Senior Software Engineer (Tech Lead)

  • Full Time
  • Nairobi

Website Zeraki

Zeraki is all about using technology to solve some of the toughest challenges encountered in providing quality education in Africa. Our cutting edge solutions, provide insights that enable informed decision making, provide access to quality instruction and take the stress out of everyday administ… read morerative tasks. We strive to improve the lives of educators and students at every stage and in every setting. Our Core product, Zeraki analytics, is transforming the way educational data is collected, analyzed and used. Zeraki simplifies and enhances the use of technology to deliver quality education. We develop cutting-edge tools that reduce the pain parents, teachers, students and schools face in attaining their educational goals.

About the Role

We are looking for a Senior Backend Engineer who will also serve as a Tech Lead for a cross-functional engineering team (Frontend, Backend, and DevOps).
This is not just a senior IC role—it is a leadership role grounded in strong technical execution. You will be responsible for delivering complex systems end-to-end, setting engineering standards, and elevating the performance of the entire team.
You will work primarily within a Java/Spring Boot backend ecosystem, while also collaborating closely with frontend engineers (Angular) and DevOps to ensure cohesive, scalable, and reliable systems.

Key Responsibilities 

Technical Leadership & System Design 

Lead the design and implementation of scalable, secure, and maintainable backend systems using Java and Spring Boot 
Own architectural decisions across services, ensuring clear contracts between backend, frontend (Angular), and infrastructure 
Translate ambiguous product requirements into well-defined technical designs and execution plans 
Drive system design discussions, identifying trade-offs in scalability, performance, and maintainability 
Ensure alignment between frontend and backend through well-structured APIs and data contracts 

Backend Engineering & Execution 

Write high-quality, production-grade code for mission-critical systems 
Build and maintain RESTful APIs and backend services 
Optimize system performance, reliability, and scalability 
Proactively identify and address technical debt and bottlenecks 
Establish and enforce best practices in code quality and testing 

Team Productivity & Enablement 

Act as a force multiplier through code reviews and technical leadership 
Unblock engineers quickly when they face challenges 
Balance personal contribution with team enablement 

Ownership & Delivery 

Take full ownership of multi-sprint projects 
Coordinate execution across engineers 
Drive incident response and post-mortems 
Proactively identify and resolve risks 

Cross-Stack Collaboration 

Work closely with Angular frontend engineers 
Partner with DevOps on deployment pipelines 
Ensure end-to-end system reliability 

Business & Product Alignment 

Align engineering decisions with product goals 
Collaborate with Product Managers 
Balance technical excellence with delivery timelines 

Mentorship & Team Development 

Mentor junior and mid-level engineers 
Contribute to hiring and onboarding 
Foster a culture of ownership and learning 

Performance Expectations 

Deliver complex multi-sprint projects reliably 
Improve team velocity and code quality 
Maintain high system uptime 
Drive system performance improvements 
Mentor engineers effectively 

What We’re Looking For 

Experience & Technical Skills 

5+ years in backend engineering 
Strong expertise in Java and Spring Boot 
Experience with distributed systems 
Strong System and API design skills 
Database experience (SQL/NoSQL) 
Familiarity with cloud services and CI/CD configurations 
Working knowledge of Angular frontend concepts 

Leadership & Mindset 

Strong ownership mentality 
Proven leadership ability 
Excellent communication skills 
Pragmatic decision-maker 
Passion for mentorship

Apply Through:

demandassessment.com

To apply for this job please visit demandassessment.com.