Senior Backend Engineer - Commerce at Bumpa

Job Summary

• The Bumpa Engineering Team is critical to fulfilling our vision of creating solutions that simplify commerce for small businesses across Africa. This role will work with Product, Design, and other cross-functional teams to decide what products we build and how we build them to solve complex commerce problems for business owners. We are looking for someone with strong technical acumen who is curious and passionate about building scalable commerce products. You will be responsible for building and optimizing commerce-based products and features that help the business acquire, engage, and retain small business owners on our platform, while also helping our merchants sell better, manage their businesses more efficiently, and grow sustainably. We are looking for someone who is excited about building innovative products for the commerce space.

Job Details

Architecture and Design

• Collaborate with product teams to understand requirements and translate them into robust technical designs.
• Design and develop highly scalable, secure, and performant commerce applications and backend systems.
• Build systems that support core commerce experiences such as product catalogues, storefronts, inventory, orders, customer management, checkout, fulfilment, and business operations.
• Promote best practices in software design, testability, reliability, and maintainability.

Development

• Write clean, well-structured, and efficient code in relevant programming languages such as Laravel PHP, Node.js, Python, or other modern backend technologies.
• Build and optimize backend services that power seller tools, storefront experiences, order management, customer engagement, and other commerce-related products.
• Implement integrations with third-party services and internal systems that support commerce workflows.
• Utilize cloud-based technologies effectively, such as AWS, Azure, or GCP.

Testing and Debugging

• Design and implement unit and integration tests to ensure code quality and robustness.
• Actively participate in troubleshooting and resolving complex technical issues.
• Monitor, debug, and improve the performance, reliability, and scalability of commerce systems.

Continuous Improvement and Innovation

• Stay current on emerging commerce trends, technologies, and best practices.
• Contribute to improving code quality, development processes, and system optimization.
• Identify opportunities to improve the seller and buyer experiences and operational efficiency through technology.
• Mentor and guide junior developers, fostering a culture of knowledge sharing and technical excellence.

Requirements

Required

• 5+ years of hands-on software development experience, preferably in commerce, SaaS, fintech, marketplace, or business management products.
• Deep understanding of software development principles, design patterns, and algorithms.
• Proficiency in at least one modern programming language such as Laravel PHP, Node.js, Python, or similar technologies.
• Experience building scalable backend systems, APIs, and integrations.
• Experience with relational and/or NoSQL database technologies.
• Strong understanding of system design, performance optimization, and software reliability.

Preferred

• Experience working on commerce, marketplace, inventory, order management, CRM, or business operations products.
• Experience with agile development methodologies.
• Experience integrating with third-party platforms, APIs, or business tools.
• Knowledge of cloud infrastructure, distributed systems, and scalable application architecture.
• Experience mentoring engineers or contributing to technical decision-making within a product team.

Desired Personal Attributes

• A strong sense of ownership and accountability.
• Passion for solving complex problems in the commerce space.
• Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Ability to thrive in a collaborative and fast-paced environment.
• Excellent communication skills and ability to work effectively across cross-functional teams.
• Curiosity about small business needs and a strong desire to build products that help merchants grow.