Team: VEA (Tiger Team – Internal)
Experience: 3+ years of “building cool stuff”
Location: Hybrid (Cape Town / Remote)
The Vibe
We are building a Product & Intelligence Foundry at the centre of the VEA Group. We don’t just “do IT”, we build internal products, AI-driven platforms, and standalone tech spinouts. We’re looking for that one engineer who treats a Sunday afternoon like a hackathon.
If you’ve ever stayed up until 3 AM because you found a new API or a faster way to structure a database, you’re our person.
What You’ll Actually Do
- Rapid Prototyping: Turn a napkin sketch or a Figma file into a working MVP in days, not months.
- AI Orchestration: Work with our AI Architects to bake “intelligence” into everything. (Think: LLM agents, automated reasoning, and tool-use).
- The Full Stack: Move fluidly between a React/Next.js frontend and a Python/Go/Node backend without missing a beat.
- Tinkering: You’ll be our “Alpha Tester” for new tech. If a new framework or DB drops, you’re the one telling us if it’s worth the hype.
- Collaborate: Work directly with our Head of Product and Senior Lead to build the “Golden Path” for all future VEA products.
Who You Are
- Generalist by Choice: You might have a favourite language, but you aren’t married to it. You use the right tool for the job.
- The “週末 (Shūmatsu) Builder”: You have a GitHub, a Lab, or a folder of “half-finished brilliant ideas” that prove you love to explore.
- AI-Native: You use LLMs (Claude Code etc.) as a force-multiplier. You aren’t afraid of the “AI takes our jobs” narrative; you’re the one steering the ship.
- Rigid? Never: You don’t get defensive about your code. If the product needs to pivot, you’re already three steps ahead on the refactor.
- 3+ Years in the Trenches: You’ve seen enough production code to know what not to do, but not enough to be “bored” by the process.
Why Join Us?
- Zero Red Tape: We are a “Tiger Team.” No 4-hour status meetings. Just build, ship, and iterate.
- High Leverage: Your code won’t just sit in a repo; it will power the core of our Group companies and beyond
- The Growth Path: You’ll be mentored by heavy-hitters with 15+ years of experience, but given the autonomy of a founder.
How to Apply (The “Proof is in the Pudding” Test)
Skip the formal cover letter. Instead, send us your CV and:
- A link to your GitHub, a portfolio, or a live URL of something you built for fun.
- Tell us about one technical “rabbit hole” you went down recently that had nothing to do with your day job.