Full-Stack Developer (Johannesburg)

Job description

About Paragon

Paragon is a global AI studio with offices in Johannesburg. We build the intelligence layer that sits on top of and between the systems our clients already own. Not SaaS. Not a dashboard. Not a rip-and-replace. We run a two-track model, a consulting arm building bespoke intelligence layers on client systems, and an incubation arm spinning up new ventures as standalone companies. Backed, small team, clients across retail, property, hospitality, and finance.

The role

You will ship prototypes and production features across client work and incubation products. Take a wireframe brief on a Monday and have a working demo by Thursday. Push production releases. Iterate live with client feedback in the room. Own the middle of the stack (application layer) while our platform engineer owns the infrastructure below and our advisors handle the complex data and architecture calls above.

You will work directly with the CEO and the delivery lead. You will see every conversation, every client, every product. This role is task-driven, not meeting-driven.

What we mean by AI-Augmented workflow

✓  Yes

You use cursor, Claude code, or equivalent as a genuine part of your development process. You review, direct, and ship what these tools produce. You know when to accept the first output and when to rewrite. You have real engineering fundamentals underneath (git hygiene, code review, testing, deploy discipline).

✗  Not this

Someone whose portfolio is half-shipped Lovable landing pages. Someone who calls a prompt a commit. Someone who has never had to debug a production database on a Sunday. If AI writes it and you paste it, that is not the same thing as engineering with it.

Must haves

• Three plus years shipping web applications in production.
• Strong TypeScript, React, and Node.js.
• Comfortable with SQL and Postgres. Supabase experience a plus.
• Deployment discipline on Vercel, Fly.io, or similar.
• Working knowledge of AI-augmented development (Cursor, Claude Code, Windsurf, or equivalent).
• Direct Anthropic API experience, or orchestration exposure (LangGraph, Vercel AI SDK).
• Git hygiene, code review discipline, opinionated but coachable.

Nice to haves

• Direct Anthropic API experience, or orchestration exposure (LangGraph, Vercel AI SDK).
• Design sensibility. Tailwind, shadcn, motion. You can tell when a UI is off.
• Data engineering exposure (dbt, Airbyte, connectors).
• Comfort in enterprise environments where you are the only Paragon person in the room.

You will like this if

• You want to ship real product across real client systems, not marketing sites.
• You enjoy variety. Retail, property, finance, and hospitality clients in a single week.
• You want AI genuinely woven into your day, not as a party trick.
• You like small teams, fast decisions, no meeting hell, and three days in-office with people who ship.
• You would not enjoy a rigid ticket queue, a two-week sprint cycle, or a fully remote role.

Send three things.

1.  Your CV.

2.  Three links to things you have shipped. Production URLs preferred, GitHub if not.