Senior Product Engineer

Jem is looking for 2 product engineers who can build AI-native systems, lead technical conversations with enterprise clients and ship features that genuinely move the needle. If you're curious, ambitious, and want to be part of a world-class team that's building for impact, this could be the role that changes everything.

About Jem 

We're building the HR and financial wellness platform for South Africa's deskless workers - think retail staff, security guards, call centre agents. These are the people who keep the country running, but they've been left behind by traditional systems. We're changing that.

We build tools that give them access, dignity, and control - starting with payslips, medical aid, financial education, and employer benefits. We're proudly AI-native: we don't just use AI to code faster - we build AI agents that serve our customers directly through WhatsApp.

Role Overview

You'll build AI-powered conversational systems while also owning the platform infrastructure that makes them reliable at scale. You'll work directly with enterprise clients during discovery and implementation sprints, leading technical discussions with their IT teams. You'll mentor junior engineers in AI-native development practices.

This is a forward-deployed engineering role - you'll spend time with clients (on-site and remote) understanding their systems, scoping integrations, and ensuring successful implementations.

What You'll Do

AI-Native Development

• Build and orchestrate multi-agent systems using LangGraph, LangChain, and LangSmith
• Design and implement MCP (Model Context Protocol) and A2A (Agent-to-Agent) communication patterns
• Develop voice and conversational AI agents for WhatsApp and other channels
• Use Claude Code, Codex, or similar AI coding agents to accelerate delivery
• Continuously improve agent effectiveness through prompt engineering and workflow optimisation

Platform Engineering

• Design and maintain PostgreSQL data models for complex HR and financial data
• Build event-driven architectures using Kafka, Pub/Sub, or similar messaging systems
• Implement secure coding practices for enterprise environments
• Develop and maintain integrations using Flowgear or similar middleware platforms
• Own reliability, observability, and performance of production systems

Forward-Deployed Client Engagement

• Lead on-site discovery and implementation sprints at enterprise client locations
• Conduct technical scoping sessions with client IT teams (e.g., Sage 300, PaySpace, SAP integrations)
• Translate complex client requirements into technical architectures
• Present technical solutions and progress to client stakeholders
• Build trusted relationships that turn implementations into long-term partnerships

Product Ownership

• Drive features from problem statement through launch and post-launch optimisation
• Own and improve key business metrics for your features
• Conduct customer interviews and usability testing to validate solutions
• Mentor interns in AI-native development practices
  
  

Requirements

AI-Native Skills (Required)

• Hands-on experience with LangGraph, LangChain, or LangSmith (or equivalent agent frameworks)
• Have built MCP servers/clients or A2A protocol implementations
• Daily use of Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, or similar AI coding agents
• Experience building voice agents or conversational AI systems
• Strong prompt engineering and LLM integration patterns (RAG, function calling, structured outputs)

Platform Skills (Required)

• Strong PostgreSQL experience (schema design, query optimisation, migrations)
• Experience with event-driven systems (Kafka, Google Pub/Sub, RabbitMQ, or similar)
• Secure coding practices and understanding of enterprise security requirements
• Proficiency in Python (FastAPI, Django) and/or TypeScript

Client-Facing Skills (Required)

• Ability to lead technical discussions with enterprise IT teams
• Experience with enterprise system integrations (ERP, payroll, CRM)
• Excellent communication skills for both technical and non-technical audiences
• Comfortable travelling to client sites for implementation sprints

Bonus Skills

• Experience with Google Cloud Platform (Cloud Run, Spanner, Vertex AI)
• Experience with integration middleware (Flowgear, MuleSoft, or similar)
• WhatsApp Business API experience
• Graph database experience (Neo4j, or multi-model databases)
• Understanding of HR/payroll domain
  
  

What We Offer

• Frontier Work: Build production AI agent systems at scale - not demos, real products serving real customers
• Client Impact: Work directly with enterprise clients and see your code solve their problems
• Career Growth: Shape your path as Jem scales - we reward impact with ownership
• Mentorship: Lead and develop the next generation of AI-native engineers
• Flexible Work: Hybrid model with 3 days in-office (Johannesburg)
• Competitive Package: Competitive salary, comprehensive benefits, 22 days leave
  
  

Who Is This For?

You're probably right for this role if:

• You've built multi-agent systems or conversational AI in production (not just tutorials)
• You're comfortable leading technical discussions with client IT teams
• You care about platform reliability as much as shipping features
• You're excited to travel to client sites and get hands-on with their systems
• You want to mentor others and see them grow
• You're based in or willing to relocate to Johannesburg

If building AI systems that serve millions of underserved workers excites you, and you're not afraid to sit in a client's office and figure out their Sage 300 API, you're our kind of engineer.