Careem Software Engineer jobs

Job Description & Roles Responsibilities

Role Title

Software Engineer — All Levels (Software Engineer to Senior Technical Lead)

Department

Engineering

Function

Application Development

Reporting Structure

Reports To: Varies by level assigned. Software Engineers and Senior Software Engineers report jointly to the Head of Delivery (Line Manager) and, for projects, to the assigned Project Lead & Solutions Architect. The Senior Technical Lead reports to the Head of Delivery.

Direct Reports: None at Software Engineer/Senior Software Engineer level. Senior Software Engineer, Software Engineer, and UI/UX Engineer Pool, if placed at Senior Technical Lead level.

Job Overview

This posting covers the full Engineering — Application Development ladder at Al Rafay Consulting in a single opening — from early-career Software Engineers through to the Senior Technical Lead — with level, title, and compensation determined by demonstrated experience through screening. The role owns end-to-end technical delivery within ARC’s Living Backlog model, from writing and testing individual features through to owning architecture and leading a team, and every member, regardless of level, is expected to be equally fluent in conventional software engineering, AI-augmented development, and the Microsoft/Azure stack that ARC builds and hosts on as a Microsoft Solutions Partner. This role is based in Karachi (on-site), full-time, with compensation benchmarked to market

Levels We Are Hiring For

This single posting is open across the following bands. Placement is decided after screening — candidates should apply regardless of which band they believe they fall into.

Level

Software Engineer

1–3 years

Senior Software Engineer

4–8 years

Senior Technical Lead

8+ years, incl. prior team leadership

Key Responsibilities

Core Responsibilities — Apply to Every Level

Requirements & Architecture

• Review requirements and Living Backlog items, clarify ambiguities with the Project Lead & Solutions Architects, and understand how assigned work fits into the broader business goal before starting development.
• Raise flags proactively if backlog items, acceptance criteria, or business logic are unclear, rather than making assumptions.
• Provide time estimates for assigned user stories and subtasks considering complexity, skillset, and bandwidth, and communicate them to the Project Lead & Solutions Architects and PMO during sprint planning.
• Participate in solution and architecture discussions relevant to assigned work, proposing alternative approaches where appropriate.

Development & Delivery

• Design, develop, and test assigned technical solutions derived from user stories (e.g. addition, update, deletion, approval workflows), ensuring solutions are maintainable, efficient, and aligned with Living Backlog priorities.
• Perform self-review and testing before submitting work for feedback, ensuring readiness for QA handoff.
• Apply naming conventions, coding patterns, and best practices to all development work; proactively identify and refactor inefficient code.
• Write and maintain unit test cases for all developed code wherever possible.
• Use AI coding assistants — GitHub Copilot, Cursor, Claude Code, ChatGPT — as a standard part of the daily workflow for writing code, debugging, and code review, not as an occasional aid.
• Test and validate work against applications hosted on Microsoft Azure infrastructure — App Services, Azure Functions, Azure SQL Database — as a routine part of development, given ARC's Microsoft Solutions Partner stack.

Collaboration & Communication

• Provide timely, proactive status updates to the Project Lead & Solutions Architects and PMO during Daily Scrum and as requested throughout the project lifecycle, highlighting progress, risks, and potential improvements.
• Maintain clear, proactive communication with developers, PMO, and stakeholders throughout the delivery lifecycle.

Additional Responsibilities — Senior Software Engineer

• Take independent ownership of feature delivery with minimal oversight, including evaluating whether requirements make sense against business goals and challenging assumptions when they conflict with business logic.
• Assist in defining and justifying technology stack decisions, and in defining codebase structure, repository patterns, and database schema (e.g. MVC, MVVM, Factory patterns).
• Provide informal mentorship and review support to junior Software Engineers.
• Use AI tools across the full workflow — code generation, code review prep, test writing, documentation, technical research — and demonstrate judgment on when not to rely on AI.

Additional Responsibilities — Senior Technical Lead

• Own continuous refinement and prioritisation of the Living Backlog in collaboration with the Head of Delivery, business analysts, project managers, and developers; resolve ambiguities and adjust priorities as new requirements emerge.
• Define and justify the technology stack; design and implement codebase structure, repository patterns, and database schema end-to-end; collaborate with UI/UX designers when available, or improvise using internal tools or AI-based design support otherwise.
• Lead backlog review sessions, strategically allocate tasks to developers based on expertise and availability, and onboard new team members during resource rotation.
• Compile and adjust team-wide effort estimates during backlog refinement, incorporating risk buffers, and communicate approved timelines to PMO and project owners.
• Conduct code reviews to ensure adherence to naming conventions, performance standards, and maintainability; validate that completed user stories meet acceptance criteria and undergo review before QA handoff.
• Act as the bridge between technical execution and business objectives; maintain open communication with PMs, QA Team Leads, and BAs to resolve blockers; keep task boards updated.
• Mentor and performance-manage Software Engineers and Senior Software Engineers on architecture, coding standards, and business logic interpretation; participate in Sprint Retrospectives and drive process improvement.
• Design, implement, and govern the team's use of AI-assisted development workflows, setting standards for responsible AI use so it improves quality and speed rather than masking gaps in understanding.
• Own architecture decisions across ARC's Microsoft Solutions Partner stack — Digital & App Innovation, Data & AI, and Infrastructure — and set the team's standards for Azure/Microsoft best practices, security, and cost governance.
• Act as the escalation point and liaison between clients, PMO, Product Owners, and Engineering on critical delivery issues.

Qualifications & Experience

Required — All Levels

• Minimum 1 year of professional software development experience. There is no upper experience limit — candidates with leadership-track experience are strongly encouraged to apply.
• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Technology, or a related field preferred.
• Strong understanding of software design principles, coding best practices, and experience building features from requirements/user stories.
• Demonstrated, practical fluency in AI-assisted development tools (GitHub Copilot, Cursor, Claude Code, ChatGPT/GPT platforms) — this is weighted equally with core coding skill in screening at every level; candidates who work in a purely manual, non-AI-assisted way will not be shortlisted.
• Familiarity with architecture/design pattern decisions (MVC, MVVM, Factory, or equivalent).
• Working familiarity with Microsoft Azure fundamentals — App Services, Azure Functions, Azure SQL Database — and Azure DevOps (Repos, Pipelines, Boards) as ARC's primary delivery toolchain, given ARC's status as a Microsoft Solutions Partner.
• Comfort working across Microsoft 365 tools (Teams, SharePoint, Planner) for daily coordination.
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills — this role requires constant coordination with Project Leads, Solutions Architects, PMO, and stakeholders, and is weighted as heavily as technical ability in our evaluation.
• Comfortable working within Agile/Scrum and fast-paced delivery environments.

Additional — Required Only for Senior Technical Lead Placement

• 8+ years of overall software engineering experience, including prior experience owning architecture and leading or mentoring a team.
• Proven experience owning delivery timelines, managing technical risk, and acting as the bridge between engineering and business/PMO stakeholders.
• Demonstrated ownership of architecture decisions and codebase structure across a project or product, including experience with Azure infrastructure design and governance.
• Experience conducting code reviews and setting technical direction for a team.
• Demonstrated experience mentoring or managing a software engineering team.

Key Competencies

• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management — treated as a core hiring criterion, not a soft nice-to-have.
• High attention to code quality and engineering standards.
• Genuine comfort with AI-assisted workflows as a daily working habit, at every level of seniority.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment, with ownership and accountability.

Pay: From Rs80,000.00 per month

Work Location: In person