Software Engineer – AI & New Initiatives (Remote: South Africa or India)

Job Title:

Software Engineer – AI & New Initiatives (Remote: South Africa or India)

Prodigy Finance - who are we?

Prodigy Finance is a platform that delivers socially responsible financial services, making it possible for students from more than 150 countries to fulfil their dream of studying at the world’s top universities and schools by financing their international postgraduate studies whilst delivering competitive financial and social returns to alumni, institutional and private investors.

This borderless and innovative model enables education loan financing to students from across the globe whilst using predicted post-degree affordability rather than present-day salary. Since 2007, Prodigy Finance has extended over $2.5 billion through the platform to fund over 66,000 students.

Prodigy Finance is fueled by impact investors and other privately qualified entities who invest in tomorrow’s leaders whilst earning a financial and social return. Prodigy Finance’s borderless lending model enables students to apply for a loan based on their future earning potential and not just their current circumstances and credit history. 

What will you do in the role?

As a Software Engineer in the AI & New Initiatives team, you will help build a new generation of AI-enabled product capabilities at Prodigy Finance. This is a predominantly greenfield role, focused on designing and delivering backend systems that integrate selectively with our core platform.

You will work on production-grade AI-backed systems operating in a tightly regulated, FCA-compliant environment. You’ll be expected to operate with a high degree of autonomy: helping define problems, translating business needs into technical and AI workflows, running experiments, and turning successful ideas into scalable, reusable foundations.

This is a fully remote role, requiring strong ownership, clear communication, and the ability to work effectively with cross-functional partners.

What are some of the responsibilities of this role?

Design, build, and own backend services and APIs that power AI-enabled product capabilities.

Translate business problems into AI-supported workflows, running experiments that can be evaluated and improved over time.

Build scalable, reliable systems using microservices architecture and strong engineering fundamentals.

Create reusable foundations that enable future AI-driven development across teams.

Collaborate closely with Product Managers and Operations to deliver solutions that are technically robust and operationally viable.

Ensure systems meet security, data-handling, and regulatory compliance requirements.

Maintain high standards of code quality, testing, observability, and documentation.

Take ownership of the reliability and maintainability of systems running in production.

Classify, store, and handle data in accordance with internal policies.

What would the ideal candidate be great at?

Backend engineering fundamentals — building reliable, maintainable, and scalable systems.

Systems thinking — understanding how services behave in real production environments.

Problem definition — working effectively with ambiguity and helping shape the right solution.

Business context awareness — understanding why something is being built, not just how.

Pragmatism — balancing experimentation with the discipline required in regulated environments.

Collaboration — working effectively with product and operations partners in a remote-first setup.

Qualifications and experience

4+ years of professional software engineering experience.

Strong experience with Python, including backend development using Django.

Experience designing and operating RESTful APIs and microservices.

Solid understanding of production system design, scalability, and reliability.

Experience translating business requirements into technical systems and workflows.

Demonstrable experience with relational databases (e.g. PostgreSQL).

Comfort working with cloud platforms (AWS preferred).

Experience using infrastructure as code tools such as Terraform.

Ability to work effectively in a fully remote, distributed team.

Experience that would be nice to have

(but we’ll trade off if everything else fits)

Exposure to AI-enabled workflows, such as LLM-based systems, orchestration, or evaluation pipelines.

Familiarity with tools such as LangGraph, Langfuse, or similar frameworks.

Experience building systems in regulated or compliance-heavy environments.

Experience with modern Javascript frameworks like React/NextJS

Experience collaborating closely with operations or business teams.

Why join Prodigy Finance?

Be a part of a pioneering global growth company.

Experience the excitement and learn from being part of an incredibly fast-growing young company.

Be pivotal in scaling the business by identifying smart solutions and partnering with tech at the heart of it.

Enjoy the agility and flexibility offered by a startup culture. A sociable, relaxed and friendly work environment.

We will help you make your mark. Make a real impact on the business and experience a steep learning curve with huge opportunities to grow and develop.

Gain an inside perspective on the functioning of a venture-backed Fintech startup, backed by top VCs, learn day-to-day management and build functional expertise.

Build a platform that helps to make a very real difference in the world.

The purpose, values and behaviours that drive our culture:

Our Purpose: To provide equal access to life-changing education globally.

Our Values: 

We are doing something big here: We are doing something life-changing in the world. Something that changes the status quo. 

Bigger than us: Our work here is bigger than us as individuals and our own egos. It’s about doing the best work of our lives in service of the greater good. 

Grow bravely together: We have a relentless desire to continuously improve and work together to evolve our business and ourselves. We are open to the new and always stay curious. 

Keep pushing forward: What we are doing is not always easy. We embrace the challenge. We never give up at the first hurdle. We always keep moving forward. 

Our Behaviours:

Judgement: Applying sound judgement to solve problems and prioritise opportunities leads to the best outcomes. We identify key issues, compare data, and choose effective solutions based on facts, constraints, and consequences. We focus on fewer, high-impact actions.

Accountability: At Prodigy, accountability is personal. We take responsibility for our actions, decisions, and outcomes—both positive and negative. We own mistakes, refocus when needed, and hold ourselves and others accountable for achieving goals.

Collaboration: We work effectively across teams, fostering learning and cooperation to achieve exceptional results. We listen actively, maintain strong relationships, and align personal contributions with team goals. Collaboration does not mean consensus-building.

Leadership: Leadership exists at all levels. We influence our thoughts and behaviours to achieve both personal and company goals. We take collective responsibility, act as role models, and embody Prodigy’s values.

Biased to Focus Action: We prioritise doing the right things with urgency and decisiveness. Data and customer focus guide our actions. We embrace uncertainty, accelerate decision-making, and drive execution, learning, and momentum.

Communication: Clear, effective communication is key. We proactively share relevant information, focus on desired outcomes, and use data to support our message. We articulate ideas well and listen actively.

Continuous Improvement: We believe in constant progress. Every employee seeks ways to improve themselves, our product, and our processes. We favour rapid, incremental improvements over perfect design.

Learning and Experimentation: Openness, curiosity, and a learning mindset drive success. Experimentation fuels discovery, helping us learn, adapt, and prepare for future challenges.

Join Prodigy Finance and play a pivotal role in achieving our mission of providing equal access to life-changing education globally.

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