Labournet is a proudly South African company with over 28 years of innovation in payroll, HR and employment legislative compliance. We are driven by our mission to change the world of work by simplifying compliance, empowering people, and delivering technology-driven solutions. Our people are the key to this mission, and we invest in them to grow, innovate, and make an impact.

We are expanding the LabourNet Platform and appointing an Application Architect to provide hands-on design and delivery support within our squads.

This role is embedded in delivery, with a strong focus on solution design and practical implementation.
It is suited to candidates who combine architectural capability with a passion for building.
Level and remuneration will be aligned to the candidate’s experience.

 Core metrics:

• Design real solutions. Turn product and business intent into application architecture — service boundaries, data models, events, integrations and API contracts — sized to the problem rather than over-engineered.
• Prove it in code. Build reference implementations and spikes on our actual stack so squads have a clear, working path to follow. Contribute production code where that's the fastest way to de-risk a decision.
• Review what matters. Give concrete, useful feedback on architecturally significant pull requests.
• Make governance enforceable. Capture decisions as ADRs (with clear “revisit if…” triggers) and wire architectural standards into CI as automated fitness functions — so quality is checked by the pipeline, not policed by a person.
• Own the cross-cutting concerns. Security, performance, scalability, observability, reliability and cost — expressed as testable expectations.
• Grow the squads. Coach engineers and tech lead and transfer architectural thinking rather than gatekeeping it.
• Shape the roadmap. Surface technical risk, debt and sequencing so product and platform planning stays honest.

Minimum Requirements:

• Frontend: Angular 21+
• Backend: Quarkus 3.33+ (Java)
• Database: PostgreSQL 18+ (Azure Postgres)
• Cloud & runtime: Azure Container Apps (primary region: South Africa North)
• Eventing & messaging: Azure Event Grid, Azure Service Bus
• AI: Langchain4J, Azure OpenAI
• Workspace management: NX 22+
• IaC & delivery: Terraform 1.14+, az CLI, Azure DevOps (Repos & Pipelines)
• Testing: Playwright, Vitest, RestAssured, JUnit, Mockito

You'll also help us evolve a legacy footprint (Java 8 / Vaadin / TomEE / SQL Server) toward this stack over time.

Main Responsibilities:

You've designed and built non-trivial application architectures (the “built” part matters here).

• Strong backend engineering on the JVM — Quarkus, Spring Boot, Micronaut or similar.
• Enough modern frontend depth (Angular or comparable) to design end-to-end and review meaningfully.
• Solid, performance-aware data modelling on PostgreSQL or equivalent.
• Cloud-native design on Azure (or strong AWS/GCP experience you can carry over): containers, eventing, messaging.
• Comfort with microservices / modular-monolith and event-driven design, and the coupling trade-offs involved.
• A practical governance habit: ADRs, automated architectural testing / fitness functions, CI/CD.
• Clear communication and a genuine interest in growing the engineers around you.

• A bachelor’s degree in IT or related field
• Exposure to working in an Agile methodology
• Exposure within a Payroll/HR or financial services environment would be advantageous

Why Join Labournet?

At Labournet, you’re joining more than a company - you’re becoming part of a platform built to empower people and drive purpose. With over 28 years of innovation in compliance and people solutions, we invest in our employees so they can grow, make a national impact, and help shape the future of work across South Africa.

What We Offer:

• You’ll obtain a wealth of experience and knowledge at a much faster pace than you would in an internal compliance-focused role due to our national footprint across different industries.
• You’ll have access to structured career paths, accredited training, performance coaching and mentorship to support your professional growth.
• You’ll be part of a team that drives compliance and transformation across South Africa, giving your work real purpose and impact.
• You’ll benefit from hybrid work options and a culture that supports work-life integration, because we believe wellbeing fuels performance.
• You’ll enjoy competitive salaries, holistic benefits and a lucrative sales commission policy.
• You’ll thrive in a collaborative, tech-enabled environment where we value output over hours and encourage innovation at every level.

How We Work?

Gone are the days of rigid office hours and long commutes. Our hybrid working model allows teams to co-create flexible arrangements that support productivity and personal wellbeing.

Who We Are:

Labournet is a proudly South African company offering integrated solutions in Payroll, Labour Law, Health & Safety, Transformation, Training, Technology and Commercial Compliance. We serve over 6,500 businesses nationwide, helping them stay compliant and competitive.