Backend Developer

Vellmont Advisory Ltd is a Nairobi-headquartered PropTech real-estate and mortgage-investment platform serving local Kenyan buyers and diaspora investors. Their small tech team is expanding and they are looking for a hands-on mid-senior backend engineer to act as a de-facto backend technical lead. The company fosters an AI-first rapid-iteration culture.

The Backend Developer will be responsible for the full lifecycle of backend delivery, including database modeling, API design and implementation, frontend integration, testing, deployment, and production maintenance. This is not a junior role; the successful candidate will independently manage the development of core real-estate business entity relationships such as Property, Unit, Listing, Landlord/Property Manager, Tenant, Lead, Viewing, Offer, and Transaction. Collaboration with frontend, sales, and CRM teams is crucial for delivering modules like Rental V1 on tight schedules. The company fosters an AI-first rapid-iteration culture, where engineers leverage AI coding tools to enhance delivery speed, while maintaining ownership of architecture, database design, code review, and production quality.

1. Independently manage the full lifecycle of business modules, including schema design, REST API development, business logic, frontend joint debugging, unit/integration testing, and production deployment.
2. Design relational databases (PostgreSQL / MySQL) for complex multi-entity property businesses, correctly decomposing entities like Listing, Lease-Transaction, Viewing, and Lead to prevent future refactoring as data volume grows.
3. Master at least one mainstream backend stack (Node.js/NestJS, Java Spring Boot, Python FastAPI/Django) and design/implement secure, standardized REST-APIs with JWT/OAuth authentication and granular permission control.
4. Utilize Git/GitHub for workflow management, including branch management, PR review, and version control.
5. Perform hands-on Linux server operations and troubleshooting, with experience in AWS or equivalent cloud platforms.
6. Implement practical Redis caching and S3-style object storage for image/file uploads.
7. Ensure API security through input validation, access control, rate-limiting, and audit logging.
8. Write unit and integration tests and build lightweight CI/CD auto-deployment pipelines.
9. Daily use AI coding assistants for code generation, SQL and migration scripts, API documentation, test-case writing, debugging, code refactoring, and log analysis, while owning all technical decisions.
10. Collaborate closely with frontend teams for joint debugging, integrate backend systems with existing CRM, and iterate on requirements from sales business stakeholders.
11. Achieve specific onboarding milestones, including delivering NestVest Rental V1 Backend modules (Property, Unit, Listing, Landlord/Property Manager, Tenant, Lead APIs, image/file upload, search/filtering, listing status management, CRM integration) within the first week.
12. Subsequently build modules for Viewing, Offer, Rental Transaction, actual rent calculation, Days-on-Market metric, and conversion flows (Landlord → Sales Lead, Tenant → Buyer Lead, Mortgage Lead).

1. Possess 3+ years of hands-on backend development experience, with consideration for exceptional candidates demonstrating strong practical results.
2. Proven experience in relational database modeling for complex multi-relation business scenarios, capable of decomposing business entities effectively.
3. Hands-on experience with REST-API design, Git workflow, Linux server administration, and AWS or equivalent cloud services.
4. Mandatory daily use of AI coding tools in development workflow for building, debugging, refactoring, and test writing.
5. Strong advantage for candidates with experience building CRM, Marketplace, SaaS, PropTech, Real-estate platform, E-commerce, or Booking-style systems.
6. Demonstrate a startup-minded independent engineering approach: interpret business requirements, break down tasks, make technical trade-off decisions, self-debug, and push code to production without requiring fully-detailed PRD documents.
7. Good written and spoken English for effective cross-functional team communication.
8. A Bachelor's degree (BA/BSc/HND) is required.