Senior Product Engineer – AI‑Native Systems

About the role

Jem is a fast‑growing HR and financial‑wellness scale‑up building AI‑native tools for frontline teams in South Africa. As a Senior Product Engineer you will design, develop and operate AI agents and platform services while working directly with enterprise customers to deliver end‑to‑end solutions.

Key responsibilities

• Build and orchestrate multi‑agent AI systems, including conversational and voice‑based agents for WhatsApp and other channels.
• Design, maintain PostgreSQL schemas, event‑driven integrations and secure backend services.
• Lead technical discovery, scoping and implementation sprints with enterprise clients, presenting architectures across payroll, ERP and internal systems.
• Own feature delivery from definition through release, monitor performance metrics and mentor junior engineers.

Required profile

• Proven experience delivering AI agents or conversational systems in production.
• Comfortable owning backend services and driving technical discussions with enterprise IT teams.
• Strong focus on system reliability, observability and real‑world impact.
• Enjoys mentoring and raising the technical bar in a high‑ownership environment.

Required skills

• Python and/or TypeScript development.
• Experience with agent frameworks and LLM integration patterns.
• Prompt engineering and AI coding agents.
• PostgreSQL schema design and data modelling.
• Event‑driven architecture and system integration experience.
• Building conversational/voice AI for platforms such as WhatsApp.

What we offer

• Hybrid work model with a three‑day office policy in Cape Town/Johannesburg.
• Hands‑on exposure to AI products at scale and direct client interaction.
• High ownership, fast learning environment with visible impact.
• Competitive salary, lunch four times a week, medical aid contribution, retirement annuity contribution and 22 days annual leave.
• Feedback on every application.