ROLE PURPOSE
This role owns iiDENTIFii’s mobile engineering output end-to-end. You are responsible for designing, building, testing, and shipping high-performance mobile applications — primarily on iOS, with Android and cross-platform experience advantageous — that meet the exacting quality, security, and performance standards of a biometric identity platform used by tier-1 financial institutions.
This is a hands-on engineering role operating at the intersection of product, design, and backend. You will work closely with product managers, backend developers, and QA teams across all stages of the development lifecycle — from requirements and architecture through to release and ongoing optimisation. You bring both technical depth and a high standard of craft: clean, maintainable code, user-driven ui, rigorous testing, and a genuine interest in getting the details right.
Operating in a security-sensitive, compliance-heavy domain, you are expected to bring sound judgement to architecture decisions, stay current with the evolving mobile landscape, and contribute to a culture of technical excellence across the engineering team.
ROLE TASKS & RESPONSIBILITIES
Application Development & Architecture
- Design and build advanced applications for iOS (essential) and Android/Cross-Platform (advantageous), ensuring responsiveness, performance, and a seamless user experience across all supported devices
- Own mobile features from concept through to implementation: scoping, architecture, build, test, and release
- Collaborate with cross-functional teams to define, refine, and implement new mobile features that align with product strategy and client needs
- Identify and implement performance improvements that meaningfully enhance application responsiveness and reliability in production
- Stay current with mobile trends, emerging technologies, and best practices across iOS, Android, and cross-platform frameworks — and bring relevant opportunities to the team proactively
Engineering Standards & Code Quality
- Write clean, maintainable, and efficient code in Swift and Objective-C (iOS — essential) and Java, Kotlin (Android — advantageous), and across cross-platform frameworks such as React Native or Flutter
- Apply SOLID principles and modern mobile architecture paradigms — including microservices and event-driven patterns — to produce code that scales and survives production
- Conduct thorough code reviews, providing constructive technical feedback and upholding engineering standards across the team
- Maintain clear and useful technical documentation covering architecture decisions, coding standards, and design rationale
- Optimise code for speed, scalability, and maintainability; identify and resolve technical debt proactively
Testing, Debugging & Quality Assurance
- Conduct thorough testing of applications to identify and resolve bugs and performance issues before they reach production
- Apply TDD/BDD best practices and maintain well-tested, reliable code as a non-negotiable standard
- Work with QA teams to design and implement automated testing strategies that reduce manual effort and increase release confidence
- Debug and resolve production issues promptly, conducting root cause analysis and sharing learnings with the broader team
UI/UX Implementation
- Use Claude Design to create attractive, intuitive, and consistent interfaces across all UI and UX flows
- Ensure mobile applications meet high-quality UI/UX standards and adhere to Apple and Android design principles throughout
- Translate design specifications into performant, pixel-accurate code that delivers a seamless end-user experience
DevOps, CI/CD & Deployment
- Collaborate with DevOps teams to ensure smooth deployment processes, robust CI/CD pipelines, and clean code integration
- Use version control systems (Git) with discipline: clear branching strategies, meaningful commit messages, and clean pull request hygiene
- Contribute to improving deployment workflows, release automation, and build reliability across the mobile engineering function
Collaboration & Communication
- Work effectively in an agile environment with cross-functional teams — product, design, QA, backend, and DevOps — to deliver high-quality mobile experiences on time
- Communicate technical concepts clearly and confidently to both technical and non-technical stakeholders
- Provide technical guidance and knowledge-sharing to team members; contribute to a culture of continuous learning and mutual accountability
AI-Augmented Ways of Working
- Use AI tools as a standard, expected part of the role — a core professional competency, not optional
- Apply AI to accelerate code generation, debugging, documentation, test writing, and technical research
- Leverage AI to explore architectural options, evaluate trade-offs, and surface solutions faster than traditional approaches allow
- Model AI-augmented engineering practices for the broader team and contribute to embedding them into team norms
- Stay current with the evolving AI tooling landscape and proactively identify opportunities to increase productivity and output quality
Living the iiDENTIFii Culture
- Champion iiDENTIFii’s culture and values in every interaction — with teammates, product, and across the engineering function
- Foster a team environment defined by intellectual rigour, psychological safety, collaborative excellence, and a bias for action
- Actively contribute to iiDENTIFii’s mission: powering innovators in remote biometric digital authentication, globally
QUALIFICATIONS, EXPERIENCE & TECHNICAL SKILLS NEEDED
Experience
- Proven experience as a mobile developer with strong iOS expertise (essential) and Android exposure advantageous, with a portfolio of shipped applications across one or both platforms
- Demonstrated experience building end-to-end mobile applications: from design and architecture through development, testing, deployment, and store release
- Experience working in agile, cross-functional teams alongside product, design, QA, backend, and DevOps
- Strong understanding of the full mobile software development lifecycle and production engineering discipline
- Experience contributing to code reviews, technical documentation, and best-practice engineering standards
- Exposure to performance optimisation, scalability challenges, and production support at scale
- Experience with CI/CD pipelines and automated testing practices
- Experience with cross-platform mobile solutions (React Native, Flutter) is advantageous
- Understanding of modern software architecture concepts such as microservices and event-driven systems
Technical Skills
- Languages: Proficiency in Swift and Objective-C (iOS — essential); Java and Kotlin (Android — advantageous)
- SDKs & IDEs: Strong experience with iOS SDK and Xcode (essential); Android SDK and Android Studio advantageous
- API Integration: Experience integrating mobile applications with RESTful APIs and backend services
- Architecture: Knowledge of mobile application architecture, lifecycle management, and state management
- UI/UX: Familiarity with UI/UX implementation aligned to Apple and Android design principles
- Version Control: Experience with Git/GitHub and disciplined source control practices
- Testing: Strong debugging, testing, and performance tuning skills; TDD/BDD exposure
- DevOps: Familiarity with CI/CD pipelines, DevOps practices, and release automation
- Performance: Knowledge of offline storage, threading, memory management, and performance optimisation
- Cross-Platform: Exposure to React Native, Flutter, cloud messaging, push notifications, and modern mobile trends
Education
- A degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a related field; equivalent demonstrated experience is equally valid
CULTURE & BENEFITS
Why Join Us
iiDENTIFii is solving one of the most consequential technical problems in Africa's digital economy: how do you verify that someone is who they say they are, remotely, at scale, across infrastructure that is inconsistent and high stakes? Our biometric identity platform is trusted by some of the continent's most demanding institutions precisely because we have built something that works.
Benefits
- Your money works harder here. As an iiDENTIFii employee, you gain exclusive access to preferential banking benefits, including competitive rates on home loans, vehicle finance, and personal loans—delivering real financial value from day one.
- Performance pays. Our competitive compensation package is designed to reward people who make an impact, because we believe exceptional work deserves exceptional recognition
- Family comes first. We offer enhanced family responsibility leave, giving you the time and space that matters most when life calls
- Your annual leave entitlement grows with your tenure
- Cape Town-based preferred; remote-first culture
- A technically excellent, mission-driven team at the frontier of biometric identity technology