Senior Software Engineer - Full Stack - Cape Town

Collinson is a global loyalty and benefits company, partnering with many of the world’s best‑known brands to create customer experiences that help them acquire, engage and retain choice‑rich customers. With more than 30 years of experience in over 170 countries and 2 500 colleagues in 20 locations worldwide, Collinson delivers smarter, more personal experiences that deepen customer loyalty for leading airlines, hotels, financial institutions and retailers.

About Collinson

Collinson specialises in Financial Services, Travel and Retail, and also supports clients across multiple sectors, working with over 90 airlines, 20 hotel groups and more than 600 financial institutions and banks. Clients include Accor Hotels, Air France KLM, American Express, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Diners Club, Mandarin Oriental, Mastercard, Radisson Hotel Group, Sephora, Visa and Vhi, and solutions include Lounge Key and Priority Pass, the world’s best‑known airport experiences programmes, as well as many leading reward and loyalty initiatives.

Purpose of the job

As a Senior Software Engineer, you will be a key member of a cross‑functional squad, designing and building cloud‑native, greenfield products from the ground up. You will take end‑to‑end ownership of features and new capabilities, working closely with a Product Manager, Engineering Manager and your teammates to deliver high‑quality software that is reliable, scalable and secure.

You will be hands‑on every day: refining stories, writing code, reviewing pull requests and solving interesting technical problems. You will bring strong engineering practices into the team and help shape how software is built, becoming a trusted point of reference for others without having formal line‑management responsibility.

We work with a modern TypeScript stack in a cloud‑native environment, with containerised deployments and a strong focus on automation, observability and AI‑enhanced development. If you enjoy solving complex problems, delivering high‑impact features and being part of a high‑trust, high‑autonomy engineering culture where different perspectives are valued, this role will give you the space and support to thrive.

Key responsibilities

• Write clean, efficient and testable code for both frontend and backend services, owning complex features and services from design through to deployment.
• Work closely with your squad (product managers, engineers, QAs) to refine requirements, scope technical solutions and deliver great software that serves real customer needs.
• Champion automated testing and CI/CD by writing unit, integration and contract tests, and helping to make our systems robust, reliable and safe to change.
• Build, deploy and monitor services in AWS using tools such as Terraform, Kubernetes and GitHub Actions.
• Take responsibility for the health, performance and maintainability of the code and services you ship, including participating in on‑call or support rotas where appropriate.
• Help evolve our engineering standards and practices by sharing knowledge, reviewing code and learning constructively from incidents.
• Champion observability, using tools such as DataDog to monitor services, spot issues early and debug production problems.
• Look for opportunities to improve development workflows using AI‑powered tooling and automation so that the team can focus on higher‑value work.
• Act as a mentor and coach for less experienced engineers, supporting their growth and creating an inclusive, welcoming environment.
• Develop in an Agile environment using tools such as Git, Jira and Confluence, with a mindset of collaboration, continuous improvement and psychological safety.

Skills and experience

Preferred:

• Degree, diploma or similar qualification in Computer Science, Information Technology or a related field.

Non‑negotiable:

• 5+ years of software development experience with a strong focus on TypeScript (Node.js and React) and excellent JavaScript fundamentals.
• Experience building and running production systems on a cloud platform such as AWS or Azure.
• Comfortable developing software within an event‑driven architecture.
• Experience with technical design and solution architecture for complex systems.
• Deep knowledge of writing automated tests and applying the principles of TDD.
• Comfortable building and maintaining CI/CD pipelines (we use GitHub Actions) for code deployment, primarily using Terraform.
• Able to take a problem and run with it, bringing a pragmatic, product‑focused approach to software delivery and collaborating openly as you go.

Personal attributes

• Show initiative: self‑driven and accountable, taking ownership of problems end to end while knowing when to ask for input.
• Innately curious: constantly learning, exploring new ideas and seeking a deeper understanding of technology, customers and the business.
• Innovative: willing to think differently, suggest improvements and implement ideas that enhance our systems and ways of working.
• Communicative collaborator: share openly, listen actively, work across teams and integrate feedback with empathy and respect.
• Strong analytical and investigative problem‑solving skills, with a calm, structured approach when things go wrong.
• Motivated to make a positive difference at both technical and operational levels, with a growth mindset about your own career.
• Trusted to get things done without micro‑management, taking pride in the quality, readability and sustainability of your code.

We know that some people are less likely to apply unless they meet every requirement, so if you are excited about this role and think your skills and experience are a good match, you are encouraged to apply.

Interview process

• Stage 1 – A screener call with the recruitment team where you can learn more about Collinson, our values and ways of working, and we can explore what you are looking for in your next role.
• Stage 2 – A short (around 30‑minute) call with an Engineering Manager, who will tell you more about the team and projects, and ask about your experience and interests.
• Stage 3 – A take‑home technical exercise; we will review your solution and approach with care and provide space for your questions.
• Stage 4 – A one‑hour session with members of the engineering team, including the Engineering Manager and Principal Engineer, where you will walk through your technical test and discuss your design decisions and technical thinking.
• Stage 5 – A 30‑minute conversation with our Head of Architecture & Engineering to connect the role to the wider technical vision and answer any remaining questions you may have.