Systems Engineer / Software Engineer (m/w/d)

Shape the utilities market of the future with us!

Long-term / Full-time (40h) / Located in Johannesburg, South Africa / Start ASAP
Freelance or local employment setup / Regular Middle East travels 

As a Systems Engineer / Software Engineer (m/f/d), you own the setup, deployment and reliable operation of our software in real customer environments, at an international software company helping utilities worldwide become future-ready.

At Cuculus, you’ll work in a culture built on trust, ownership and growth - where you can bring your expertise, improve how we operate, and keep things running with an automation-first mindset.

Your Role at a Glance

• Customer system setup: You set up and configure customers’ environments and ensure the technical foundation is solid.
• Software deployment & operations: You install, configure and maintain our software on customer systems, automation-first wherever possible.
• Troubleshooting & support: You investigate issues, find root causes, and keep systems stable (customer support included).
• Automation & repeatability: You improve deployments and operations with scripting/automation to reduce manual effort.
• Stakeholder alignment: You coordinate with internal teams and customer-side stakeholders to keep projects moving.

• Travel & on-site collaboration: You regularly travel to customer sites across the Middle East to support deployments, go-lives and operations.

Your profile

Must-haves (to thrive in this role)

• Experience: 3+ years in a comparable Systems Engineer / Ops / Platform / DevOps role.
• Linux: Advanced Linux administration.
• Bash: Advanced Bash skills.
• Kubernetes or Databases: Experience with Kubernetes and/or SQL databases (Oracle DB, PostgreSQL or similar). 
  (One is required; both are a strong advantage.)
• Language: You have confident knowledge of English.
• Working model: You can work reliably in EU core business hours.
• Mobility: Strong willingness to travel regularly within the Middle East.

Nice-to-haves (great if you have them, but not a dealbreaker):

• Smart Metering / IoT: Experience in smart metering and/or IoT environments.
• Java troubleshooting: You can debug/support Java applications in production.
• Message brokers: Kafka (or similar).
• Automation: Ansible / Puppet.
• Monitoring & alerting: Prometheus + Grafana (or similar stack).
• Scripting & networking: Bash/Python scripting and basic networking fundamentals.

Why us?

We at Cuculus believe that work should be meaningful, fun, and enable growth. When you join us, you can expect an environment that trusts you, values collaboration, and gives you the freedom to take ownership.

• Remote-first: Work remotely or onsite in our Johannesburg office in an international setup, collaborating with global teams and customers.
• Flexibility: Flexible working hours while ensuring availability during our core collaboration hours (09:00–15:00 German time / CET/CEST).
• Culture: Short decision-making paths, open feedback culture & real trust
• Onboarding: So you can arrive well, you’ll get an onboarding plan and a buddy by yourside.
• Impact: Work with purpose - software that shapes the energy market of tomorrow.