Intermediate Full Stack Software Engineer

Job Description — Intermediate Full Stack Software Engineer

Location: In-Office at Babylonstoren, Klapmuts, South Africa

Type: Full-time

About Candide

Candide is an AI-first tech company based at Babylonstoren in Franschhoek and in the UK, building the digital products behind some of the world's most celebrated hospitality and lifestyle estates, including Babylonstoren, The Newt in Somerset, Vignamaggio, and others.

Our office sits on the beautiful Babylonstoren estate, surrounded by gardens, mountains, and farm-to-table food. We design, build and maintain eCommerce platforms, mobile apps, admissions and membership systems, booking engines, and brochure websites. Our engineering team is small but high-impact, working across a portfolio of luxury brands that people genuinely love.

We embrace AI as a core part of how we work — from code generation and review, to automating workflows and augmenting decision-making. We believe engineers who know how to leverage AI effectively are force multipliers, and we actively invest in tools and practices that make this possible.

Role Description

We're looking for an Intermediate Full Stack Software Engineer to join our team and contribute across our product suite. You'll build features, fix bugs, and improve systems across our eCommerce platform, admissions services, and mobile apps — working with TypeScript and Node.js on the backend, and Angular and React on the frontend.

You'll ship code daily, work closely with senior engineers, and grow into increasingly complex work. This is a great opportunity for someone who wants to work across a diverse stack, learn quickly, and have their work seen by thousands of users across some well-known international brands. You won't be expected to know everything on day one. We care more about strong fundamentals and a willingness to learn than ticking every box.

Why This Role?

● Work across a diverse portfolio of prestigious international brands

● Exposure to a wide and modern tech stack — you won't get bored

● AI-first engineering culture — we invest in AI tooling and expect you to use it to your advantage

● Learn from experienced engineers in a supportive, collaborative environment

Perks & Benefits

● Daily catered lunch

● Flexible working hours — core hours are 9am to 3pm

● Choice of equipment (most of us use Apple)

● Generous training and conference budget

● 30% discount at Babylonstoren — online shop, hotel, spa, and farm shops

● Free admission to Babylonstoren and The Newt in Somerset for you, your friends, and family

● Access to Babylonstoren's recreation centre, gym, swimming pool, and studios

● Quarterly socials and team building

Key Responsibilities

● Build and maintain features across our eCommerce platform, admissions services, and mobile apps

● Contribute to building and maintaining production-ready systems with a focus on reliability, monitoring, and uptime

● Develop and consume GraphQL APIs using Apollo Server

● Work across Angular and React frontends, contributing to admin dashboards and customer-facing applications

● Write backend services in TypeScript/Node.js

● Work with MySQL and PostgreSQL databases

● Write automated tests and participate in code reviews

● Use AI tools and assistants as part of your daily workflow to accelerate your output and learning

● Contribute to our React Native mobile apps

● Collaborate with a distributed team across South Africa and the UK

What We're Looking For

● 2–4 years of professional full stack development experience

● Solid working knowledge of TypeScript and Node.js

● Experience with at least one modern frontend framework (Angular, React, or Vue)

● Comfortable building and consuming GraphQL or REST APIs

● Proficient in SQL with working knowledge of relational databases (MySQL or PostgreSQL)

● Familiarity with Git workflows and code review processes

● An understanding of what it takes to ship and maintain production-ready systems, including error handling, logging, and designing for high availability

● Fluent in Afrikaans and English

● Exposure to Google Cloud Platform or similar cloud environments

● Experience with eCommerce — payments, checkout flows, product catalogues, logistics

● Experience working with systems that require high uptime and serving production traffic at scale

● Familiarity with React Native or mobile development

● Experience with Docker and containerised deployments

● Familiarity with testing frameworks (Jest, Mocha, Cypress, or similar)

● Enthusiasm for using AI tools (e.g. Claude Code, Copilot, Cursor) in your development workflow, we're looking for engineers who see AI as an opportunity, not a threat

● Eager to learn and continuously improve

● Takes feedback well and applies it

● Good communicator, able to ask questions and raise issues early

● Self-motivated and able to manage their own time

● Collaborative and enjoys working as part of a team

● Excited about AI and willing to experiment with new tools and workflow