Founding Engineer in London

Founding Engineer in London

London Full-Time 63000 - 77000 £ / year (est.) No working from home possible
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At a Glance

  • Tasks: Lead the development of critical payment and billing systems for ISPs in Africa.
  • Company: Join a venture-backed startup revolutionising internet infrastructure across Africa.
  • Benefits: Competitive salary, equity package, and paid business travel.
  • Other info: Work in a dynamic team using AI tools to enhance productivity and innovation.
  • Why this job: Make a real impact on Africa's digital future with cutting-edge technology.
  • Qualifications: 7+ years in software engineering, strong TypeScript/Node.js, and payment integration experience.

The predicted salary is between 63000 - 77000 £ per year.

About Share: Share is a venture-backed internet infrastructure network building Africa’s backbone. The company aggregates underutilized telecom infrastructure, fiber, subsea cables, and data centers, and provides ISPs with scalable access to bandwidth without traditional upfront costs. Through an open-access model, local internet providers can deliver dramatically faster speeds to their subscribers without raising their own costs.

The platform team builds the software that makes this work: billing, payments, subscriber management, RADIUS-based network authentication, and integrations with ISP billing systems and mobile money providers. We are replacing legacy, non-API systems with a modern API platform, and real money is already flowing through the system. This is a small, high-intensity engineering team building core infrastructure under real deadlines. You will own entire domains, not tickets.

The role: We are hiring a Senior Software Engineer to take ownership of the platform’s most critical technical domains: the payments pipeline (collections, revenue splitting, treasury operations), the billing engine (subscription lifecycle, cycle management, automated renewals), and the integration layer (BSS/OSS sync with partner systems). You will work directly with the CTO and a small team of engineers to ship production systems that handle real financial transactions for real ISP partners.

Non-negotiable:

  • 7+ years of professional software engineering experience, with at least 3 years in backend systems handling real financial transactions (payments, billing, ledger, or treasury).
  • Deep TypeScript/Node.js expertise. You should be able to design a NestJS microservice from scratch, not just work in one.
  • Production experience with payment gateway integrations (M-Pesa, Stripe, Adyen, or similar). You understand STK push flows, webhook idempotency, callback signature verification, and reconciliation.
  • Strong PostgreSQL skills. You can design schemas for financial data, write migrations, and reason about transaction isolation and locking.
  • Experience with event-driven architectures (Kafka, RabbitMQ, or similar). You understand the difference between request-reply and fire-and-forget patterns and when to use each.
  • You ship. You can take a spec document and turn it into production code without waiting for someone to break it into small tasks.

AI-augmented engineering (required mindset):

We expect every engineer at Share to use AI tools as a daily part of their workflow. This is not optional and not aspirational — it is how we operate. Our entire project planning, specification, and documentation process runs through AI-assisted sessions. Our codebase includes AI-readable context files. We use Claude for architecture decisions, code review, spec generation, and technical writing.

What this means for you:

  • You already use AI coding assistants (Claude, Cursor, Copilot, or similar) daily and can articulate how they change your workflow.
  • You are comfortable working with AI-generated specifications and can critically evaluate them, push back where they are wrong, and extend them where they are incomplete.
  • You see AI as a force multiplier that lets a small team operate at the capacity of a much larger one. You are not threatened by it; you are faster because of it.
  • You are willing to contribute to improving our AI-assisted workflows — better prompts, better context files, better session structures.

Compensation & Details:

  • Competitive Salary & Equity package
  • Additional Benefits
  • Paid Business Travel when needed
  • Ownership in a venture-backed early stage startup building the future of physical and digital infrastructure in Africa

Founding Engineer in London employer: Share

At Share, we pride ourselves on being an exceptional employer that fosters a dynamic and innovative work culture. As a Founding Engineer, you will have the unique opportunity to take ownership of critical technical domains while working alongside a small, high-intensity team dedicated to building Africa's digital infrastructure. With competitive salaries, equity packages, and a commitment to employee growth through AI-augmented engineering practices, we empower our engineers to thrive in a fast-paced environment where their contributions directly impact the future of connectivity in the region.

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Contact Details:

Share Recruitment Team

StudySmarter Expert Advice🤫

We think this is how you could land Founding Engineer in London

Join Local Tech Meetups

Get out there and mingle with fellow developers by joining local tech meetups. It’s a fantastic way to meet people who might be working at Share or know someone who does. Plus, you can pick up some trendy tech skills and trends while you're at it!

Contribute to Open Source Projects

Show off your coding chops by jumping into open-source projects. Not only does this give you practical experience, but it also gets you noticed in the dev community. You'll create a killer portfolio that speaks volumes about your skills to Share.

Tap into Online Developer Communities

Don’t underestimate the power of online developer communities like GitHub, Stack Overflow, and even Reddit. Participate in discussions, share your projects, and build your visibility. We can often find opportunities through these channels that can lead to a full-time gig at companies like Share.

Explore Job Boards Specifically for Tech Roles

Keep your eyes peeled on job boards that focus on tech roles. Sites like TechCareers or Stack Overflow Jobs can often have listings for companies like Share that might not show up on broader job sites. Make it a habit to check these regularly, and don’t hesitate to apply directly through our website!

We think you need these skills to ace Founding Engineer in London

Software Engineering
Backend Systems Development
TypeScript
Node.js
NestJS Microservices
Payment Gateway Integrations
M-Pesa

Some tips for your application 🫡

Show off your coding skills:When applying for a software engineering role, it's super important to showcase your coding skills. Make sure your CV includes your tech stack, any relevant programming languages you’re comfortable with, and examples of projects you've worked on. If you have a GitHub profile, link it up! We love to see code in action.

Tailor your portfolio:For a full-time role, we’d expect to see some solid examples of your work in your portfolio. Make sure to include at least two or three projects that highlight your problem-solving skills and your ability to work with different technologies. Focus on the projects that are most relevant to the position at Share.

Craft a killer cover letter:Your cover letter is your chance to stand out—make it personal! Explain why you want to work at Share and how your skills align with the role. Show us your passion for software development. We dig enthusiastic candidates who understand the value of collaboration and continuous learning!

Be clear and concise:When it comes to writing your CV and cover letter, clarity is key. Avoid jargon that could confuse us and stick to simple, direct language. Highlight your achievements with quantifiable results where possible, and keep everything easy to read. A well-organised application goes a long way!

How to prepare for a job interview at Share

Brush Up on Your Coding Skills

For a full-time software engineering role, it's crucial that we stay sharp with our coding abilities. Expect technical questions that might involve solving problems on the spot or discussing algorithms. Practise on platforms like LeetCode or HackerRank to get comfortable with the types of questions that often come up.

Know Your Tools and Frameworks

Make sure we’re well-acquainted with the tools and technologies listed in the job description. Familiarise ourselves with any specific frameworks or programming languages mentioned. If Share uses React or Node.js, for instance, be ready to discuss how we’ve used them in previous projects or coursework.

Showcase Your Projects

Bring along a portfolio that highlights our best work. This could be code samples, GitHub repositories, or any side projects we’ve built. Make sure we can talk through our thought process for each project, especially the challenges we faced and how we solved them—this shows our problem-solving skills in action.

Prepare for Behavioural Questions

While technical skills are key, full-time positions also require cultural fit. Be ready to discuss our previous experiences and how we handle teamwork, conflict, and deadlines. Brush up on the STAR method—Situation, Task, Action, Result—to clearly articulate our past experiences when discussing how we've contributed to a team.