C++ Backend Developer – Real-Time Messaging Systems (WhatsApp-style)

Overview

We are seeking an experienced C++ Backend Developer to join a high-performance engineering team building real-time messaging and communication systems inspired by platforms such as WhatsApp.

The role focuses on designing and developing low-latency, high-throughput distributed systems that support millions of real-time interactions across secure financial and communication environments.

This is a critical engineering role within Standard Bank’s digital ecosystem, contributing to next-generation messaging, notification, and event-driven platforms.

Key Responsibilities

• Design, develop, and maintain high-performance C++ services for real-time messaging systems
• Build scalable event-driven and distributed backend architectures
• Develop low-latency communication services (similar to WhatsApp messaging flows)
• Work with websocket-like persistent connections, message queues, and asynchronous systems
• Implement secure, reliable message delivery, retry, and acknowledgment systems
• Optimize performance for latency, throughput, and concurrency
• Work with Linux-based environments and debugging tools
• Collaborate with architecture, DevOps, and integration teams
• Ensure system resilience, fault tolerance, and high availability

Required Skills

• Strong C++ (C++11/14/17+) development experience
• Deep understanding of multithreading & concurrency
• Strong experience with network programming (TCP/IP, sockets)
• Experience with real-time systems or messaging platforms
• Linux development environment experience
• Knowledge of distributed systems & microservices
• Performance tuning and memory optimization

Nice to Have

• Experience with messaging systems (Kafka, RabbitMQ, ZeroMQ)
• WebSocket / persistent connection systems
• Telecom or VoIP-style systems (SIP/RTP)
• Banking / fintech backend exposure
• Low-latency / high-frequency systems

System Context (WhatsApp-style backend inspiration)

The role involves working on systems similar in nature to:

• Real-time message delivery pipelines
• Delivery receipts & acknowledgements
• Offline message syncing
• Push notification systems
• Scalable event-driven architecture supporting millions of users