ENVIRONMENT:
A leading global digital solutions technology company based in Johannesburg is seeking a highly experienced and proactive Software Architect to spearhead the design and development of scalable, robust, and cloud-native systems. The ideal candidate will bring approximately 15 years of industry experience, including a minimum of 5 years in a software architecture role. This role requires deep expertise in Java, particularly with recent versions (Java 17/21+), along with strong hands-on coding skills. Proven proficiency in modern architectural patterns and extensive experience with AWS cloud services are essential for success in this position.
DUTIES:
- Lead the architecture, design, and development of large-scale, distributed systems.
- Work closely with product and engineering teams to define architecture blueprints and technology roadmaps.
- Develop high-level and low-level design documents.
- Be hands-on with coding in Java (latest versions) and guide teams on best practices.
- Drive adoption of modern architecture principles like Microservices, Event-Driven Architecture, CQRS, and SAGA patterns.
- Define and enforce coding standards, performance tuning, and best practices.
- Select appropriate AWS services and design cloud-native architectures with cost, scalability, and security in mind.
- Conduct design and code reviews to ensure quality and performance.
- Mentor and guide engineering teams on architectural decisions and technical challenges.
- Stay updated with new Java features, AWS services, and emerging architectural trends.
REQUIREMENTS:
Required Skills & Qualifications:
- ~15 years of software development experience with at least 5 years in a software architect role.
- Strong expertise in Java, including recent versions (Java 17/21+), with hands-on coding ability.
- In-depth experience in designing and implementing microservices-based systems.
- Strong understanding of architectural patterns like CQRS, Event Sourcing, SAGA, and Domain-Driven Design (DDD).
- Extensive experience with AWS cloud ecosystem – services like EC2, S3, Lambda, SNS/SQS, API Gateway, RDS/DynamoDB, CloudFormation, etc.
- Familiarity with containerization and orchestration (Docker, Kubernetes, ECS/EKS).
- Strong system design and problem-solving skills.
- Proficiency in CI/CD tools and DevOps practices.
- Strong communication and stakeholder management skills.
- Experience in leading technical teams and mentoring developers.
Preferred Qualifications:
- AWS Certification (Solutions Architect – Associate/Professional) is a plus.
- Experience with Infrastructure as Code (IaC) using Terraform or AWS CDK.
- Exposure to data streaming platforms like Kafka is a bonus.
- Background in performance optimization, scalability, and security best practices.
Desired Skills:
Knowledge of AI and Emerging Technologies (Good to have)
- Understanding of how AI capabilities can be integrated into enterprise applications to enhance user experience, decision-making, and automation.
- Exposure to modern AI application patterns such as:
- Familiarity with tools and frameworks that enable LLM-based integrations such as LangChain, Semantic Kernel, or Azure OpenAI.
- Appreciation for ethical AI considerations including data privacy, security, and bias mitigation.
- Eagerness to explore emerging technologies and collaborate with AI/ML teams to bring intelligence into real-world business workflows
- Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) for augmenting LLMs with domain-specific knowledge.
- Prompt engineering and fine-tuning for tailoring model behavior to business-specific contexts.
- Use of embedding stores and vector databases (e.g., Pinecone, Redis, Azure AI Search) to support semantic search and recommendation systems.
- Building intelligent features like AI-powered chatbots, assistants, and question-answering systems using LLMs and conversational agents.
- Awareness of agentic AI concepts — orchestrating multiple agents with specific tasks/goals in a collaborative, dynamic environment.
While we would really like to respond to every application, should you not be contacted for this position within 10 working days please consider your application unsuccessful.
COMMENTS:
When applying for jobs, ensure that you have the minimum job requirements. Only SA Citizens will be considered for this role. If you are not in the mentioned location of any of the jobs, please note your relocation plans in all applications for jobs and correspondence. Apply here [URL Removed] e-mail a Word copy of your CV to [Email Address Removed] and mention the reference number of the job.
Desired Skills:
- Software
- Architect
- Java