Position: Senior Software Engineer – Productivity App
Schedule: Full-time│40 hours/week │ Monday–Friday EST Business Hours
Location: Fully remote (Preference for Cape Town, but open to global candidates)
Salary: 2800 - 4000 USD per month
Final offer depends on client decision, interview results, and experience level
About the Client
Our client is a content creator and entrepreneur building a new technology product focused on productivity, planning, and personal goal achievement. The company is developing a productivity application designed to help users connect their day-to-day tasks and priorities with their larger, long-term goals. Rather than operating as a traditional standalone task manager, the product aims to create a stronger connection between what users want to accomplish long term and how they spend their time each day. They are seeking a Software Engineer to help build, improve, and scale the application as it moves through development.
Role Summary
The Software Engineer will be responsible for hands-on development of a new productivity application combining planning, task management, and long-term goal tracking.
This is a highly hands-on engineering position requiring someone who can take product concepts and translate them into reliable, scalable software. The engineer will work closely with the founder to understand the product vision, evaluate technical requirements, build features, solve technical challenges, and contribute to architectural decisions as the application evolves.
While modern AI development tools may be used to increase productivity, the company is specifically seeking a candidate with strong underlying engineering knowledge and proven project experience. Candidates must be capable of understanding, reviewing, debugging, and improving the code they produce rather than relying primarily on AI-generated solutions.
Role Responsibilities Application Development Build and maintain features for a new productivity and planning application Translate product requirements and ideas into functional software Develop features connecting daily tasks and activities with longer-term goals Build intuitive workflows around planning, task management, prioritization, and progress tracking Contribute across the application based on product and development priorities Develop clean, maintainable, and scalable code Product & Feature Development Work closely with the founder to translate the product vision into technical requirements Evaluate feature ideas from both a technical and user-experience perspective Help determine the most effective way to implement new functionality Build prototypes and production-ready features Iterate quickly based on product feedback and user needs Identify technical limitations or risks before they become larger development issues Software Architecture Contribute to architectural decisions as the application grows Help establish scalable development patterns and technical standards Evaluate tradeoffs between development speed, maintainability, performance, and scalability Design systems capable of supporting future product functionality Recommend appropriate technologies and technical approaches when needed Troubleshoot bugs and technical issues across the application Diagnose root causes rather than relying on temporary fixes Review and improve existing code when necessary Maintain strong standards around application reliability and performance Help establish appropriate testing and QA practices AI-Assisted Development Leverage AI coding tools where they genuinely improve development speed and productivity Critically review and validate AI-generated code before implementation Debug and modify generated solutions independently Recognize when AI-generated approaches are technically inappropriate or inefficient Maintain engineering quality regardless of whether AI tools are used during development AI tools should enhance the candidate's engineering abilities, not replace them. Technical Documentation Document important architecture, features, integrations, and technical decisions Maintain clear development documentation as the application evolves Ensure future developers can understand and contribute to the codebase Communicate technical decisions and tradeoffs clearly to non-technical stakeholders Requirements 2–5 years of professional software engineering or software development experience Proven experience building and shipping real software products or applications Strong understanding of core software engineering principles Experience developing production-quality applications Strong understanding of application architecture and software design Ability to write clean, maintainable, and scalable code Strong debugging and technical problem-solving skills Experience working with databases, APIs, and modern application development Ability to independently evaluate technical approaches and engineering tradeoffs Comfortable working in an early-stage product environment where requirements may evolve Strong written and verbal English communication skills Ability to work independently and take ownership of development projects Preferred Qualifications Previous experience building Saa S or consumer applications Experience developing productivity, project management, task management, planning, or workflow software Experience working within an early-stage startup or founder-led environment Experience building products from an early or MVP stage Familiarity with modern cloud infrastructure and deployment practices Experience integrating third-party APIs and services Familiarity with AI-assisted software development tools Experience contributing to product and architecture decisions rather than exclusively working from predefined development tickets Engineering Expectations
The ideal candidate should be able to demonstrate real project experience and strong engineering fundamentals.
Candidates should be prepared to discuss Applications or products they have personally built Their specific contributions to previous projects Technical architecture and design decisions Difficult engineering problems they have solved How they approach debugging and troubleshooting Technical tradeoffs they have made How they ensure code quality and maintainability How they use AI development tools without becoming dependent on them A strong portfolio, Git Hub profile, shipped applications, or other examples of previous engineering work are highly valuable.
The exact technology stack may continue to evolve as the product develops. Candidates should therefore have strong overall software engineering fundamentals rather than being dependent on one particular framework.
Relevant experience may include: Databases REST APIs Third-party integrations Cloud infrastructure Git and version control Testing and debugging tools AI-assisted development tools What This Role Offers Opportunity to help build a new software product from an early stage Direct influence over product development and technical decisions Close collaboration with the founder High level of ownership over features and engineering projects Ability to shape the technical foundation of a growing application Opportunity to build technology connecting everyday productivity with long-term personal goals Potential for increased technical ownership as the product and engineering function grow Ideal Candidate Profile True software engineer with strong technical fundamentals Builder who enjoys turning early product concepts into working software Capable of operating independently without requiring detailed instructions for every task Product-minded and interested in understanding why a feature is being built, not simply how to code it Comfortable making technical decisions and explaining the reasoning behind them Resourceful when encountering unfamiliar engineering problems Uses AI as a productivity tool while maintaining the ability to engineer solutions independently Interest in working closely with a founder in a fast-moving product environment Takes ownership of code quality, reliability, and long-term maintainability Success Metrics Quality and reliability of software delivered Speed of feature development and iteration Ability to translate product concepts into functional features Code quality and maintainability Application performance and stability Effectiveness in debugging and resolving technical issues Quality of architectural and technical decisions Independence and ownership of development projects Ability to effectively use AI tools without sacrificing engineering quality Overall contribution to successfully launching and scaling the productivity application
NOTE: We prioritize the processing of one application at a time. If you have applied for multiple job openings within our organization, we kindly request that you direct any update inquiries to the team responsible for handling your initial application.
PLEASE NOTE
We are looking for candidates based in South Africa (Preference for Cape Town, but open to global)
Please note that we process only one active application at a time—if you’ve applied for multiple roles, kindly direct any updates to the team handling your first application.
To start processing, submit your resume in English.
The final offer will be at the client’s discretion and will depend on your interview performance, skills, and experience. #J-18808-Ljbffr