Senior Software Engineer I

Careem is transforming daily life across the Middle East through its Everything App, enabling seamless movement, food and grocery ordering, payment management, and more. Since its inception in 2012, Careem has empowered over 2.5 million Captains and served more than 70 million customers across 70+ cities in 10 countries, spanning from Morocco to Pakistan. As the company embarks on its next phase driven by AI innovation, it is seeking talented AI-focused engineers to develop impactful tools, automate workflows, and enhance customer experiences. The Quick and Shops team, which manages the customer-facing backend for two rapidly expanding verticals, is looking for a Senior Software Engineer I. This role involves owning backend domains, building scalable services, and collaborating closely with mobile engineers to deliver a smooth experience to millions of users.

Key Responsibilities
- Design, develop, and maintain scalable backend services that support the Quick and Shops customer experience.
- Write high-quality Golang code to implement complete features and independently troubleshoot bugs.
- Develop and maintain REST APIs, service-to-service integrations, and configuration-driven gateway systems.
- Own and evolve backend data models and catalog systems that underpin product verticals.
- Manage event-driven architectures using Kafka and handle Avro schema evolution.
- Support AWS cloud infrastructure components such as S3, CloudFront, DNS, and certificate management.
- Participate in on-call rotations to debug and resolve production issues within distributed and decoupled systems.
- Mentor junior engineers and lead technical discussions across cross-functional teams.
- Advocate for and integrate AI-assisted development tools into daily engineering workflows.

Required Qualifications
- Proven experience as a backend engineer at a mid-level or higher; this is not an entry-level position.
- Strong hands-on expertise in Golang; candidates proficient in other modern languages like Java, Kotlin, C#, or C++ may be considered if they can quickly adapt.
- Experience building product-facing backend systems that serve end customers directly, rather than solely infrastructure or platform components.
- Proficiency with REST APIs, service-to-service communication, and distributed system design.
- Familiarity with data modeling, Kafka, and Avro schema evolution.
- Exposure to AWS cloud services including S3, CloudFront, DNS, and certificate management.
- Experience with on-call responsibilities and independently diagnosing complex issues in distributed environments.
- Excellent communication skills, a collaborative approach, and the ability to work autonomously without close supervision.
- Experience mentoring junior engineers and coordinating efforts across multiple teams.

Preferred Qualifications and Benefits
- Understanding of server-driven UI paradigms.
- Experience with containerization and orchestration tools such as Docker and Kubernetes.
- Working knowledge of both relational and non-relational databases.
- Familiarity with software engineering best practices including code reviews, source control, and testing standards.

Careem offers a dynamic and impactful work environment where employees can contribute meaningfully to the region’s growth while continuously developing their skills. Full-time team members collaborate with inspiring professionals within a purpose-driven organization. The company supports flexible work arrangements, including four days per week in the office and one remote day, with additional global remote work options for up to 30 days annually. Employees enjoy unlimited vacation days, comprehensive healthcare benefits, and fitness reimbursements for activities such as gym memberships and training classes. This position is based in Karachi or Lahore, Pakistan, and presents an exciting opportunity to join a forward-thinking team driving innovation powered by AI.