Lead Engineer, Backend Developer, AWS

Lead Engineer (Cyber security)

Our client is an AI security platform that acts as a security gateway between AI agents and databases. As companies increasingly allow AI agents to interact directly with systems and data, our client helps prevent sensitive data exposure, destructive queries, compliance violations and operational mistakes. The platform inspects and controls database interactions in real time through policy enforcement, threat detection and comprehensive audit logging.

The product is already built and operational, and the business is now entering its next phase of platform hardening, product acceleration and go-to-market execution.

This is a founding-level technical leadership role with significant ownership and equity participation. The Lead Engineer will take ownership of the production codebase, work closely with the founder and play a key role in hardening, scaling and extending the platform.

Our client is looking for high-calibre, self-starting individuals who can operate with full ownership in a founder-led, early-stage environment. The successful candidates should be motivated, pragmatic, ambitious and comfortable working closely with the founder during an intensive build-and-launch phase.

• Strong ownership mentality with the ability to work independently without constant direction.
• High integrity, sound judgement and a practical problem-solving approach.
• Comfortable in a lean startup environment where priorities can move quickly.
• Able to contribute strategically while also remaining hands-on and execution focused.
• Preference for a small number of exceptional, carefully vetted candidates over a high-volume shortlist.

Full Time/Independent Contractor

Cape Town

Onsite

• 8+ years of software engineering experience.
• Strong Type Script, Node.js and Python experience.
• Solid PostgreSQL knowledge, including the ability to work with complex database interactions.
• Experience with authentication, OAuth, API integrations and secure systems.
• Strong cloud experience, with Google Cloud Platform (GCP) highly desirable.
• Comfortable taking ownership of a production codebase and making pragmatic technical decisions.
• Startup-minded, self-motivated and able to work independently alongside the founder.

• Cybersecurity experience.
• Fintech or payments experience.
• Database internals, performance optimisation or secure data access expertise.

Two web apps that work together: a Python/Flask marketing & database-protection site, and a React + Type Script AI Gateway portal, both backed by PostgreSQL. The ideal hire moves comfortably between Python and Type Script - someone strong in only one half will struggle.

• Python / Flask
• Landing pages, pricing, registration, billing checkout, database-protection login & dashboard.
• Jinja2 templates, session auth, bcrypt / TOTP.

• Node.js / Express + React
• Manage AI agents, security policies, queries, anomalies, and database connections.

• Node.js / Express + React
• WORM backup management, restore approvals, ransomware protection, audit logs.

• Flask web framework
• Jinja2 server-side templates
• Session auth, bcrypt, TOTP / 2FA
• REST API design
• Gunicorn (production WSGI server)

• Express web server
• Type Script throughout
• Drizzle ORM for database access
• Session handling & auth
• REST API design

• React 18 + Type Script
• Vite build tool
• Tailwind CSS + shadcn/ui
• wouter client-side routing

• PostgreSQL (AWS RDS in production)
• Schema design & migrations
• Drizzle ORM
• Indexing & query performance

• ECS Fargate
• ECR
• ALB
• Route
  53
• ACM
• Code Build
• Secrets Manager
• Cloud Watch
• Cloud Trail
• Guard Duty

• Paddle (merchant of record)
• OAuth flows (Gmail, Slack, Git Hub, Salesforce)
• Resend (email)

• Docker & Dockerfiles
• Terraform (20 infrastructure modules)
• Code Build CI/CD pipelines

• Rate limiting
• Injection prevention
• Audit logging
• Reverse proxying between services

• ECS Fargate
• ECR
• ALB
• Route
  53
• ACM
• RDS (PostgreSQL)
• Code Build
• AWS Backup
• Secrets Manager
• Guard Duty
• Cloud Watch
• Cloud Trail