Sr Software Engineer (Backend Focus)
Somewhere
🇿🇦 Hirezar Summary for South African Applicants
This fully remote full time position at Somewhere is open to applicants from South Africa. The estimated monthly salary is R74,000 – R111,000 ZAR. This role is suited for senior-level professionals. As a remote position, you can work from anywhere in South Africa — whether you're based in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban, or a smaller town.
Job Description
Software Engineer (Backend Focus)
Location:Fully RemoteTime Zone Requirement:Must meaningfully overlap with U.S. Pacific, Mountain, Central, or Eastern time zonesTeam:EngineeringReports To:Head of Engineering
About the Company
We are a venture-backed B2B SaaS company building a new category ofAI-driven analytics and coaching softwarefor sales and post-sales teams.
Our platform goes beyond traditional dashboards by uncoveringhidden work, revealing trueCost to Serve, and connecting effort directly to outcomes — enabling modern organizations to operate more efficiently and scale with clarity.
Founded in 2022 and backed by institutional funding, we are a small, fast-moving team buildinghigh-impact analytics and AI-powered infrastructurefor modern businesses.
About the Role
We’re hiring aBackend-Focused Software Engineerto join our core engineering team.
This role is ideal for engineers who enjoy designing backend systems, building reliable integrations, working with data-heavy workflows, and owning features from concept to production.
While your strength will be backend development, this is not a siloed role. You’ll takeend-to-end ownershipof features — ensuring backend logic connects cleanly to frontend behavior and delivers a complete, production-ready experience.
You’ll help shape the technical foundation of an analytics platform where reliability, scalability, and correctness truly matter.
What You’ll Do
Backend Systems & Architecture
* Design, build, and maintain backend services, APIs, and data models
Design, build, and maintain backend services, APIs, and data models
* Develop scalable systems that support analytics and AI-driven workflows
Develop scalable systems that support analytics and AI-driven workflows
* Ensure data integrity, correctness, and performance across the platform
Ensure data integrity, correctness, and performance across the platform
* Improve reliability, observability, and maintainability of existing systems
Improve reliability, observability, and maintainability of existing systems
Feature Ownership
* Own features end-to-end, from schema design through delivery
Own features end-to-end, from schema design through delivery
* Collaborate with frontend engineers to ensure accurate UX behavior
Collaborate with frontend engineers to ensure accurate UX behavior
* Validate that backend logic surfaces correctly in user-facing workflows
Validate that backend logic surfaces correctly in user-facing workflows
Integrations & Data Pipelines
* Build and maintain integrations with third-party platforms (CRMs, communication tools, internal systems)
Build and maintain integrations with third-party platforms (CRMs, communication tools, internal systems)
* Design resilient ingestion pipelines and background workflows
Design resilient ingestion pipelines and background workflows
* Handle edge cases, failures, and data inconsistencies gracefully
Handle edge cases, failures, and data inconsistencies gracefully
Engineering Collaboration
* Participate in architecture and technical design discussions
Participate in architecture and technical design discussions
* Contribute to roadmap planning and technical tradeoff decisions
Contribute to roadmap planning and technical tradeoff decisions
* Review code and uphold engineering quality standards
Review code and uphold engineering quality standards
Engineering Excellence
* Write clean, testable, production-quality code
Write clean, testable, production-quality code
* Continuously improve performance, scalability, and system health
Continuously improve performance, scalability, and system health
* Operate comfortably in a fast-moving, evolving codebase
Operate comfortably in a fast-moving, evolving codebase
What You Bring
Required Experience
* 4–6 years of professional software engineering experience
4–6 years of professional software engineering experience
* Strong backend experience in production environments
Strong backend experience in production environments
* Proven ability to ship features independently
Proven ability to ship features independently
* Solid understanding of APIs, databases, schema design, and performance tradeoffs
Solid understanding of APIs, databases, schema design, and performance tradeoffs
* Experience working within an existing production codebase
Experience working within an existing production codebase
* Comfort operating in small teams with evolving architecture
Comfort operating in small teams with evolving architecture
* Strong problem-solving skills and ownership mindset
Strong problem-solving skills and ownership mindset
Technical Stack Experience
Experience with some or all of the following:
* Ruby on Rails
Ruby on Rails
* PostgreSQL
PostgreSQL
* TypeScript
TypeScript
* React (for light frontend contribution)
React (for light frontend contribution)
(You do not need to be an expert in every tool — strong backend fundamentals matter most.)
Nice to Have
* Experience working with analytics pipeline
Tips for South African Applicants
Timezone Advantage
South Africa (SAST, UTC+2) overlaps well with European business hours and has a few hours of overlap with US East Coast. Mention your timezone flexibility in your application.
Salary in Context
At R74,000/month, this role pays well above the average South African remote salary. The USD equivalent ($4,000/mo) benefits from the favourable exchange rate.
Application Tips
Tailor your CV to international standards — use a clean format, highlight remote work experience, and include your English proficiency. Many SA applicants succeed by emphasising their strong work ethic and cultural adaptability.
Load Shedding Preparedness
If you're applying for a remote role, having a backup power solution (UPS, inverter, or generator) and mobile data as a backup internet connection shows employers you're prepared for South Africa's infrastructure challenges.
About Somewhere
Somewhere is a company in the Recruitment & Staffing industry that hires remote workers from South Africa. They currently have 614 open positions on Hirezar. View all Somewhere jobs →