Senior Software Engineer (Product & AI Workflows) at YoungShand

Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand -

Full Time

Start Date

Immediate

Expiry Date

31 Jul, 26

Salary

0.0

Posted On

02 May, 26

Experience

5 year(s) or above

Remote Job

Yes

Telecommute

Yes

Sponsor Visa

Skills

Software engineering, AI-augmented workflows, System architecture, Code review, Technical debt management, API integration, Database design, CI/CD, Next.js, PHP, LLM APIs, Strategic planning, Problem solving, Technical documentation, Testing

Industry

Advertising Services

Description

We're looking for a pragmatic Senior Developer who understands that the "how" of software engineering is changing fast. You've got deep foundations in traditional computer science and design patterns, and you've fully embraced modern AI-augmented workflows (Cursor, Copilot, LLM-based refactoring) to ship high-quality code at pace. This isn't a syntax-writing job. You'll be architecting solutions, protecting system integrity, and using AI to handle the solved problems so you can spend your brainpower on the interesting stuff, think complex business logic, user experience, and the ideas nobody's tried yet. We know a lot of senior devs are (rightly) skeptical of "AI-first" job ads, often they're code for "we want cheap, fast, and disposable." That's not us. We want senior people who use these tools to be more creative and more strategic, not less. You'll be trusted with real architectural decisions from day one. We just need someone to hit the ground running in this type of workflow. What you'll do Architect for the long haul. Design and maintain scalable, deterministic systems. Use AI as a force multiplier. Accelerate scaffolding, testing, and docs with AI assistants, while keeping a firm hand on quality, security, and intent. Raise the bar. Run thoughtful code reviews that catch technical debt before it compounds, whether the code came from a human or a model. Translate ambiguity into shipped products. Turn fuzzy business problems into technical specs, and know when a classical approach beats an AI-integrated one (and vice versa). Here's the honest bit: we're an agency, which means you won't be living in a single pristine monorepo. We maintain hundreds of websites built over the past 10+ years, across a genuinely wide range of tech stacks, some shiny and modern, some with real character (and real lessons baked into them). These aren't forgotten projects either. They belong to clients we've built long, trusted relationships with, and they get the same care and craftsmanship as anything brand new walking in the door. The senior devs on our team can move between a legacy PHP build in the morning and a greenfield Next.js project in the afternoon without losing a step, and they genuinely enjoy the range. If context-switching energises you rather than drains you, you'll fit right in. Strong foundations. 5+ years building real stuff. You know your way around APIs, database design, and CI/CD without needing to Google the basics. Modern toolchain fluency. You've got a point of view on how AI fits into a professional SDLC — not just "I use Copilot sometimes," but an actual philosophy. Critical eye. You can tell when an LLM is hallucinating a library, suggesting an insecure pattern, or cargo-culting a design choice. You know why a pattern is the right one. Pragmatism over purity. You care more about solving the problem for the user than about the lines of code you wrote to get there. Bonus Stuff: You've built or integrated with LLM APIs (Anthropic, OpenAI etc.). You can point to projects where AI meaningfully compressed your timelines without the usual quality trade-off. You've got a weird side project. We love weird side projects! YoungShand is an indie agency on an upward trajectory. You will work across all clients, with a strong focus on New Zealand challenger brands that want making an impact in the world. Our highly integrated model pulls together all the skill sets required to create great work – from strategy to creative, design, development, production, client service and media. Because we grow brands that communicate with all New Zealanders, we celebrate diversity and the unique backgrounds, experiences and viewpoints that difference brings to our team and our clients. We encourage an inclusive, creative workplace culture and embrace flexible working and summer hours. This is an opportunity to be part of the next exciting phase of YoungShand. Note while we do work with recruiters we will look at direct candidates before we open the role up and consider candidates from recruiters. So if you are interested in the role please apply directly.

Responsibilities

You will architect scalable, deterministic systems while using AI as a force multiplier to accelerate development and documentation. Additionally, you will perform thoughtful code reviews and translate complex business problems into technical specifications.