About the Project This is a multi-service ride-hailing and mobility platform launching in Africa. The platform combines standard ride-hailing, long-distance travel, airport transfers, car rental, fleet management, and a fintech wallet — serving a city of 10+ million people where reliable, digitally-enabled transportation is in massive demand.
This is not a generic taxi app. The platform operates in one of the most technically challenging environments in mobile: budget Android devices (2 GB RAM), unreliable 2G/3G networks, 50—200m GPS drift, cash-heavy transactions (40–50% of rides), and a user base that spans multiple languages and literacy levels. Every architectural decision must account for these realities.
You will be part of a dedicated team of 8 engineers building both the Customer App and Driver App, working alongside a NestJS backend team, a Next.js admin panel developer, a QA engineer, a designer, and a PM/BA. The project targets a November 2026 go-live. What You Will Build * Implement the full ride lifecycle (booking, dispatch, in-ride tracking, completion, rating) across Customer App and Driver App * Build real-time features: live driver location tracking (Socket.IO), map rendering (Google Maps SDK), in-ride animations with Kalman filter smoothing for GPS drift compensation * Integrate payment flows: Flexi-Pay mobile money (STK Push with dual-confirmation — webhook + polling fallback), in-app wallet, cash commission tracking * Implement offline-first patterns: SQLite local queue for ride requests during disconnects, GPS trail buffering during mid-trip connection loss, graceful degradation across all screens * Build multi-service booking flows: standard rides, scheduled rides, long-distance reservations, airport transfers, hourly/daily rentals * Implement SOS and safety features: one-tap emergency button (always accessible, never obscured), location sharing, ride recording triggers * Integrate push notifications with fallback chain: FCM/APNs → WhatsApp → SMS (60-second timeout per tier) * Support multilingual UI: French (primary), Lingala, English — layouts must adapt to text expansion without truncation on critical CTAs * Participate in bi-weekly demos on physical devices and collaborate with QA on device coverage matrix testing (target devices: Tecno Camon, Infinix Hot, Samsung A-series) * Work within a milestone-gated delivery model with acceptance criteria per milestone and structured code review process
iOS-Specific Responsibilities * Architect the iOS codebase using MVVM-C or Clean Architecture, with clear separation between UI, domain logic, and data layers * Implement Sign in with Apple (Apple Guideline 5.1.1 — mandatory) alongside phone-number-based registration * Optimise for iPhone SE and older devices: efficient memory management, lazy loading, minimal view hierarchy depth * Implement background location tracking for Driver App: Core Location significant-change monitoring, background task management, battery-efficient 4-second position updates * Handle APNs push notifications with rich notification support (ride status updates, payment confirmations, SOS alerts) * Implement App Transport Security and certificate pinning for payment and authentication endpoints * Manage App Store submission and review process: metadata, screenshots, privacy labels, review guidelines compliance * Coordinate with Android developer on shared API contracts, feature parity, and consistent UX behaviour across platforms
Requirements * 5+ years of professional iOS development with Swift (not Objective-C only) * Strong experience with Core Location, background execution modes, and GPS-intensive applications * Proven experience with real-time features: WebSocket / Socket.IO, live map updates, location streaming * Experience with Google Maps SDK for iOS or MapKit with custom overlays and marker clustering * Solid understanding of offline-first patterns: local persistence (SQLite / Core Data), sync queues, conflict resolution * Experience with payment integrations or financial flows in mobile apps (transaction state management, idempotency) * Strong unit testing and UI testing discipline (XCTest, minimum 70% coverage) * Experience with CI/CD for iOS: Fastlane, GitHub Actions, TestFlight distribution * Comfortable working in English (daily communication with distributed team)
Nice to Have * Experience with ride-hailing, logistics, or on-demand platforms * Familiarity with African mobile payment systems (M-Pesa, Orange Money, Airtel Money) * Experience building apps for emerging markets (offline-first, low-bandwidth, budget devices) * French language skills (working language of the client and end users) * Experience with Mapbox or OpenStreetMap offline tile caching
What We Offer * A technically challenging, high-impact project — you’re building a platform that will serve millions of people in a market where reliable transport changes lives * Full-stack ownership — you own the mobile codebase end-to-end, from architecture to App Store delivery * A strong, senior team — 10+ year backend lead, experienced PM/BA with ride-hailing background, dedicated QA * Structured delivery process — milestone-gated, bi-weekly demos, clear acceptance criteria — no chaos * Long-term engagement — 6+ month project with Phase 2 roadmap (USSD, advanced analytics, fleet owner portal, multi-country expansion)
