Senior Software Engineer I

Careem is building the Everything App for the greater Middle East — making it easy to move around, order food and groceries, manage payments, and more. Our purpose is simple: to simplify and improve people’s lives and build an awesome organisation that inspires.
Since 2012, Careem has enabled earnings for over 2.5 million Captains, simplified the lives of more than 70 million customers, and built a platform where the region’s best talent and entrepreneurs thrive. We operate in 70+ cities across 10 countries, from Morocco to Pakistan.

We’re now entering our next chapter — one powered by AI. We’re looking for AI talent: curious problem-solvers who know how to apply AI to build tools, automate workflows, and create real impact. Whether it’s streamlining operations, enhancing customer experience, or reimagining internal systems — we want people who can make Careem work smarter and move faster.

About the Role

This role sits at the core of Careem's NextGen program, our initiative to grow the next generation of engineers across the organization. This isn't just about writing code; it’s about reimagining how we build. We are looking for AI-native engineers—problem-solvers who leverage AI to automate the mundane, architect scalable systems at lightning speed, and focus their human intellect on high-level design.

As a Senior Software Engineer I in the Central Engineering team, you are a force multiplier. You don’t just deliver features; you set the standard for how they are delivered. You will bridge the gap between complex requirements and elegant, AI-augmented implementations, owning large components of our ecosystem and relentlessly driving excellence through automation.

What You'll Do

• AI-Driven Development: Lead by example in using AI tools (Claude Code, LLMs, automated agents) to accelerate the entire SDLC—from rapid prototyping to automated testing and documentation.

• Ownership: Design, develop, and maintain complex, full-stack features, owning the lifecycle of your services—from initial system design and API contracts to deployment and on-call support.

• System Architecture: Contribute significantly to system design discussions, evolving patterns to ensure our microservices are scalable, decoupled, and resilient.

• Quality & Mentorship: Maintain a high bar for code quality through deep code reviews. Actively mentor Software Engineers (I & II), fostering a culture of AI-first thinking.

• Operational Excellence: Participate in on-call rotations, lead incident post-mortems, and build "self-healing" systems with automated monitoring.

What You'll Need

• Experience: 6+ years of professional software development experience with a proven track record of shipping high-scale distributed systems.

• The AI-First Mindset: You have integrated AI tools into your daily workflow to increase velocity and code quality.

• Technical Stack: Proficiency in modern backend languages (Go, Java, or Node.js) and a deep understanding of React and TypeScript on the frontend.

• Distributed Systems: Advanced knowledge of REST/gRPC, message brokers (Kafka/RabbitMQ), and both SQL/NoSQL databases.

• Cloud & Infrastructure: Deep familiarity with Docker, Kubernetes, and CI/CD pipelines, with the ability to own your infrastructure on AWS.

• Bonus Points: Experience building/integrating AI agents or LLM wrappers, and a history of contributing to open-source projects or tech blogs.

What we’ll provide you

We offer colleagues the opportunity to drive impact in the region while they learn and grow. As a full time Careem colleague, you will be able to:

• Work and learn from great minds by joining a community of inspiring colleagues.

• Put your passion to work in a purposeful organisation dedicated to creating impact in a region with a lot of untapped potential.

• Explore new opportunities to learn and grow every day.

• Work 4 days a week in office & 1 day from home, and remotely from any country in the world for 30 days a year with unlimited vacation days per year.

• Access to healthcare benefits and fitness reimbursements for health activities including gym, health club, and training classes.

• This role is open to be hired in Karachi and Lahore