SPAN Digital

Senior Java Engineer (Data Engineer)

SPAN Digital  •  Cape Town, ZA (Onsite)  •  3 months ago
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Job Description

About SPAN Digital

We're a premium software consultancy partnering with startups to global brands in tech, fintech, and digital media. We build category-defining products and help engineering teams deliver exceptional digital solutions across three continents. At SPAN, we balance structure with flexibility, autonomy with accountability, and learning with doing.

The Role

Join our expert teams delivering robust software solutions for enterprise clients. This role combines strong software engineering capabilities with technical leadership: you'll design production-quality systems while mentoring teams and driving complex initiatives from concept to deployment. Experience Level: 8+ years in software engineering with 4-7 years technical leadership

What You'll Do

Software Design & Development
  • Design and implement complete subsystems with minimal supervision, making architectural decisions balancing technical and business requirements
  • Develop robust software solutions using modern programming languages and frameworks with clean, maintainable code
  • Translate business requirements into technical specifications, working directly with clients and stakeholders
  • Resolve complex technical problems efficiently across existing systems
  • Design API specifications enabling system integration and clear component interfaces
  • Research and incorporate new technologies and industry best practices
Quality Assurance & Delivery
  • Define and execute comprehensive testing strategies ensuring robust quality assurance
  • Implement CI/CD tooling and infrastructure for continuous delivery and streamlined deployments
  • Evaluate and recommend technology stacks that best meet client needs
  • Support production systems through deployment, monitoring, and incident response
  • Create comprehensive documentation enabling teams to understand, maintain, and extend solutions
Technical Leadership & Mentorship
  • Provide technical guidance to junior engineers through pair programming, code reviews, and collaborative problem-solving
  • Lead technical design discussions for complex features and subsystems
  • Guide small teams to successful outcomes by identifying blockers and removing impediments
  • Conduct thoughtful code reviews that improve team code quality and maintain high engineering standards
  • Drive technical work forward by taking ownership of critical components
  • Collaborate effectively with cross-functional stakeholders including design, product, and client teams

What You Bring

Required:
  • Minimum 8 years in software engineering with increasing responsibility
  • Demonstrated technical leadership including mentoring engineers or leading technical initiatives
  • Bachelor's/Master's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or equivalent practical experience
  • Advanced proficiency in Java including JDK 17 and JDK 21
  • Experience with modern build systems and dependency management (Gradle or Maven)
  • Strong understanding of software design patterns, object-oriented programming, and functional programming
  • Hands-on experience with relational and/or NoSQL databases and data modeling
  • Proficiency with cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, or Azure) and containerization technologies (Docker, Kubernetes)
  • Understanding of RESTful API design and microservices architecture patterns
  • Experience with version control systems (Git) and collaborative development workflows
  • Strong knowledge of data structures, algorithms, and system design principles
  • Experience leveraging AI-assisted development tools (GitHub Copilot, Claude Code, Cursor, etc.)
  • Excellent problem-solving skills and ability to work independently on complex technical challenges
  • Strong communication skills for collaboration with technical and non-technical stakeholders
Preferred:
  • Experience in agile development environments with iterative delivery practices
  • Familiarity with modern frontend frameworks (React, Vue, Angular) or mobile development platforms
  • Experience with observability and monitoring tools (Prometheus, Grafana, Datadog, New Relic)
  • Knowledge of security best practices and secure coding principles
  • Experience with test-driven development and automated testing frameworks
  • Understanding of performance optimization and scalability considerations
  • Prior work on enterprise-scale applications with high availability requirements
  • Experience with event-driven architectures or message queuing systems (RabbitMQ, Kafka)
  • Contributions to open source projects or active participation in developer communities

Our Culture = Your Fit (Non-Negotiable)

We need team members who embrace authentic expression and psychological safety as non-negotiables, actively contribute ideas and questions rather than waiting to be asked, view mistakes as learning opportunities to share openly, and genuinely collaborate instead of just coordinating tasks. If you thrive in environments where open communication, mutual respect, and genuine teamwork drive excellence, you'll feel at home here. However, if you prefer working in silos, avoiding difficult conversations, or keeping concerns to yourself, this isn't the right fit and that's okay.

Why SPAN Digital

✓ Work on diverse, challenging projects across multiple industries and technology stacks✓ Technical leadership opportunities with mentorship responsibilities✓ Collaborative environment focused on continuous learning and growth✓ Exposure to enterprise clients in entertainment, technology, and fintech industries✓ Professional development with clear career progression paths✓ Flexible work arrangements across our global offices✓ Competitive compensation package✓ Access to latest technologies and tools with support for professional development
Ready to Lead Technical Excellence? Hit apply!
SPAN Digital

About SPAN Digital

SPAN is a technical strategy and software engineering firm. We conceptualize, develop, and deploy successful SaaS solutions. We synthesize insights from widespread market challenges into powerful software product offerings.

For a decade, our team of polyglot software engineers, strategists, and program managers has been on the leading edge of software development solving tough technical problems for both scaling start-ups and some of the world’s largest companies.

At SPAN, we love a challenge—where we get to be inventive and tenacious. Based in San Francisco, Guadalajara, and Cape Town, we’re a fast-paced, action-oriented team that thrives on collaboration. We weave design, development, and strategy together in iterative, interdisciplinary ways enabling our clients to overcome the complexity of accelerating technological change.

Advance your career, learn, and have fun by becoming part of our diverse but cohesive crew of computer engineering graduates, reformed punk rockers, self-taught coding connoisseurs, and data wranglers of all stripes. If you enjoy using the latest software tech to solve real-world problems, you’ll fit right in here!

Industry
IT & Software
Company Size
51-200 employees
Headquarters
San Francisco, CA
Year Founded
2013
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