Network Engineer

A technology company in Bloemfontein, Free State is seeking a talented Network Engineer for its digital engineering team. You will design, develop, and maintain software applications, write clean code, participate in code reviews and agile ceremonies, and contribute to continuous improvement of development practices. Work with modern technologies in an innovative environment.

Responsibilities

Collaboration & Agile Delivery

• Work closely with product owners, UX designers, and quality assurance engineers throughout the development lifecycle to ensure features meet acceptance criteria, user experience standards, and non-functional performance and security requirements.
• Maintain and enhance CI/CD pipelines to automate building, testing, security scanning, and deployment of application releases across development, staging, and production environments using tools such as Azure DevOps, Jenkins, or GitHub Actions.
• Actively participate in all agile ceremonies including daily stand-ups, sprint planning, backlog refinement, sprint reviews, and retrospectives, contributing ideas and feedback to drive continuous improvement of team velocity and delivery predictability.
• Document technical architectures, system configurations, operational runbooks, and troubleshooting guides in the team knowledge base, and mentor junior developers through pair programming sessions and lunch-and-learn knowledge-sharing presentations.

Software Development & Architecture

• Design and implement robust database schemas, stored procedures, indexing strategies, and query optimisation techniques to ensure efficient data retrieval and referential integrity across high-volume transactional and analytical reporting workloads.
• Participate actively in code reviews by examining peers' pull requests for logic errors, security vulnerabilities, performance bottlenecks, and adherence to coding standards, providing constructive feedback and suggesting alternative approaches where appropriate.
• Design, develop, and maintain scalable software applications using modern programming languages and frameworks, writing clean, well-documented, and testable code that adheres to established coding standards, design patterns, and SOLID principles.
• Collaborate with business analysts and stakeholders to translate functional requirements into detailed technical specifications, system architecture designs, logical data models, and comprehensive API contracts before commencing each development sprint.

System Maintenance & Support

• Provide second and third-level technical support for complex hardware, software, and network issues escalated from the service desk, diagnosing root causes through systematic troubleshooting and implementing permanent resolutions within agreed service levels.
• Implement and maintain comprehensive data backup and disaster recovery solutions by scheduling regular full and incremental backups, testing restore procedures quarterly, and documenting recovery runbooks with step-by-step instructions for all mission-critical systems.
• Manage and monitor network infrastructure including routers, switches, firewalls, wireless access points, and VPN gateways, ensuring secure, stable, and high-performance connectivity across all office locations and for remote workers accessing corporate resources.

Requirements

• Strong communication skills to explain technical concepts to non-technical users and stakeholders clearly and patiently.
• Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills to diagnose complex technical issues and identify root causes systematically.
• A bachelor's degree or diploma in computer science, information technology, software engineering, or a related field.
• A commitment to continuous learning and staying current with emerging technologies, industry trends, and best practices.
• Proficiency in relevant programming languages and technologies such as C#, Java, Python, JavaScript, PHP, SQL, or similar.

Qualifications

• Microsoft, Cisco, or AWS Associate-level Certification