Senior Software Engineer

We’re building a global media giant. Get in!

Big Cabal Media [BCM] is a pan-African media company headquartered in Lagos, Nigeria. Launched in 2014, BCM has grown to become one of the most powerful media forces covering technology and youth culture on the continent. We’ve built TechCabal, one of the most important publications covering the business and impact of technology in Africa; and Zikoko, a cultural powerhouse that tells the most important stories to and about young Nigerians. Our content studio, Cabal Creative creates content that helps major brands connect with Africa’s young and growing digital audience with a fresh and authentic voice. Finally TechCabal Insights is our research, data and intelligence business unit that provides actionable data on startups and the tech ecosystem across Africa to investors, entrepreneurs, big tech companies and other players on and off the continent. We’ve built a formidable media business that reaches over 85 million people monthly across web, social, newsletter and video platforms.

Join us as we take African storytelling to a new level and build the media brands of the future. BCM is passionate about storytelling, technology, great design and unabashed monetization of great content. We’re interested in talented and adaptable professionals looking to do challenging and high-impact work in a collaborative environment. If this sounds exciting and you’ve got the skills, then we should talk.

What we are looking for:

We are looking for a senior PHP developer to lead our development group which currently consists of 2.5 full time developers, including an existing senior developer. It is important that the candidate possesses a strong knowledge of modern PHP and WordPress with results driven experiences.

A key part of this role will be establishing timelines for development and liaising with other departments in project meetings and following up to ensure timelines are followed up, flag issues, provide accurate reports on progress, and monitor and establish burndown rates and realistic development timelines.

You will work with our Technical Director who is also head of technical project management — and together establish and maintain credible and deliverable timelines for resource use and deliveries over medium terms (2-4 quarters).

It is assumed these management duties will take up around 50% of your time with the rest being spent hands-on with development.

You will be someone who can take ownership of projects, manage a team and is progressively innovative with execution. In return we’ll give you great follow-up with a focus on continuously developing your skills, an exciting and vibrant creative environment with new ideas flowing all the time, and a company leadership that actively seeks to hear everyone’s ideas.

At BCM, your day-to-day activities will include:

• Maintaining of existing WordPress based website infrastructure, including adapting new sites, new features and layouts as required (we’re constantly innovating)
• Evaluation of timelines and status of existing development projects
• Mentoring fellow developers
• Building new sites and properties based on designs and specifications on the existing BCM framework
• Revamping existing landing pages and collaborating with the team to build new landing pages that optimize growth for the business.

**It is very important that you have: **

• At least 4 years, results-driven experience with building WordPress sites
• Significant experience with modern PHP (7/8) and modern WordPress.
• Good knowledge of software development patterns and anti-patterns
• Ability to coach and mentor other developers
• Experience in timeline management and deadline management
• Good knowledge of the HTML 5 and recent CSS standards
• Good knowledge of vanilla Javascript (not JQuery) and using this along with HTML5 and CSS to develop modern websites
• A great understanding of relational databases and SQL

It’d be Extra Great if you also had experience with:

1. Technical project management
2. Writing and maintaining project requirements
3. Building world-class development teams

Working at Big Cabal Media You'll be joining a focused, hard-working and creative young team that is passionate about doing work that's challenging and fun.

We're a very digital company, working via Google Suite, Slack and cloud-based solutions where possible. We currently have a hybrid-remote setup, with most of the team doing two days in the office each week and working remotely the rest of the time. We typically try to arrange work between 9am and 6pm WAT and encourage you to have a good work-life balance. We aren’t sticklers for hours. What we are particular about is quality and results. Our people get things done fast and well.

While collaborative work will be the norm and is the requirement, people who want to work at BCM must also demonstrate initiative and the ability to work without creating more work for their line manager.

Compensation and perks

• Industry competitive salary
• 20 days annual leave
• Statutory pension contribution
• Health insurance
• Flexible working arrangements