit?\nWe are looking for an engineer who combines strong technical expertise with a hands-on approach to development. You should be confident making architectural decisions, comfortable working in a collaborative engineering environment and capable of independently delivering complex software solutions.This position is particularly suited to engineers who enjoy coding, take accountability for their work and want to make a meaningful technical contribution rather than move into a purely managerial role.\nIf you are an experienced Principal, Staff or Lead Software Engineer ready for your next technical challenge, we would like to hear from you.","description_format":"text","description_chars":3434,"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":[],"hiring_locations":[{"name":"South Africa","iso":"ZA","kind":"country"}],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":false,"industries":[],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-10-18T11:11:32Z"}],"visa":[],"liveness":{"score":52,"band":"ok","label":"Likely open","p_open":1,"p_active":0.516,"p_room":1,"age_days":0,"expected_fill_days":11,"reasons":["conf:1","agency","win:early","comp:brand"],"computed_at":"2026-10-18T17:20:53Z"},"pay":null,"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/job-mail-principal-software-engineer","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/job-mail-principal-software-engineer.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-10-18T17:20:53Z","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":22518,"day_limit":null,"remaining_today":null,"minute_limit":300,"resets_at":"2026-10-19T00:00:00Z"}},"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":701519},"rest":"https://alion.io/mcp/rest/get_company?id=701519"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.slices&for=job%2Fjob-mail-principal-software-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%2Fjob-mail-principal-software-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%2Fjob-mail-principal-software-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/job-mail-principal-software-engineer\", \"note\": \"what you need it for\"}"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.verify&for=job%2Fjob-mail-principal-software-engineer"}]}