You'd probably do great with Gitlab then. It lacks some features of JIRA but the ones it lacks are mostly what you don't use. But it's interface and simplicity is a joy compared to JIRA. Literally everything is keyboard driven via markdown and built in actions in text. The API is simple and crazy powerful.
NB: Not associated with Gitlab the company in any way.
NB: Not associated with Gitlab the company in any way.