Principal Engineer (Full-Stack / Platform / Data)

Lesaka Technologies Inc.|Posted 7 days ago

Skills and experience

Role:Engineering lead

Other roles:Full stack engineer, Tech lead

Experience in role:10+ years

Language proficiency:English

Must-have skills:

Event-driven Architecture Design

Kubernetes

Microservices Architecture Design

Database Design

Nice-to-have skills:

Redis

React

CI/CD

Location and salary

Remote policy:Hybrid

Location of job:Cape Town, South Africa

Visa requirements:Authorised to work in South Africa With status of citizen/passport holder

Visa sponsorship:Unable to sponsor visa

Employment type:Permanent

Role description

We're seeking a Principal Engineer to lead the evolution of our platform across infrastructure, data, backend, and frontend systems. This is a senior, hands-on role where you'll tackle complex technical challenges while shaping our long-term architecture and engineering direction. You'll define and drive system architecture across the entire stack, make high-impact technical decisions with scalability in mind, and contribute hands-on when needed. From designing cloud infrastructure and deployment systems to architecting data models and pipelines, you'll work across the full spectrum of our technology. We're looking for someone with 10+ years of hands-on software engineering experience who has proven expertise designing, building, and scaling complex production systems. You'll need strong backend engineering skills (APIs, distributed systems, service design), solid frontend experience with modern frameworks like React, and demonstrated experience designing and operating data systems. Your deep knowledge of cloud infrastructure, CI/CD systems, and observability tooling will be crucial. Beyond technical skills, you'll mentor engineers, raise the technical bar across teams, and partner with leadership on technical strategy and execution. This role is based in Cape Town, South Africa, with flexible hybrid or on-site options, and we're open to relocation within South Africa for the right candidate. You'll have the opportunity to influence technical direction at the highest level, improve reliability and developer experience across the organization, and work in an environment that values clear communication and high-quality technical tradeoffs. If you have experience in high-growth environments, building internal platforms, or balancing product delivery with infrastructure investment, you'll find this role particularly rewarding.

About Lesaka Technologies Inc.

1000+ employees

Building and protecting financial wellbeing Lesaka is a South African financial technology company focused on serving the underserved. We deliver financial services to consumers (B2C) and merchants (B2B) in Southern Africa through our proprietary banking and payment technologies. We offer banking, lending and insurance solutions to consumers, and we offer cash management solutions, bill payment technology, value-added services, business funding and card acquiring solutions to formal and informal retail merchants.

We started our journey as Net1 in 1997. Since then, we have grown our systems and capabilities to deliver meaningful fintech-enabled solutions across the consumer and merchant segments. Led by a new leadership team with strong credentials and international experience, and following a comprehensive strategic review, we have entered a new era for the group with a new name introduced in 2022: Lesaka.

Lesaka, much like the “kraal” it is named after, is about building and protecting the financial wellbeing of the communities we serve. We do this by championing financial inclusion for consumers and merchants, opening them to new possibilities.

We are Lesaka For thousands of years livestock have been seen as a symbol of security, community and wealth. Protecting and caring for your livestock was central to preserving the dignity and pride of your community. To protect these animals, and the communities that depended on them, enclosures were built commonly known as “kraals” in South Africa. Because of their importance, kraals were built in the centre of a community and seen as the social and economic heart of the village. Only the most reliable people were entrusted with their care and protection.

As Lesaka, we are entrusted with the responsibility of building and protecting the financial wellbeing of the communities we serve. Our deeply felt awareness of this responsibility drives our choices and actions as we fight for the financial inclusion of every single South African.