Senior Software Developer: Blockchain/Distributed Ledger Technology at Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)

Key responsibilities:

• Develop cutting-edge blockchain solutions and remain well-versed in new technologies in the evolving blockchain space;
• Lead blockchain project(s) of moderate to high complexity, ensuring that all features are delivered successfully within the agreed timelines.
• Create and maintain technical documentation (incl. API docs, team engineering wikis);
• Supervise/mentor junior staff in the area(s) of expertise;
• Contribute to the improvement of RD&I processes within the impact area or research group;
• Generate and contribute towards science, engineering and technology (SET) activity outputs e.g. reports, guidelines, system requirements, peer-reviewed publications, and technology and software packages;
• Understand and interpret client requirements by contributing to user requirement analysis and/or well-articulated proposals;
• Remain current in field of expertise with respect to new approaches in tools, methods or technologies;
• Participate in client engagement meetings to conduct technical demonstration, presentations and elicit detailed requirements;
• Contribute to strategic planning sessions within the impact area or research group;
• Participate in external task teams or committees in relevant domains.

Qualifications, skills and experience:

• A Bachelor's degree in computer science, computer/electronic engineering, information technology or related field with at least five years' software development experience in blockchain/distributed ledger technologies;
• An Honours or a Master's degree will be advantageous;

Exposure in the following:

• Software development in the field of Blockchain/Distributed Ledger Technology or a related area;
• Front-end Frameworks: Angular, Vue, React, Next.js, Vite;
• Back-end Frameworks:  Python Flask, CherryPI or Pyramid, Node.js, ExpressJS, SpringBoot;
• Version Control: Git;
• Databases: SQL (Postgres, MySQL), NoSQL (MongoDB, CouchDB, ClickHouse);
• Infrastructure and DevOps: Container Technologies (Docker or Podman), Container Orchestration (Docker Compose or Kubernetes), Continuous Integration (Jenkins, TravisCI, GitlabCI, CircleCI), Monitoring Tools (Grafana, Prometheus);
• Cloud-based platforms: AWS, Digital Ocean, Azure, Heroku Cloud;
• Distributed System Architecture: Client/Server, P2P, Microservices, SOA, Event-driven (pub/sub messaging); 
• System Design: Load Balancing, Caching, Sharding and Replication, Rate Limiting, Message Queues, Horizontal and Vertical Scaling, Fault Tolerance, API Design;
• Project management;
• Ability to demonstrate Object-orientated software engineering skills;
• Programming languages: C++, Java, Rust, Python, Solidity, JavaScript, Go.
• Must show initiative in building applications using blockchain technology;