Ubulu Africa is a digital innovation hub committed to driving impactful digital innovation across Africa. With a focus on venture building and ecosystem building, Ubulu Africa endeavours to catalyze economic empowerment and sustainable development by fostering collaboration between innovators, startups, corporate organisations, academic institutions, and government agencies.
We are seeking a Senior Backend Engineer with a proven track record of building scalable APIs and powering data-heavy workflows (e.g., dynamic tables, filtering, analytics).
You will be joining a fast-moving, impact-driven team and playing a key role in designing and maintaining the core services behind our high-growth platforms.
The ideal candidate is based in Lagos, able to work independently in a remote-first setup, and available for occasional in-person meetings as required.
You must be highly proficient in NestJS and Express.js, and comfortable owning backend responsibilities with minimal supervision.
What You Will Do
API Development: Design, build, and maintain robust and scalable RESTful APIs using NestJS and Express.js.
Backend Logic for UIs: Structure backend logic effectively for table-heavy user interfaces, including implementing efficient pagination, filtering, and sorting functionalities.
Database Performance: Implement performant database queries and aggregation pipelines to ensure optimal application speed and responsiveness, especially with MongoDB or similar NoSQL databases.
Cross-functional Collaboration: Collaborate closely with frontend engineers to define clear API contracts and resolve integration needs, ensuring seamless data flow and user experience.
Code Quality: Write clean, testable, and maintainable code adhering to best practices and coding standards.
System Design & Optimisation: Participate actively in system design discussions and performance optimisation initiatives to enhance the overall architecture and efficiency of our platforms.
Documentation: Document endpoints, services, and key technical decisions for knowledge sharing and team collaboration.
What You Will Bring
Experience: 4+ years of backend engineering experience with production NestJS/Express systems.
Database Proficiency: Strong proficiency with MongoDB or similar NoSQL databases, including experience with data modelling and complex query optimisation.
Data-heavy Applications: Proven experience working with data-heavy applications, tables, and analytics platforms.
API Principles: Strong understanding of REST API principles, design patterns, and authentication mechanisms.
Technical Skills: Familiarity with Git for version control, asynchronous operations, and middleware architecture.
AWS & CI/CD : Experienced deploying production grade services on AWS using CI/CD pipelines.
Autonomy & Delivery: Ability to work independently, manage tasks effectively, and consistently meet delivery timelines in a remote-first environment.
Location: Based in Lagos and available for occasional on-site meetings as required.
Nice To Have:
Experience with Redis, background job processing, or caching solutions.
Exposure to GraphQL, microservices architectures, or event-driven architecture.
Familiarity with analytics or reporting dashboards development.
Previous work experience in startup environments or on innovation projects.
What We Offer?
A Great Culture: We are a people-first company. Everyone’s voice matters, and mutual respect is at the core of what we do.
Learning and Growth: We are big on professional development and support your growth.
Competitive Compensation: Enjoy an attractive salary, pension, health insurance, and more.
Impactful Work: Work on exciting projects that make a difference in Africa’s digital transformation.
Empowerment: Enjoy the freedom to bring your ideas to life and make meaningful contributions to the company's success.