We're looking for a deeply technical Platform Engineer to own the backend and infrastructure heart of HYDRA — the systems everything else runs on. This is the most load-bearing engineering role at TACo. You'll own the data platform, the services, and the deployment infrastructure that turn millions of operational data points into a fast, reliable, multi-tenant product, and you'll lead the single most important delivery of our year: migrating every customer onto our next-generation platform.

At TACo, we're building HYDRA, our AI-powered operational intelligence platform serving customers operating complex physical environments across Africa. This role owns the platform foundations HYDRA stands on: the data layer, the core services, authentication, scale and reliability, and the CI/CD and cloud infrastructure that ships it all.

This is not a role for someone who wants tickets handed to them. You'll be the technical authority on backend platform and infrastructure, working directly with the CTO to make the architectural calls that determine whether HYDRA is fast, stable, and scalable — or not.

Above all, you work AI-first. We are a heavily AI-leveraged engineering team — Claude Code, Cursor, Codex and Copilot are core to how we build, not curiosities. We expect an experienced engineer using these tools to reach completion several times faster than the same engineer without them. You bring the judgement, architecture, and verification; AI carries much of the build.

You'll be part of a lean, high-agency startup team where your work directly determines whether customers get a platform they can rely on.

Check out the role here https://work.awarenesscompany.co.za/