Technical Co-Founder (Full-Stack)

Equity-based role | Early-stage | Africa-focused | Remote-friendly About Gephra Ltd Gephra Ltd is a Rwanda-based technology company building digital platforms that strengthen economic participation across Africa. We create tools that support employment verification, sustainable trade, market access, and digital commerce. Our platforms address real challenges faced by African workers and businesses such as informal labour, fragmented supply chains, limited trust in markets, and poor access to global opportunities. Everything we build is designed to reduce friction, increase transparency, and enable fair participation in the digital economy. One of our key products is Gephra Sustaina, a sustainability-focused marketplace that connects African producers with local, regional, and global buyers through transparent, responsible trade. The Role We are looking for a Technical Co-Founder (Full-Stack) to co-build and co-own the technology foundation of Gephra and its products, including Gephra Sustaina. This is not a delivery-only engineering role. You will shape the technical vision, architecture, and execution while working closely with the Founder to translate product, sustainability, and business goals into scalable systems. This is an equity-first founding role, not a salaried position. What You’ll Do Technical Leadership • Co-define the technical vision and long-term architecture of the platform • Own full-stack development across frontend, backend, and infrastructure • Design scalable, secure, and maintainable systems for multi-product growth • Make pragmatic technology decisions balancing speed, cost, and future scale Product & Platform Development • Build and evolve marketplace features, dashboards, APIs, and workflows • Translate product requirements into clean technical implementations • Ensure performance, reliability, and data integrity across the platform • Support sustainability-related features such as lifecycle data, verification, and transparency tools Architecture & Infrastructure • Design API-first, modular, and serverless-friendly architectures • Work with cloud infrastructure and managed services • Implement authentication, authorization, and data access controls • Establish deployment, monitoring, and environment management practices Security & Data Responsibility • Build security and privacy into the system by design • Ensure proper handling of personal, business, and transactional data • Apply role-based access, row-level security, and data isolation principles • Support compliance needs as the platform grows across markets Team & Collaboration • Work closely with the Founder on product and business strategy • Collaborate with sustainability, partnerships, and operations stakeholders • Help define engineering standards and documentation practices • Support future hiring and mentoring of engineers as the team grows Fundraising & Growth Support • Explain technical decisions and architecture to investors and partners • Support due diligence, security reviews, and technical audits • Help evaluate new opportunities, integrations, and partnerships Skills & Experience There is no single “perfect” background. Strong candidates typically bring: Technical Skills • Strong experience with TypeScript and modern JavaScript ecosystems • Frontend experience with React, Next.js, or similar frameworks • Backend experience with Node.js, APIs, and serverless patterns • Familiarity with relational databases and structured data modeling • Experience with cloud platforms (AWS or equivalent) • Understanding of authentication, authorization, and access control systems • Comfort working across the full stack, not just one layer Engineering Practices • Clean, readable, and well-documented code • API-first and modular design thinking • Familiarity with CI/CD, version control, and deployment workflows • Pragmatic approach to testing and quality assurance Strategic & Communication Skills • Ability to explain technical concepts clearly to non-technical stakeholders • Comfort working in early-stage, ambiguous environments • Strong written communication for documentation and specs • Systems thinking rather than feature-by-feature thinking • Willingness to challenge decisions respectfully when needed Who This Role Is For This role is a strong fit if you: • Want to co-build a meaningful platform from the ground up • Care about trust, transparency, and responsible technology • Enjoy shaping systems, not just implementing tickets • Are comfortable with uncertainty and long-term commitment • Are open to equity-first compensation and shared ownership Who This Role Is Not For This role may not be a good fit if you: • Are looking for a salaried engineering role • Prefer highly structured corporate environments • Want to work only on isolated technical tasks • Are not comfortable with early-stage trade-offs and iteration What You’ll Gain • Co-founder status with meaningful equity • Ownership of the technical direction of multiple platforms • Freedom to shape architecture, tools, and engineering culture • A future leadership role such as CTO or Head of Product • The opportunity to build technology that directly supports African businesses and workers Interested? If you are excited about building scalable, responsible technology that supports real economic participation across Africa, we would love to talk. Application deadline: 30 January 2025 If this role resonates with you, we’d love to learn more about your perspective and experience. Please share your interest by completing the application form below.